China
The corridor's eastern end and Eurasia's largest trading partner
For a European firm China is both a source of components and a destination market for premium brands. Since 2020 a foreigner may own a company under the unified Foreign Investment Law, which abolished the earlier special vehicles; restrictions are now set by the negative list of sectors. The practical obstacle is not ownership but currency regulation, the import-export licence, and the fact that almost everything is transacted in Chinese.
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Recent trade news from this country's authorities and newsrooms — tariffs, taxes, sanctions, currency, imports and exports. Headlines are in the original language; the article opens at the publisher. We add no comment.
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Setting up a company
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Legal forms
- ·Foreign ownership
- ·Licences and permits
- ·What to watch for
- ·Special regimes and zones
Taxes
Setting up a company and tax are the part of the profile you cannot assemble elsewhere in an afternoon. The rest of the page is open.
- ·Corporate income tax
- ·VAT
- ·Withholding tax — dividends
- ·Tax reliefs
- ·Double taxation treaty
What it makes and needs
Electronics and components, machinery, textiles, chemicals, vehicles and batteries.
Integrated circuits, oil and gas, ores, soya, machinery and luxury consumer goods.
Premium food and drink including wine, cosmetics, medical devices, industrial machinery and branded consumer goods.
Money and payments
A managed rate with regulated capital operations. Payments for goods are routine, but the bank asks for the contract, the invoice and the customs declaration.
Importing into their market
Mandatory CCC certification for defined product categories; food, cosmetics and medical devices have their own registration with the relevant authority.
A simplified-Chinese label is compulsory. For prepackaged food, labels are no longer filed in advance since 1 October 2019: the importer verifies compliance and customs checks by sampling.
Bringing their goods into the EU
China has no free-trade agreement with the EU and is not in GSP — the full common tariff applies, with anti-dumping duties on many lines.
Imports into the EU are subject to anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which change after investigations. The forced-labour regulation on supply chains applies from 14 December 2027.
Practical matters
Chinese is the language of the authorities and of contracts; a bilingual contract with a governing-language clause is standard.
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