Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") has released the Circular on Effectively Implementing Foreign Capital Related Work in the Catalogue of Investment Projects Subject to Governmental Approval(2016 Version) (the "Circular").
The Circular clearly states that any project of the limited category with a total investment amount (including capital increase) of USD300 million or above indicated in the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries (the "Catalogue") shall be examined and approved by the NDRC, and it shall be submitted to the State Council for the record provided the total investment amount (including capital increase) reaches the level of USD2 billion or above; other projects of the limited category which are invested with a total amount of less than USD300 million shall be examined and approved by the provincial government. According to the Circular, other foreign-invested projects that are not described in the abovementioned two provisions but are enumerated in Article 1 to Article 10 of the Catalogue of Investment Projects Subject to Governmental Approval (2016 Version) shall be examined and approved pursuant to the provisions of Article 1 to Article 10. Moreover, the Circular sets forth that those foreign-invested projects beyond the scope of examination and approval and not in the prohibited category provided in the Catalogue shall be presented to local development and reform commissions for the record.