Article 1 In order to improve the complaint mechanism for foreign-invested enterprises, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of foreign-invested enterprises and optimize the business environment, the following measures (hereinafter reffed to as the "Measures") are hereby formulated.
Article 2 The complaints of foreign-invested enterprises mentioned in the Measures refer to:
(1) the act of the foreign-invested enterprises and foreign investors (hereinafter collectively referred to as "complainants") who consider that their legitimate rights and interests have been infringed upon by the administrative acts of the administrative organs at all levels (including organizations authorized by laws or regulations to perform the function of administering public affairs) in this municipality and their staff (hereinafter collectively referred to as "defendants") and submit a request to the complaint acceptance institutions for coordination and settlement;
(2) the act of complainants to report the problems existing in the investment environment of this municipality to the complaint acceptance institutions and to suggest the improvement of relevant policies and measures.
The complaint acceptance institutions as mentioned in the preceding paragraph refer to the public service institutions established by the government to accept complaints from complainants in accordance with the law, including the municipal and district complaint acceptance institutions for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises.
The complaints of foreign-invested enterprises as mentioned in the Measures do not include applications of foreign-invested enterprises or foreign investors for coordination to settle civil and commercial disputes with other natural persons, legal persons or other organizations.
Article 3 This municipality shall establish a municipal coordination institution and a municipal acceptance institution for complaints of foreign-invested enterprises to jointly handle the complaints.
The municipal coordination institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises is set up in the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau. It shall be responsible for the coordination, guidance and supervision work related to the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises in this municipality, holding inter-bureau joint meetings, coordinating major issues in the complaints, reporting complaints of significant impact to the municipal government, and coordinating with the Office of Inter-departmental Joint Meeting on Complaints from Foreign-invested Enterprises of the Ministry of Commerce.
Article 4 The municipal acceptance institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises is set up in the Beijing Investment Promotion Service Center and carries out the work under the guidance of the municipal coordination institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises. It shall be responsible for accepting the following complaints:
(1) where the matter is related to administrative acts of the relevant departments of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, the people's governments of districts in Beijing (including the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area) and their staff;
(2) where suggestions are made for the relevant departments of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and the people's governments of districts in Beijing (including the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area) to improve relevant policies and measures;
(3) where the matter has a significant impact within this municipality and could be handled by the municipal acceptance institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises as it deems fit.
The municipal acceptance institution for complaints of foreign-invested enterprises shall be responsible for coordinating the work with the National Center for Complaints of Foreign-invested Enterprises and the complaint acceptance institutions in districts in Beijing.
Article 5 The district acceptance institutions for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises are set up by the people's governments in all districts and the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, and carry out the work under the guidance of the municipal acceptance institution for complaints of foreign-invested enterprises. It shall be responsible for accepting the following complaints:
(1) where the matter is related to administrative acts of the relevant departments of the people's governments of districts (including the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area), people's governments of townships and sub-district offices in Beijing and their staff;
(2) where suggestions are made for the relevant departments of the people's governments of districts in Beijing (including the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area) to improve the policies and measures on the investment environment in the region.
Article 6 The competent administrative departments at all levels in Beijing shall, in accordance with their respective functions and duties, determine the procedures for handling complaints, contact persons and contact information. When the complaint involves the department itself, the said department shall promptly reply the handling opinions to the complaint acceptance institution.
Article 7 Complainants shall follow the principle of "one matter only for one complaint" and submit written complaint materials when filing a complaint. Complaint materials may be submitted by letter, e-mail and other ways, or directly submitted on-site to the complaint acceptance institutions.
Complaint acceptance institutions at municipal and district levels shall publish their contact information such as telephone number, correspondence address, e-mail address, reception venue and reception time, so as to help the complainants to file complaints.
Article 8 Complaint materials shall include the following, if the complaint is filed under subparagraph (1), paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Measures:
(1) the complainant's name, correspondence address, postcode, relevant contact person and contact information, certificate of incorporation, and the date of filing;
(2) the defendant's name, correspondence address, postcode, relevant contact person and contact information;
(3) specific issues and claims of complaint;
(4) relevant facts, evidence and reasoning, together with relevant legal basis, if any; and
(5) description of whether circumstances listed in subparagraphs (7), (8) and (9) of Article 11 of the Measures exist.
Complaint materials shall include information prescribed by subparagraph (1) of the preceding paragraph, issues concerning the investment environment and specific suggestions on policies and measures, if the complaint is filed under the subparagraph (2), paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Measures.
The complaint materials shall be written in Chinese. If relevant evidence and original documents are written in foreign languages, accurate and complete Chinese translations shall be submitted.
Article 9 The complainant may entrust others to file complaints. If the complainant entrusts others to file complaints, in addition to the materials prescribed in the Article 8 of the Measures, the identity certificate of the complainant, power of attorney issued by the complainant and identity certificate of the entrusted party shall also be submitted to the complaint acceptance institutions. The power of attorney shall specify the entrusted matters, the scope and the time limits.
Article 10 Where the complaint materials are incomplete, the complaint acceptance institutions shall notify the complainant in a single written notice within seven working days after receiving the complaint materials and request the complainant to make supplementation or corrections within 15 working days. The written notice shall specify the materials to be supplemented or corrected and the time limits.
Article 11 The complaint shall not be accepted if any of the following circumstances exists:
(1) the complainant is not a foreign-invested enterprise or foreign investor;
(2) the complainant applies for coordination to settle civil and commercial disputes with other natural persons, legal persons or other organizations, or not within the scope of complaints from foreign-invested enterprises prescribed by the Measures；
(3) the complaint is not within the acceptable scope of the respective complaint acceptance institutions;
(4) the complaint materials fail to meet the requirements as mentioned in the Article 8 of the Measures, after being supplemented or corrected in accordance with the notice mentioned in the Article 10 of the Measures;
(5) the complainant forged or altered the evidence or the complaint is manifestly without factual basis;
(6) the complaint refiles a complaint to the same complaint acceptance institution without submitting any new evidence or legal basis;
(7) the same complaint matter has been accepted or the complaint handling process has been terminated by a complaint acceptance institution at a higher level;
(8) the same complaint matter has been accepted or the respective procedure has been terminated by public complaints and proposals administration and etc.; or
(9) the same complaint matter has been referred to, or settled by, administrative reconsideration, administrative litigation and etc.
Article 12 Procedures for handling complaints:
(1) upon receipt of complete complaint materials, the complaint acceptance institution shall review the complaint materials and make a decision on whether to accept the complaint within 7 working days. If the complaint meets the conditions for acceptance, it shall be accepted and an acceptance notice shall be issued to the complainant. If the complaint fails to meet the conditions for acceptance, the complaint acceptance institution shall issue a notice of rejection (with reasons for rejection) to the complainant, return the complaint materials and make an explanation and persuasion to the complainant. Under the circumstances referred to in the subparagraph (3) of Article 11 of the Measures, the complaint acceptance institution may inform the complainant to file the complaint to the relevant complaint acceptance institutions.
(2) the complaint acceptance institution shall generally complete the handling of the complaint within 60 working days after the acceptance of the complaint. For complaints involving multiple departments or complicated matters, the time limits can be extended as appropriate.
(3) if the handling of a complaint involves other departments, the complaint acceptance institution shall send letters to the relevant departments within 5 working days, and the relevant departments shall inform the acceptance institution of the handling result within 30 working days from the date of receiving the letter. If the handling of a complaint cannot be completed in time due to disputes or complex facts of disputes, or other reasons such as the non-cooperation of the parties, the relevant departments shall give feedback on the next working measures and the proposed completion time to the complaint acceptance institution, and the institution shall promptly inform the complainant.
Article 13 When handling complaints, the complaint acceptance institution may request the complainant to assist by offering further explanations, providing documents or other necessary assistance; the complainant shall truthfully report the facts of the complaint, provide evidence and actively assist the complaint acceptance institution in handling the complaint. The complaint acceptance institution may request the defendant to provide information, and the defendant shall cooperate as requested.
According to the specifics of complaints, the complaint acceptance institution may organize meetings, and invite the complainant and the defendant to state their opinions and discuss possible solutions to the complaint matter. If needed in the complaint handling process, the complaint acceptance institution may seek opinions from relevant experts on professional issues.
Article 14 The complaint acceptance institutions may handle complaints in the following ways:
(1) promoting mutual understanding (including reaching a settlement agreement) between the complainant and the defendant;
(2) coordinating with the defendant and, if necessary, applying to the complaint coordination institutions for holding a joint meeting;
(3) submitting recommendations on improving relevant policies and measures to the People's Government of Beijing Municipality and the people's governments of districts in the municipality (including the Administrative Committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area) and their relevant departments;
(4) other appropriate methods.
The settlement agreement signed between the complainant and the defendant shall specify the matters and results of the settlement. The settlement agreement concluded in accordance with law shall be binding on the complainant and the defendant. If the defendant fails to implement the effective settlement agreement, Article 41 of the Implementation Regulation of the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China shall apply.
Article 15 The Complaint handling process shall be terminated if any of the following circumstances exists:
(1) the complaint acceptance institution coordinates to handle the complaints in accordance with the Article 14 of the Measures, and the complainant agrees to terminate the process;
(2) the complaint lacks a factual basis, or the complainant refuses to provide materials, which makes it impossible to examine relevant facts;
(3) the complainant's claim lacks a legal basis;
(4) the complainant withdraws the complaint in writing;
(5) The complainant no longer meets the qualification of incorporation; or
(6) after being contacted by the complaint acceptance institution, the complainant has not participated in the complaint handling process for 30 consecutive days without justifiable reasons.
During the complaint handling process, if any of the circumstances referred to in the subparagraphs (7), (8) and (9) of Article 11 of the Measures occurs, the complaint shall be deemed as withdrawn in writing by the complainant.
Once the complaint handling process is terminated, the complaint acceptance institution shall notify the complainant of the result in writing within three working days.
Article 16 If the complaint handling process has not been terminated within one year after the acceptance of the complaints in accordance with the Article 15 of the Measures, the complaint coordination institution shall promptly report the matters to the people's government at the same level with the complaint acceptance institution, and provide relevant recommendations.
Article 17 If the complainant objects to the rejection decisions issued by the complaint acceptance institution, or is dissatisfied with the results of the complaint handling, such complainant may submit the original complaint matter to the complaint acceptance institutions at a higher level. The complaint acceptance institutions at a higher level may decide whether to accept such original complaint matter in accordance with its working rules for complaint handling.
If the complainant applies for a coordinated settlement of a dispute with an administrative organ in accordance with the provisions of the Measures, its right to file such procedures as Service Hotline 12345, administrative reconsideration, and administrative litigation shall not be affected within the statutory time limit.
Article 18 The complaint acceptance institutions shall promptly handle the acceptance registration, filing, archiving and analysis of the complaint, update records for the acceptance and handling of relevant complaints in a timely, comprehensive and accurate manner, and archive annually.
Article 19 The district acceptance institutions for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises shall submit complaints records to the municipal acceptance institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises every two months, including the total number of complaints, update for the handling process, detailed information of the terminated complaints and suggestions on relevant policies.
The municipal acceptance institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises shall summarize and report the complaints records of the last two months within this municipality to the National Center for Complaints of Foreign-invested Enterprises and the municipal coordination institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises within the first 7 working days of every odd-numbered month. The municipal acceptance institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises shall submit the proposal on the protection of foreign-invested enterprises’ rights and interests to the municipal coordination institution for the complaints of foreign-invested enterprises annually. The proposal shall compile the representative cases, major issues and recommendations on policies and measures which were raised by foreign-invested enterprises, foreign investors, chamber of commerce, associations, relevant local governments and relevant departments, and provide relevant suggestions on the strengthening of investment protection and improvement of the investment environment.
Article 20 The complaint acceptance institutions at all levels of this municipality and their staff shall protect trade secrets, confidential business information and personal privacy of the complainants.
Article 21 The chambers of commerce and associations prescribed in the Article 27 of the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China may, by reference to the Measures, report to the complaint acceptance institutions the problems in the investment environment raised by their members and submit specific suggestions on policies and measures.
Article 22 The Measures shall be interpreted by the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau and come into force as of the date of issuance. The Measures for the Administration of Complaints Lodged by Foreign-invested Enterprises in Beijing, which was published on November 22, 2019, shall be repealed simultaneously.
September 24, 2021