On 3 April 2024, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) released a notice regarding further optimizing foreign exchange business processes to facilitate trade (Hui Fa [2024] No. 11), effective from June 1, 2024.
The key facilitating measures in the Circular 11 include:
- Easy registration procedures for enterprises. Currently, local branches of the SAFE conduct the registration and approval for trade enterprise catalog administration, after the new Circular, domestic banks will directly handle the registration of enterprises to be listed in the trade enterprise catalog.
- Simple receipt/payment procedures for enterprises in Customs special trade. Domestic banks can simplify the procedures for handling foreign exchange receipts and payments for enterprises that are inconsistent with the import and export enterprises within the Customs special supervision areas according to the principle of business expansion.
- Generous procedures for special foreign exchange returns for Class A enterprises. Without the need of registration with SAFE, domestic banks may handle special foreign exchange returns for Class A enterprises’ goods trade, including non-original route returns and returns exceeding 180 days, with a single transaction cap of USD200,000.
- Optimized procedures for special foreign exchange returns for Class B/C enterprises. Class B and Class C enterprises that meet certain conditions can handle deferred receipts and payments exceeding 90 days after registration with local branches of the SAFE.
You may click the below link for the full contents of Hui Fa [2024] No. 11:
https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202404/content_6943880.htm