On December 28, 2013, the Standing Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (the “PRC”) adopted Amendments to the PRC Company Law (the “Amendments”). The Amended Company Law will become effective on March 1, 2014. The Amendments focus on registered capital requirements.
The Company Law’s minimum registered capital requirements to establish a company will be lifted.1 At present, the mandatory minimum registered capital is set at RMB 30,000 for a limited liability company, RMB 100,000 for a one-person limited liability company and RMB 5,000,000 for a company limited by shares. Upon the effectiveness of the Amendments, it will be possible to establish a company with nominal capital.
At present, shareholders are allowed to make capital contributions in various forms, including cash, real estate, machinery, and intellectual property rights, so long as cash contributions constitute at least 30% of registered capital. Upon the effectiveness of the Amendments, it will be legally permissible to establish a company without a cash contribution.
Under the current regime, the full contribution of registered capital is required to be completed within mandatory time periods — two years from the establishment date for a normal limited liability company, and five years from the establishment date for a limited liability investment company). When the Amendments become effective, the shareholders will have the discretion to determine the schedule for making capital contributions.2 Similarly, the current requirements regarding the minimum percentage of the initial capital contribution (i.e., the greater of 20% and the mandatory minimum registered capital amount) will be lifted.
A limited liability company will no longer be required to disclose the contributed capital of each shareholder and the paid-in registered capital of the company as part of its corporate registration. In addition, a capital verification report will no longer be required for a corporate registration.
Foreign invested enterprises are subject to the laws and regulations governing incorporation and operation of foreign invested enterprises in addition to the PRC Company Law. It is generally expected that the Chinese government will soon issue guidelines to apply the Amendments to foreign invested enterprises.
Endnotes
1 However, exceptions are made where other PRC laws, administrative regulations and State Council decisions stipulate otherwise regarding minimum registered capital or paid-in registered capital.
2 Ditto.
2013年12月28日，中华人民共和国（“中国”）第十二届全国人民代表大会常务委员会通过了对《中国公司法》的修改（“修改”）。修改后的《公司法》将自2014年3月1日起施行。本次修改内容主要涉及注册资本要求。
《公司法》有关公司设立的注册资本最低限额将被取消1。目前，有限责任公司的法定最低注册资本规定为人民币3万元，一人有限责任公司的为人民币10万元，股份有限公司的为人民币500万元。修改生效后，将可能设立仅有象征性资本的公司。
目前，允许股东以各种形式进行资本出资，包括货币、房地产、机械设备以及知识产权，但是要满足货币出资至少达到注册资本30%的要求。修改生效后，从法律上讲，允许不用进行货币出资即可设立公司。
在现行制度下，公司注册资本要求在法定期限内全额缴足，即一般有限责任公司的出资期限为自成立之日起两年，有限责任投资公司的出资期限为自成立之日起五年。修改生效后，股东将能够自行决定资本出资时间表2。同样，现行有关首期资本出资最低比例的规定（即达到20%且不少于注册资本法定最低限额）将被取消。
有限责任公司股东出资额和公司实收注册资本不再作为公司登记事项。此外，公司登记时，不再需要提交验资报告。
外商投资企业受《中国公司法》以及有关外商投资企业设立与经营的各项法律法规的规制。预期，中国政府将很快公布有关对外商投资企业适用上述各项修改的指导规定。
1 但是，中国其它法律、行政法规以及国务院决定对注册资本最低限额或实缴资本另有规定的除外。
2 同上。
Authored by: Partner Xiaowei Ye and associate Jin Wang, with assistance from Cathy Dong, paralegal/translator.
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Beglin-BrianThis article was originally published by Bingham McCutchen LLP.