China Implements New Rules for Registering Foreign Representative Offices

The State Council has ordered the Foreign Enterprise Representative Institution Registration and Administration Regulations (Order of State Council No. 584) to come into force on March 1st, 2011. This new regulation alters the rules for a foreign insurance institution to register a representative office in China, and it regulates the activities that a foreign insurance institution representative office can engage in once it is properly registered.

It establishes that after a foreign insurance institution has received approval from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission to open a foreign representative office the institution has 90 days to register the representative office with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. Failure to properly register a representative office or failure to adhere to the Chinese government's requirements for the activities that a foreign representative office can engage in will result in a fine of up to RMB 500,000 ($76,000 US