The General Office of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce ("SAIC") has recently distributed the Circular on Further Unifying and Regulating the Administration of Enterprises' Registration (the "Circular").
The Circular sets out concrete requirements in four respects, such as "implementing the nationwide unified identity information administration for enterprises' registration". Further, the Circular clearly states that from December 31, 2018, targets subject to the identity information administration shall have their identities verified through the identity information management system, when the registration formalities are handled. In addition, the Circular requires that authorities in all places shall make an overall plan to push for standardizing enterprises' registration, a move to regulate the administration of the registration of corporate names, registration of business scope, administration of business licenses, formats of registration materials and documents, and the construction of registration windows, as well as the development of registration systems. Moreover, the Circular calls for further strengthening the construction of systems and mechanisms, fully implementing the "review by form" system and the registration system with "review and approval consolidated", safeguarding enterprises' discretion over the ways to handle relevant affairs, and effectively working on substituting the new versions of documents and the latest rules in this regard.