中国欧盟商会关于《政府核准和备案投资项目管理条例》（征求意见稿）》反馈意见

2015-06-23 | All chapters

I. 总体评价 / General Comments

中国欧盟商会（以下简称欧盟商会）很高兴有机会就《政府核准和备案投资项目管理条例》（征求意见稿）》（以下简称《条例》）提交建议。欧盟商会欢迎并支持政府落实三中全会决定、落实企业投资自主权，发挥市场配置资源的决定作用。对于此次立法过程中对政府投资核准与备案行为作出规范，以及建立在线平台等提高透明度措施的努力表示赞赏。

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (European Chamber) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the draft Regulation on Government Approval and Filing of Investment Projects (Regulation). The European Chamber supported the intention to implement the Third Plenum Decision to empower enterprises with the freedom to invest and allow the market to play the decisive role. The government’s efforts to streamline approval and filing processes, as well as the transparency demonstrated by the establishment of an online platform, are applauded.

但是，此次征求意见仅给公众留了约六个工作日的时间（包括公布日），为商会翻译、组织会员进行评议并翻译意见建议带来了极大困难。同时，这也不符合«国务院法制办公室法律法规草案公开征求意见暂行办法»第六条“行政法规草案在中国政府法制信息网上公开征求意见的期限一般不少于30天”的要求。我们希望贵委在以后的法规征求意见活动中，可以给予更长的期限。

However, the public is only given six (6) working days (including the day of release) to provide comments. It is extremely challenging for the European Chamber to get access to translations of proposed regulations, call for members’ comments and then translate the comments for bilingual submission. We would urge that in all future public consultations organised by the NDRC, a longer consultation period be given.

在有限的时间内，商会组织会员研究《条例》草案并结合公司具体投资情况进行建议。现将综合意见报上。

Within a limited timeframe the Chamber notified its members and collected and consolidated the comments below.

1. 适用范围不明确 Unclear Scope of Application

1) 在现有投资项目管理法律体系下，外商投资项目适用于2014年5月公布的《外商投资项目核准和备案管理办法》，境外投资项目适用于2014年4月公布的《境外投资项目核准和备案管理办法》。同时，去年5月，贵委还曾发布现行版本的《政府核准投资项目管理办法》。《条例》实施后，是否会覆盖上述三个《办法》，同时适用于外商投资、本土企业投资和境外投资项目，在草案中未作具体说明。商会建议贵委能够在最终版本中就《条例》和上述三个《办法》之间的关系作进一步澄清。

Under the current investment project management legal regime, foreign investment projects should follow the Foreign Investment Project Approval and Filing Rules released in May 2014, while overseas investment projects should follow the Overseas Investment Project Approval and Filing Rules released in April 2014. At the same time, in May 2014, the NDRC released the Regulation on Government Filing Investment Projects. It needs to be clarified whether or not the Regulation will replace these three rules after its release, and if it will apply to all foreign investment, domestic investment as well as overseas investment made by domestic investors.

2) 《条例》中对于需要核准和备案的投资项目范围较大，且几乎没有就项目金额作出门槛限制。其中核准标准较为宽泛，缺少具体要求。

Projects under approval or filing cover a wide range without any stipulation of threshold amount. Stipulations on projects to be approved are too general.

3) 《条例》第二条对于“固定资产”未给出明确定义。非固定资产的投资项目是否不受该《条例》限制，也未作具体说明。

Article 2 of the Regulation does not provide a clear definition of “fixed assets” and there is no specification on whether the Regulation applies to projects not involving fixed-asset investment.

2. 商业信息保密义务 Business Confidentiality
针对投资项目备案信息，《条例》中缺乏有效的保密规定。企业的投资决策属于商业机密，如非必要不应被公开查阅，负责核准和备案的机关应遵守保密义务。企业应当有权力就特定的备案信息申请不公开披露，建议《条例》就这一申请程序作出具体规定。

There is a lack of confidentiality clauses in the Regulation with regard to filing information of investment projects. Investment decisions are business sensitive and should not be publically accessible unless necessary. Relevant approval/filing agencies should be responsible for protecting privileged information. Procedures should be provided on how companies can apply for non-disclosure of information related to filing/approval.

3. 有关核准和备案范围，《条例》第四条规定了关系国家安全和生态安全、涉及全国重大生产力布局、战略性资源开发和重大公共利益等项目需要核准。但是，草案未就国家安全和生态安全等进行明确定义。特别是国家安全，与欧盟国家将国家安全的定义限制于国防范畴内不同，中国正在多个立法活动中用模糊及带多重意义的法律术语将此定义进行扩大化。欧盟商会特别担忧这种定义的广泛化和由此带来的执法者自由裁量权的扩大给投资带来的不确定性，从而忽略市场的角色。此外，《条例》与即将颁布的《国家安全法》之间的关系（即是否会依照这两项法律法规对投资项目分别进行国家安全审查）也不甚明确。

With regard to scope of filing/approval, Article 4 of the Regulation stipulates that projects which concern national security, ecological security, national key productivity plans, development of strategic resources, as well as key public interests, shall be approved. However, the Regulation does not provide a clear definition of those terms. In particular, unlike EU countries that have limited their definition of national security to the area of defense, China is taking an overly broad approach by using vague and open terms in its recent legislation. Of utmost concern to the European Chamber is how this law gives an overwhelming amount of control to the State while failing to recognise the role of the market. It is also not clear what level of overlap there will be between the Regulation and the planned National Security Law will, i.e. whether projects will be subject to scrutiny under both regulations.

4. 《条例》草案首次在投资项目审批中引入“黑名单”的制度。透明公开的“黑名单”制度有助于社会诚信体系的建立。但是，需要对黑名单的概念和影响，包括被列入黑名单的后果、如何对这项公权力进行监督和复议程序等具体事项进行明确规定。

For the first time the Regulation has introduced a ‘blacklist’ into investment project approval procedures. An open and transparent ‘blacklist’ system is helpful in contributing to a social credibility system, however, the definition, consequences, audit procedure as well as administrative review procedures should be clearly specified.

5. 与投资监管体系其他环节的衔接问题 Coordination between the draft Regulation and other investment regulatory systems
《条例》下的核准和备案与现行的前置性行业许可、外汇登记（尤其是境外直接投资外汇登记）等其他管理环节的先后衔接问题还存在模糊地带，会为实际操作带来困难，建议进一步厘清。

It is unclear how the approval and filing process under the draft Regulation will coordinate with the existing prior industry licensing, foreign exchange approval/registration (in particular, the outbound direct investment foreign exchange registration) and other regulatory systems. Such ambiguity may lead to practical difficulties and we suggest clarification regarding this point.

以下为欧盟商会会员公司针对《条例》中具体条目的评价及建议。如您需要我们就以下建议作进一步的澄清，请与商会北京办公室总经理谢静岚女士联系（电话：10 6462 2066 转68； 邮箱：mxie@europeanchamber.com.cn）。

The following section contains comments on specific articles of the revised law, collected from the European Chamber’s member companies. Should you require further clarification, please kindly contact Ms. Maggie Xie, General Manager of the Chamber’s Beijing Chapter (Tel: +86 (10) 6462 2066 ext. 68, Email: mxie@europeanchamber.com.cn).