On the last day of June in 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce jointly promulgated the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (Edition 2019) (“National List”) and the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access in Pilot Free Trade Zones (2019 Version) (“FTZ List”) simultaneously, both of which will be implemented starting from July 30, 2019. It is worth mentioning that the length of both lists has been further cut down based on their 2018 editions, with the items under the National List being reduced from 48 to 40 and the items under the FTZ List being reduced from 45 to 37. In addition, the encouraged industry list under the Catalogue of Industries for Guiding Foreign Investment (Revision 2017) and the Catalogue of Priority Industries for Foreign Investment in Central and Western China (Revision 2017) have been replaced by the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment (Edition 2019). Compared with the two simplified negative lists, the encouraged industry catalogue of 2019 has increased items to encourage foreign investment in almost all industries.In order to assist foreign investors and those who are interested in cross border investment to get a clearer picture of the differences between Edition 2019 of the two lists and their Edition 2018, we have made two longitudinal comparisons. Meanwhile, to further assist foreign investors to understand the differences between foreign investment access in and out of the free trade zones, we have also made a comparison between the National List and the FTZ List which aims to enable producers or traders to choose suitable registration places depending on their business needs.
1. Longitudinal Comparison of the National Lists
Compared with the National List Edition 2018, the Edition 2019 has repealed all foreign investment access restrictions in seven sub-sectors of five industries, including mining, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and postal services, water, environment and public facilities management, culture, sports and entertainment with details set forth below:
Industry | 2018 | 2019 |
Mining | The | Repealed |
It | Repealed | |
Manufacturing | It | Repealed |
Transportation, | Domestic | Repealed |
Water, | It | Repealed |
Culture, | The | Repealed |
Performance | Repealed |
2. Longitudinal Comparison of the FTZ Lists
Compared with FTZ List Edition 2018, the Edition 2019 has repealed any and all foreign investment access restrictions in 7 sub-sectors of six industries including agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery, mining, manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and postal services, water, environment and public facilities management, culture, sports and entertainment with details set forth below:
Industry | 2018 | 2019 |
Agriculture, | Investment | Repealed |
Mining | Investment | Repealed |
Manufacturing | The | Repealed |
Investment | Repealed | |
Transportation, | The | Repealed |
Water, | Investment | Repealed |
Culture, | The | Repealed |
3. Parallel Comparison of the National List and the FTZ
List
As mentioned above, compared with Edition 2018, both the National List and the FTZ List have been “simplified greatly”. However, except for those two sub-sectors of the agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery, and manufacturing industries for which the foreign investment access restrictions (on development of State-protected wild animal and plant resources originated in China and printing of publications) have been repealed under the two Edition 2019 lists, the differences between the two Edition 2019 lists are almost the same as those between the two Edition 2018 lists.
Industry | National | FTZ | New |
I. Agriculture, | The | Chinese | No |
It | Repealed | Yes | |
II. Mining | It | It | No |
III. Manufacturing | The | Repealed | Yes |
It | No restriction | No | |
VI. Transportation,
| Domestic | Domestic | No |
The | The | No | |
It | Investment | No | |
VII. | Telecommunications | Telecommunications | No |
XI. Education
| Preschool, | Pre-school, | No |
XIII. Culture, sports and entertainment
| Investment | Investment | No |
It | Investment | No | |
It | Investment | No | |
It | Investment | No | |
It | Investment | No | |
It | Investment | No | |
It | The | No |
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杨春宝一级律师简介
杨春宝一级律师,大成上海高级合伙人、资本市场部主任、国资基金研究中心主任,大成中国区私募基金专业带头人、科技与文化法律研究中心联合牵头人。执业30余年,长期从事私募基金、投融资、并购重组法律服务,尤其对对赌研究颇深且具有非常丰富的实战经验,并专注于金融机构股权投资业务。2004年起多次入选The Legal 500"私募基金"和"公司与商业"等境内外各类律师榜单,代理的中国法院首例适用外国法律审理外国公司的董事损害小股东权益纠纷案入选上海高院发布的《上海法院域外法查明典型案例》和威科先行"要案头条"。入选上海涉外法律人才库、上海市司法局鼎新法治人才库、上海国有企业改制法律顾问团,具有上市公司独立董事任职资格,系多家知名高校的兼职教授或兼职研究生导师及上海市商务委跨国经营人才培训班讲师。出版《私募股权投资基金风险防控操作实务》等16本投融资法律专著。了解更多常见法律问题
2019年版全国负面清单有哪些重要调整?
2019年版全国外商投资准入负面清单在2018年版基础上进一步缩减,条目由48条减至40条,取消了多个行业领域的外资准入限制。具体而言,采矿领域取消了石油、天然气勘探开发限于合资合作的限制,也取消了禁止投资钼、锡、锑、萤石勘查开采的规定;制造领域取消了禁止生产宣纸、墨锭的限制;交通运输领域取消了国内船舶代理须中方控股的限制;水利、环境和公共设施管理领域取消了禁止投资国家保护野生动植物资源开发的规定;文化、体育和娱乐领域取消了电影院建设和经营须中方控股、演出经纪机构须中方控股的限制。总体来看,2019年版负面清单在多个原有限制较多的行业实现明显开放,但稀土、放射性矿产、钨等战略性资源的勘查开采及选矿仍维持禁止外资的立场。该次调整体现了中国持续扩大开放、降低外资准入门槛的政策方向。
自贸区版负面清单与全国版有何主要区别?
自贸区版负面清单比全国版在外资准入方面更为开放,二者差异主要体现在部分行业的限制程度和范围上。依据本文的平行比较,自贸区版在农业领域取消了禁止投资中国管辖海域及内陆水域水产品捕捞的限制,而全国版仍保留该禁止规定;在制造领域,自贸区版取消了出版物印刷须由中方控股的限制,而全国版仍要求中方控股。此外,涉及国内水路运输公司、公共航空运输公司等行业,两版清单均要求中方控股,但自贸区版额外附加了更具体的运营限制说明,例如外国投资者不得通过租赁中国船舶或泊位等方式变相经营国内水路运输业务。对于稀土、放射性矿物、钨等资源性行业,两版清单均维持禁止外资勘查、开采和选矿的规则,没有差异。自贸区版相对宽松的制度安排,有助于吸引特定行业外资在区内先行先试,也为全国版进一步开放提供经验。
外资投资者应如何利用负面清单比较选择注册地?
外资投资者在决定注册地时,应首先对照负面清单判断拟开展业务是否属于禁止或限制类。对于限制类业务,需关注全国版与自贸区版的差异,自贸区往往提供更宽松的准入条件,例如出版物印刷在自贸区已取消中方控股要求,而区外仍受限制;水产品捕捞在自贸区已取消禁止,区外仍被禁止。其次,投资者应当结合业务模式评估附加条件,如国内水路运输、公共航空运输等即使在中方控股前提下,自贸区版仍存在具体运营限制,需确保合规安排。同时,投资者还需要查阅当年度鼓励外商投资产业目录,若业务属于鼓励类,可在税收、用地、通关等方面获得优惠。建议投资者在注册前梳理拟投资项目在每个适用地区的负面清单条目、股比要求、经营范围限制及后续监管要求,综合比较后选择既能满足准入条件又有利于业务运营的注册地点,以降低合规风险并享受制度红利。
以上内容仅供参考,不构成法律意见。如需专业法律服务,请联系杨春宝一级律师:chambers.yang@dentons.cn




