We have been working with a client to update its registered information with AIC (Administration of Industry and Commerce). The client is a Chinese-foreign Equity Joint Venture (EJV). One of the EJV’s foreign shareholders’ name has been changed requiring a corresponding registration update in China with the local AIC.
It sounds like a simple thing, but nothing involving the China bureaucracy is simple. Changing the shareholder’s registered name along is not enough; the Articles of Association of the company must also be amended and newly registered with the authority.
Required documentation includes an Application Letter, a Board Resolution, and POA, in addition to the revised AOA. Each of these documents must be officially executed by a particular company official. If the shareholder whose name has been changed is registered in a foreign country, a document which certifies the identity of the shareholder, such as the incorporation certificate, is required and must notarized and legalized by relevant authority in the foreign country.
As if all that were not enough, we have seen documentation denied for not being signed with the correct type of pen!
After all documentation is ready, the appropriate local AIC office serving the China company in question must be determined. Savvy filers will set up an appointment online, rather than waiting in line at the office.
This EJV is just one example. Our law firm has successfully handled hundreds of similar matters on behalf of foreign companies around China. Our professionals are able to save you time and money and avoid any legal risk.