On June 30, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation officially released China's first set of Chinese-English bilingual registration application forms, along with updated bilingual service guides covering all types of foreign-invested entities. This new move aims to eliminate language barriers for overseas investors planning to set up businesses in Beijing, turning the challenging task of understanding registration requirements for such entities into a clear and straightforward process.

The newly launched bilingual forms feature instructions for filling out every item, rooting out language barriers. The Chinese and English texts correspond to each other, standardized terminology is used throughout, and the forms are in full legal validity. 

All technical terms were translated by following internationally recognized business translation standards, balancing the legal rigor of commercial registration with the reading conventions familiar to global users. Designed for ease of use, the forms are both professional and readable, allowing foreign investors to understand all requirements for completing the forms without the aid of professional translators. The bilingual templates apply to all types of foreign-invested entities, including corporations and partnerships, and support the full spectrum of registration procedures, such as establishment, modification, deregistration, and filing. The forms strictly comply with China's laws and regulations on spoken and written Chinese. The Chinese version serves as the statutory text in terms of filling and interpretation, while the English version is provided for supplementary reference. With the full legal validity guaranteed, these application documents help foreign investors fully comprehend the filling requirements and accurately express their intentions, combining legal compliance with enhanced services for foreign investors.

In addition to these application documents, a fully upgraded set of Chinese-English bilingual service guides has been released to further improve the business setup process for foreign investors.

The updated service guides now cover all types of foreign-invested business entities, from companies to partnerships and beyond. Every investor may access a bilingual guide tailored to the entity type they plan to establish.

The updated guides incorporate the latest requirements of the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China, and the 2026 standards for documentation issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation. Various commitment letters have been streamlined to reduce the amount of information applicants are required to provide. These guides also clarify that individual shareholders transferring equity are exempt from submitting equity transfer agreements, thereby reducing paperwork for applicants. The guides draw a clear line between publicly disclosed information from enterprises and investors' privacy to strengthen personal information protection, thus ensuring market transparency while safeguarding investors' data security.

In recent years, focusing on enhancing convenience for foreign-invested enterprises, the market regulation authorities in Beijing have rolled out a full range of reform measures to build a comprehensive ecosystem of international business services.

The bilingual "E Chuang Tong" (e窗通) online registration platform and its WeChat mini-program have been launched with built-in bilingual prompts to guide overseas investors through online form filling step by step. Dedicated service counters for foreign-invested entities have been set up in the city's government service centers, staffed with bilingual personnel and equipped with bilingual signage, effectively breaking down communication barriers and improving the applicants' experiences.

Previously, six types of identity documents for applicants from outside of the Chinese mainland were accepted for online services, namely foreign passports, the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Cards, the Mainland Travel Permits for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, the Mainland Travel Permits for Taiwan Residents, the Residence Permits for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, and the Residence Permits for Taiwan Residents. Now, Chinese passports held by overseas Chinese are also eligible for fully online services. Overseas investors can complete real-name authentication without the need for notarization or consular legalization, and finish all registration procedures, including those for business setup, modification and deregistration, entirely via the Internet. This encapsulates the principle of "letting data do more of the work so people need to do less" for foreign investment-related services.

For investors from Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR, notarization and legalization procedures have been simplified, notably through the electronic transfer of notarized documents issued in Hong Kong SAR. Beijing has promoted mutual recognition of documents certifying the status of foreign-invested entities across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta. Notarized documents that meet the criteria of the Apostille Convention are exempt from legalization. In addition, the unified standards for determining the types of foreign-invested business entities across Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei help reduce duplicate submissions caused by differences in documentation requirements, continuously contributing to a more open, convenient and business-friendly investment environment.

(Source: Official WeChat account of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation)