Competent commerce departments and national economic and technological development zones of provinces, autonomous areas, municipalities directly under the central government, cities specifically designated in the state plan, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Jinan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu and Xi'an:

To further exert the positive role of the sales means of the Internet and automat in such aspects as reducing business costs, promoting the circulation of commodities and pulling consumption, the circular on issues concerning examination and approval foreign-invested projects of selling goods via the Internet and automat shall, in accordance with the requirements on simplifying and reducing the procedures for examination and approval as specified in the Several Opinions of the State Council on Further Dong a Good Job in the Utilization of Foreign Investment (Guo Fa [2010] No. 9), be hereby notified as follows:

1 Sales via the Internet

(I) Sales via the Internet is the extension of corporate distribution on the Internet and foreign-invested production enterprises and commercial enterprises approved and registered by law may directly engage in online sales business;

(II) The establishment of foreign-invested enterprises specially engaging in online distribution shall be reported to the competent commerce authority at the provincial level for strict examination and approval in accordance with the Measures for the Administration over Foreign Investment in Commerce and other relevant laws and regulations. In the provinces where commercial institutions have not been integrated yet, the competent foreign investment authority at the provincial level should solicit the opinions of the domestic trade management department at the same level;

(III) Where any foreign-invested enterprise provides network services for other transactions through its own network platform, it shall apply to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for the value-added telecommunication service license; where any foreign-invested enterprise directly engage in commodity sales by its own network platform, it should report to the telecommunication management authority for filing;

(IV) Any foreign-invested enterprise shall post the business license on the homepage of the website or on the striking position of the webpage where business activities are engaged while conducting online distribution and related services; where a foreign-invested enterprise sells such commodities as refined oil, crude oil, newspapers and books and drugs, it shall disclose the information about business approval certificate and explicit photos or electronic linkage mark;

(V) Any foreign-invested enterprise that engages in online distribution should establish the reasonable return system, keep the record of distribution and strictly protect the privacy of consumers and commercial secrets;

(VI) Any foreign-invested enterprise shall be in compliance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Consumers Rights and Interests, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Product Quality and other laws, regulations and rules while engaging in online distribution and commodities and services as prohibited by laws and regulations shall not be traded online; and

(VII) In accordance with related laws, where products or services sold by one foreign-invested enterprise via the Internet shall be approved prior to registration, it shall be reported to related departments of the state for approval prior to the application for registration and go through the industrial and commercial registration.

2 Sales via automat

(I) Where any foreign-invested enterprise applies for the sales of commodities via automat or adds the sales business by means of automat, it shall report it to the competent commerce authority at the provincial level for examination and approval. And the competent foreign investment department at the provincial level shall solicit the opinions of the domestic trade management department at the same level and conduct strict examination and approval in accordance with the Measures for the Administration over Foreign Investment in Commerce and other laws and regulations related to health and food and medicine supervision;

(II) Any foreign-invested enterprise selling commodities via automat shall mark name or title, address, telephone of the dealer and means of compliant on the striking position on the automat;

(III) Any foreign-invested enterprise selling commodities via automat shall establish the clear-type operation of automat, commodity quality management and dispute settlement mechanism;

(IV) Any foreign-invested enterprise conducting operation via automat shall establish the distribution data keeping system with automat automatically keeping the record of previous sales; and

(V) Any foreign-invested enterprise selling commodities via automat shall be in compliance with the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Consumers Rights and Interests, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Product Quality and other related laws, regulations and rules.

Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China