商业特许经营备案管理办法
This new law, yet another importance piece of regulation in the Chinese franchise realm, came into effect on May 1,2007. It was signed into law on April 30, 2007, just one day before the effective date of the Regulations of Commercial Franchising Operations of the People's Republic of China. There seems to have quite a few areas of ambiguity, as does the Commercial Franchise Disclosure Management Measures, which I will post next.
Commercial Franchise Registration Management Measures has been promulgated during the 6th meeting of the Ministry of Commerce. It shall go into effect on May 1, 2007.
Minister of CommerceBo Xi LaiApril 30, 2007
Commercial Franchise Regisitration Management Measures
Article One To strength the regulatory management of commercial franchising, and to maintain orders in the franchising market, the Measures have been promulgated pursuant to the Regulations of Commercial Franchising Operations (“Regulations”).
Article Two The Measures apply to all commercial franchising operations inside the People’s Republic of China.
Article Three Relevant departments, in charge of commercial regulations in the Ministry of Commerce, Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities, are the proper registration agencies. If franchising operations are within Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities, shall register the franchise in the departments in charge of commercial regulations; if franchising operations cross boundaries of Provinces, Autonomous Regions, and Municipalities, the franchise shall be registered in the relevant department of the Ministry of Commerce.
The management of franchise registration shall be implemented in a national network. Franchisors in compliance with the Regulations shall register their franchise through the governmental website: http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/
Article Four Any person or entity has the right to report activities in violation of the Measures to agencies in charge of franchise registration.
Article Five A franchisor petitioning for registration shall provide the following documentation to the registering agency:
(1) A brief introduction of the franchise.
(2) A brief introduction of the distribution of all the franchised units in China.
(3) A copy of the franchisor’s marketing plan.
(4) A copy of the franchisor’s corporate business license or other important documents evidencing eligibility.
(5) A copy of the registrations of the franchisor’s trademarks, patents or other business resources related to the franchising operations.
(6) Documents provided by a commercial regulatory department in a city with administrative districts, evidencing a franchisor’s compliance with Article 7 Section 2 of the Regulations; with respect to company-operated units located outside China, a franchisor shall provide documents evidencing same (including Chinese Translation), which shall be notarized and certified by a Chinese Consulate located in the administrative region as such company-operated units.
The above section does not apply to a franchisor in franchising operations before May 1, 2007, but such a franchisor shall provide a copy of the first franchise agreement executed by both the franchisor and a franchisee inside China.
(7) Sample Franchise Contract.
(8) Table of contents of the Franchise Operation Manual (Must include the page number of each chapter and the total number of pages. With respect to Franchise Operation Manual accessible via franchise system intranet, provide the estimated pages after printing.).
(9) With respect to franchising of services or products subject to pre-approval pursuant to relevant laws and regulations, franchisor must provide documents evidencing such approval by relevant government agency.
(10) Franchisor’s affidavit, signed and sealed by legal agent of such franchisor.
The above-listed items (1) through (3) shall be filled out directly on the website; items (4) through (10) shall be submitted electronically via the website in PDF format.
To access the complete texts of the law in Chinese, go here.
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