The investment environment in Chongqing

Chongqing, as an investment destination of highest potential in West China, has the following five advantages:  Location Chongqing is located at the core of the economic belt of the upper Yangtze, connecting China's vast west and eastern coast. It is the key region for implementing China's Go West Policy.  Infrastructure  Chongqing is the only transportation hub in West China that integrates water, land, and air transportation. Several trunk railways and artery expressways meet in Chongqing. Fleets of three thousand-ton ships can reach Chongqing port along the Yangtze. Chongqing Jiangbei Airport is one of China's major airports. Chongqing is one of the load centers of the State Grid in West China. Chongqing has a highly reliable energy supply thanks to the abundant local output of coal and natural gas.  Industrial sectors  Chongqing has diverse and competitive industrial sectors as well as a good supplier network. Chongqing was one of China's industrial bases and now is strengthening its five backbone industries: automobile & motorcycle, chemical & pharmaceutical, construction & building material, food, and tourism. Chongqing is also expediting the development of the high-tech industries: IT, bioengineering and environmental protection.  R&D and Education  Chongqing has a large pool of R&D talents in 1,000 more institutions and 34 universities and colleges. Over 600,000 people are engaged in R&D or technical work.  Market potential  Chongqing has enormous demands for consumption and investment. This attributes to its large population, the improvement of people's living standards (from just having adequate food and clothing to the well-being), the emigration of residents and relocation of factories and towns from the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, large-scale infrastructure projects, protection of ecological environment and the treatment of pollution, and the upgrading of the old industrial bases.  At the new momentum of implementing the Go West strategy, Chongqing has its ambition. It plans to accelerate economic and social development, become the window of China to the world, exert its influence to surrounding areas, and back the development of the Southwest China and the upper Yangtze, based on the CENHUB strategic framework (to make Chongqing the centers of business and trade, finance and science, education, information and culture, the hubs of transportation and telecommunication, and a high-tech based modern industrial base).

The investment environment in Shaanxi Province

1.  LocationShaanxi is located at the geometric center of China’s territory. The geodetic origin, China’s geographical identification, just lies in Yongle Town, Jingyang County of Shaanxi. Covering a total area of 205,800 square kilometers, Shaanxi Province is an important hub connecting the eastern, central, northwestern and southwestern parts of China across the two basins of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.Shaanxi has a massive market with a permanent resident population of 38.13 million within its own territory and a population of 400 million in its surrounding provinces.Because of its location at the geometric center of China, Shaanxi has the shortest distances from every corners of the country compared with other regions. 2-hour flight from the Xi’an Xianyang International Airport can cover 70% of China’s territory.Shaanxi used to be the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and now it is the core area of "Belt and Road" development. The new Eurasian Land Bridge International Economic Cooperation Corridor under construction connects the world’s most rapidly growing economy- East Asia with Europe.2. InfrastructureIn recent years, Shaanxi has witnessed supernormal development of its infrastructure. Modern comprehensive transportation network has been formed, which makes a new strength for Shaanxi’s opening up and development.- High Speed Railway: The "Union Jack"-shaped high speed railway network has been extended rapidly. The high speed railway from Datong to Xi’an has been opened; the Zhengzhou-Xi’an high speed railway has been connected with Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway; the Xi'an-Chengdu and Xi'an-Lanzhou high-speed railways will be opened soon. These high speed railways greatly shorten the distances between Xi’an and other major cities and form a one-day circle connected by high-speed railways.- Highways: The Shaanxi sections of the 6 national highways including Beijing-Kunming Highway, Lianyungang-Khorgos Highway and Baotou-Maoming Highway have been completed. The provincial total in-use highway mileage reached 5180 km and under-construction highway mileage 1000-odd km.- Modern Aviation Network: There are 42 international airlines from Xi'an to Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Moscow and other major cities in the world. The Xi'an Xianyang International Airport is one of China’s eight biggest airports. It achieved a passenger throughput of 36.99 million person times in 2016.- Metro: According to the “Big Xi’an” metro plan, the city will have 23 metro lines, of which Line 1, Line 2 and Line 3 have been fully put into operation. Now, Shaanxi metro has an operating mileage of 85.8 km and under-construction mileage of 94.5 km.- Trans-Border Railway: The "Chang'an" freight train has been included into national “Sino-Europe Express”, with a frequency of 2 to 3 times every week. Sources of goods cover the surrounding eight provinces and regions of Shaanxi as well as coastal areas like Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai.3. Mineral ResourcesShaanxi is rich in natural resources especially mineral resources.- Total Resource Reserves: The mineral reserves which have been recorded on the mineral resource reserves list are evaluated at over RMB 42 trillion, ranked top nationwide.- Energy Resources: The recoverable deposit of coal, oil and natural gas is respectively ranked fourth, fifth and fourth nationwide.- Other Resources: Shaanxi has considerable reserves of iron, copper, lead, aluminum, molybdenum, gold, silver, etc. Its reserves of salt and phosphorus are respectively ranked first and seventh in the country.

Measures for the Recordation Administration of Overseas Projects in Shaanxi Province

Chapter I General ProvisionsArticle 1 In order to promote and standardize foreign investment in Shaanxi province and transform the administrative functions of overseas projects, these Measures are developed in accordance with the AdministrativeLicense Law of PRC, Administrative Measures for the Confirmation and Recordation of Overseas Projects (OrderNo. 9 of the National Development and Reform Commission), Notice on the implementation of Administrative Measures for the Confirmation and Recordation of Overseas Projects by NDRC (NDRC waizi (2014) No. 0947).Article 2 Overseas project adopt a dual level confirmation and recordation management system, namely national and provincial level. Overseas projects involving sensitive countries and regions and industries shall be subject to the confirmation of NDRC or the State Council regardless of their scale. Overseas projects with Chinese investment of over 300 million dollars shall be recorded with NDRC. Overseas projects beyond the afore-mentioned scope shall record with provincial-level development and reform commissions.Article 3 The measures apply to various legal entities except for centrally managed enterprises (“investment entities”) in Shaanxi administration region and overseas investment projects in the form of new construction, M&A, share subscription, capital increase and capital injection as well as when investors provide financing or collaterals through their foreign enterprises or institutions.Article 4 Overseas projects in this Measure refer to activities when investment entities invest cash, marketable securities, intellectual property or technologies, equity, debt or guarantees to gain interests of overseas ownership, management rights and so on.Article 5 Chinese investment amount in this Measure refers to the total amount of assets and equities such as cash, marketable securities, intellectual property or technologies, stock equity or debt equities, or the amount of guarantees provided.Article 6 Provincial development and reform commission works along with relevant departments to strengthen macro guidance, investment guidance and comprehensive service so as to provide a favorable external environment for investors’ overseas investment projects.Chapter II Recordation Organs and AuthoritiesArticle 7 If Chinese investment is below 300 million dollars and no sensitive countries and regions, and industries are involved, the overseas projects shall file with provincial level development and reform commissions for recordation. If the investment amount is above 300 million dollars and no sensitive countries and regions, and industries are involved, the overseas projects shall file with the National Development and Reform Commission for recordation.The sensitive countries and regions mentioned in this Measure include: countries with no diplomatic relations with China or under international sanctions, countries or regions inflicted with war or internal civil strife.The sensitive industries include: basic telecommunication operation, trans-border water resource development and utilization, large-scale land development, power transmission, power grid, news and media etc.Article 8 For overseas projects with long periods of preparatory work, and huge amount of preparatory costs (including deposits, transaction fee of L/C, intermediary service fee, resource exploration fee etc.), investment entities shall file for preparation expense recordation with provincial development and reform commissions in accordance with the current foreign exchange management requirements. And the filed project’s preparatory expense shall be included in Chinese investment amount.Article 9 For overseas acquisition or bidding projects with over 100 million dollars Chinese investment, the investment entity shall file project information materials with provincial reform and development commission before substantial investments are made. The information report materials include letter of submission and project information report. Having received the report materials, provincial development and reform commission shall confirm or transfer the project that complies with the overseas investment policy to NDRC within 7 working days. If there are major unfavorable factors involved, provincial commission will highlight risks by adding special notes in the letter of confirmation. Provincial commission will strictly examinethis kind of project during recordation process. Investment entities and relevant financial institutions shall make prudent decisions.The overseas acquisition project in this Measure refers to cases where investment entities acquire all or part of equities, assets or other owners’ interests by way of agreements or offers. Overseas bidding project refers to cases where investment entities acquire all or part of equities, assets or other owner’s interests by way of open or closed competitive bidding process. Substantial work by overseas acquisition project herein refers to signing binding agreements with foreign counterparties, giving binding offers and filing for application with examination authorities in counterparty’s country or region. Trans-border bidding project refers to official bidding.Chapter III Recordation Procedure and ConditionsArticle 10 Projects subject to provincial development and reform commission recordation shall submit materials and documentations to provincial commission after pre-examination by prefecture level investment authorities. Province-affiliated enterprises and provincial governments’ work units can directly submit materials and documentation to the provincial development and reform commission.Application materials include:1. Application document for recordation2. Project recordation application form3. Board decision or relevant financing decision, SOE foreign investment shall attach examination opinion from state asset management department4. Bidding, acquisition or joint venture projects shall submit Letter of Investment Interest or framework agreements etc.Projects subject to NDRC recordation shall directly submit recordation application materials toprovincial development and reform commission with opinions fromlocal and prefecture development and reform commission attached. Provincial development and reform commission shall transfer to NDRC within 7 days.Article 11 If the application forms and appendix are not complete or do not meet requirements, provincial development and reform commission shall notify project applicants at once within 5 working days for any remedies to be made.Article 12 Provincial-level development and reform commission shall issue recordation notice to qualified overseas investment project within 7 working days after handling project recordation application. If the application is rejected, a written notice shall be issued to the applicant with reasons given and the applicant is entitled to administrative review or file for administrative lawsuit.If the decision cannot be made within 7 working days, the person in charge can approve an extension of 7 working days and notify the applicants of the reasons for extension.Article 13 Conditions for recordation with provincial development and reform commission are:1. Within the scope of recordation management.2. Compliance with relevant laws and regulations, Industry policy and overseas investment policy.3. Compliance with regulations on state-owned asset management.4. No threat to national sovereignty, security and public interests.5. Investment entities shall be financially capable of investment.Article 14 If any one of the following scenarios happens to the recorded project, an application for changes shall be filed with provincial development and reform commission in accordance with Article 7 of this Measure.1. Change of main contents and scale.2. Change of investment entities or equity structure.3. Chinese investment exceeds no less than 20% of the original amount.Chapter IV Validity of the Recordation DocumentsArticle 15 Investment entities shall go through the procedure of foreign exchange, customs, entry and exit administration and taxation based on the recordation notice. Projects without going through the procedure with authorized departments shall be rejected of any formalities and denied of any loans by financial institutions.Article 16 For any signed documents for their overseas investment project to be legally binding, investment entities shall obtain recordation notice first; or the signed document shall contain a clause saying that condition for the document to be effective is receiving a recordation notice.Article 17 The recordation notice shall contain duration of effectiveness among which recordation notice for construction projects lasts 2 years, while the rest for one year.If the investment entity cannot finish relevant procedures provided in Article 15 within duration of effectiveness, the entity shall apply for an extension within 30 working days before the expiration of the notice.Chapter V Legal LiabilitiesArticle 18 If employees of the provincial development and reform commission show any of the following behavior, they shall be ordered to make amendments and in accordance with Regulations on the Administrative Sanctions of Civil Servants, the responsible party shall be given administrative sanctions. If the behavior constitutes a crime, the wrongdoer shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to law1. Abuse of power, malpractice, jobbery or bribery.2. In violation of the procedures and conditions provided in this Measure for project recordation.3. Other behaviors that violate this Measure.Article 19 Investment entity shall be responsible for the authenticity and legality of the application materials. Where the project applicant obtains the project approval and recordation document through improper means such as violation of rules and regulations or providing false materials, the provincial reform and development commission shall reject the applicant for recordation or transfer. For the recorded projects, the approval and recordation organ shall revoke their recordation document and give warnings to them.Article 20 For projects initiated at free will without obtaining recordation notice or that are implemented not in accordance with the recordation notice and that should submit project information report but have not received information report confirmation letter, the relevant party shall be prosecuted for criminal liability according to law by provincial development and reform commission and relevant departments.Chapter VI Supplementary ProvisionsArticle 21 This Measure also applies to overseas investments in equity participation or establishment of equity investment fund.Specific Administrative Measure shall apply to overseas investment projects by natural person or other organizations.Implementing confirmed overseas investment project shall conform to the Administrative Measures for the Confirmation and Recordation of Overseas Projects (OrderNo. 9 of the National Development and Reform Commission).Article 22 This Measure also applies to investments made in Hong Kong Special Administration Region and Macao Special Administration Region investors. Other specific Administrative Measure applies to investments made in Taiwan.Article 23 This Measure shall be effective as of June 27, 2015 and terminated as of June 26, 2020.

Measures of Shaanxi Province on the Administration of Protection of Water Leading System of Shitouhe Reservoir

Chapter I General ProvisionsArticle 1 These Measures are formulated for the purposes of protecting and administrating the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir and safeguarding the water utilization safety in accordance with the Water Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and other correlated laws, rules and regulations as well as in combination of the actual situations of Shaanxi Province.Article 2 The term “water leading system in Shitouhe reservoir” as entitled in these Measures means the water leading project of Shitouhe reservoir and the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir.Article 3 These Measures shall apply to the protection and administration of water leading system in Shitouhe reservoir.Article 4 The protection and administration of water leading system in Shitouhe reservoir shall be carried out under the principles of unified planning, hierarchical responsibilities, and the combination of the management of specialized organs with the administration of the local people’s governments at the region.Article 5 The people’s governments at city, county and district levels where the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir is located shall bring the protection of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir into the planning for national economic and social development and do well the work for the protection of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir within their respective administrative regions.Article 6 The water administrative superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province shall be responsible for the protection and administration of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir; the irrigation administration bureau of Shitouhe reservoir of Shaanxi Province (hereinafter referred to as “specialized organ”) shall be in charge of the specific work for the protection and administration of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir.Administrative superintending departments such as the environmental protection, the construction, the public security, the transportation, the land and resources, the agriculture, the forestry，the tourism, the health and so on, shall do well their jobs for the protection of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir in accordance with their respective responsibilities.Article 7 Every unit and individual shall have the right to report to the relevant departments behaviors of the destruction of water leading project and the contamination of water sources.Chapter II Protection of Water Leading ProjectArticle 8 Water leading project of Shitouhe reservoir shall include the water modulation, water reservation and water supply engineering and their subsidiary facilities.Article 9 The protected zone of the water leading project of Shitouhe reservoir shall be the following:(1) The area covering the two ends of the reservoir dam and the 100m extension from two sides of the dam’s supporting facilities including the water-carrying tunnel, the flood-discharging tunnel and the flood spillway as well as an area covering 1500m at lower reaches of the dam;(2) The area extending 100m from two sides of the inlet and outlet of key project leading water from Hongyan River to Shitouhe River (overflow dam, inlet gate and sand sluicing gate) and water leading tunnel as well as 1000m respectively from both upper and lower reaches;(3) The Area extending 10m from the two sides of the outer slope toe of open water tunnels (opening line of excavation channel);(4) The zone of the covering surface of water delivering underdrain (pipe) and 10m area at both its sides;(5) The area covering 1000m in upper reaches and 1500m in lower reaches of river channels where water delivering aqueducts and inverted siphons pass through; and(6) The area covering 10m periphery of facilities including water volume and quality monitoring, communications, power supply and other subsidiary facilities.Article 10 The following actions shall be prohibited within the protected area of water leading project in Shitouhe reservoir:(1) Blasting, piling , drilling wells,boring,quarrying,dugging pits, fetching earth, sand dredging and building cemetery;(2) Discharging directly or indirectly sewage and harmful substances into water carrying facilities or dumping rubbish;(3) Intercepting water from water carrying facilities without authorization;(4) Covering, removing or destroying relevant signs and air vent;(5) Constructing buildings and structures or erecting electric poles without authorization;(6) Carrying out deforestation and abrupt slope reclamation;(7) Motor vehicles other than vehicles used for urgent tasks such as flooding fighting, military movement and public security as well as ambulance passing along reservoir dam top or roads on upper dam;(8) Piling up sundries or drying forages on reservoir dam body; and(9) Other behaviors that might cause damage to the water leading project.Article 11 Road construction and pipeline installation shall be banned in the protected area of water leading project in Shitouhe reservoir; where roads have to built and pipelines have to be laid, the construction unit should ask the specialized organ for opinions and implement the construction according to safety requirements of water leading project and under the supervision and inspection of the specialized organ.Chapter III Protection of Water SourcesArticle 12 The specialized organ and the people’s governments of cities, counties and districts where the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir are located shall strengthen the protection of water sources and ensure water quality of water sources in the protected areas of Shitouhe reservoir compliant with the standards provided by the State for water quality of water sources in the protected areas of drinking water and surface water.Article 13 The protected areas of water sources of Shitouhe reservoir shall be divided into the first-grade, the second-grade and the quasi-protected areas:(1) The first-grade protected area: a land area extending 100m from normal water line of Shitouhe reservoir and the water area covering entire reservoir region;(2) The second-grade protected area: a dip slope area beyond the upper bound of the first-grade protected area or a land area extending 300m from upper bound; a water area ranging from the inlets of rivers running into reservoir to intake of project transferring water from Hongyan River to Shitouhe River and tracing upstream 2000m as well as a land area extending 200m from the river banks on both sides;(3) The quasi-protected area: the rest basin of Shitouhe reservoir beyond upper bound of the second-grade protected areas.Article 14 The following actions shall be prohibited in the protected areas of water sources of Shitouhe reservoir:(1) Destroying water conservation forest, bank protective forest and vegetation relative to water source protection;(2) Dumping industrial residues, rubbish, fecal sewages and other castoffs into water areas;(3) Using hyper-toxic and high-persistent pesticides;(4) Capturing and killing fish and other creatures by using explosives and poison; and(5) Building projects of small-scale chemical factories involved in pulping, printing and dyeing, leather-making, galvanizing, oil refining and producing pesticides, which seriously contaminate water environment and are not equipped with water pollution controlling measures.Article 15 The following activities shall also be prohibited in the first-grade protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir:(1) Building projects irrelevant to water facilities and water source protection;(2) Discharging pollutants into water body;(3) Prospecting and mining mineral resources;(4) Livestock breeding and growing crops;(5) Carrying out tourism and its development;(6) Piling up solid industrial castoffs, rubbish, fecal sewages and other poisonous and harmful substances;(7) Building cemetery and burying animal carcass; and(8) Other activities which may contaminate the water sources.The already-existing pollution outlets within the first-grade protected area of water sources before these Measures being put in force shall be removed in the time limit; the already-existing pollution sources such as the tourism facilities, the mining facilities and so on shall be clamped down; the harmful substances be cleaned up.Article 16 The following provisions shall be observed in the second-grade protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir:(1) New construction or reconstruction of projects that discharge pollutants into water areas shall be prohibited;(2) Sewage discharged from all units must reach the criteria provided for; solid castoffs must be treated in time when shipped out of protected areas; for projects of reconstruction and technological transformation, the gross pollutant discharge must be reduced and the gross pollutant discharge control must be implemented; and(3) The scale of aquaculture and poultry breeding shall be controlled according to the water quality and the water quantity.Article 17 The discharge concentration and the gross control of pollutants shall be implemented if pollutants have to be discharged into the water area in the quasi-grade protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir.Article 18 Where to fell the forests that protect the bank and the mound in the first-grade protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir, opinions from the specialized organ shall be solicited for and the permitting procedures for the felling be went through according to law,as well as the reseeding and replanting vegetation be accomplished in accordance with the provisions.Article 19 Where to newly construct, to reconstruct and to extend construction projects in the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir, the specialized organ’s opinion shall be solicited for and the environment impact appraisal shall be carried out according to law; the project construction shall be carried on according to the requirements for the safety of the water sources, and the supervision and inspection from the specialized organ shall be accepted.The water pollution prevention facilities for construction projects shall be designed, constructed and put into service simultaneously with the main construction. The water pollution controlling facilities shall be examined by the administrative superintending department of environmental protection; if these controlling facilities fail to meet the requirement as specified, that construction project shall not be permitted to be put into production or usage.Article 20 Units located in the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir should carry out pollution preventions according to law; if a unit has caused serious water pollution, that said unit shall be ordered to undertake treatment within a limited time; if the treatment still fails to reach the target, that unit shall be ordered to change its line of production or close up according to law.Article 21 Vehicles carrying poisonous, harmful and hazardous chemical substances shall be banned to pass through in the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir; if the vehicles have indeed to pass through the areas, then relevant provisions shall be applied for according to the State Council’s Regulations of the Safety Administration on Dangerous Chemical Substances.Chapter IV Supervision and AdministrationArticle 22 The specialized organ and the people’s government at the level of the county (city and district) where the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir is located shall decide and mark off the protected areas for the water leading project of Shitouhe reservoir and the water sources, set up signs and define boundary in accordance with the stipulations of Article 9 and Article 13 of these Measures.Article 23 The specialized organ shall fulfill the following responsibilities during the protection of water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir:(1) Drawing up the planning for the protection of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir and implementing the planning after submitting for the approval from the water administrative superintending department of Shaanxi Province;(2) Carrying out the regular inspection and daily patrolling on the water leading project, making timely first-aid repair when discover accident, and ensuring the safety of water leading project; and(3) Investigating and dealing with these illegal actions that destroy the water leading project and contaminate the water sources according to law.Article 24 The administrative superintending departments of environmental protection shall strengthen the supervision and inspection on the water pollution prevention in the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir and ensure the safety of the quality of the water sources.Article 25 The transportation administrative department of public security organ shall do well the job for the safety inspection on the vehicles entering the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir.The public security organ stationed in Shitouhe reservoir shall do well the work for the safety and guidance of Shitouhe reservoir and maintain the security and order within the scope of Shitouhe reservoir.Article 26 The relevant administrative superintending departments, such as the land and resources, the agriculture, the forestry, the tourism, the health, the construction and so on, shall, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, strengthen the administration and the supervision and inspection on such matters as the land, the mineral resources, the plantation and cultivation, the forest, the tourism, the epidemic prevention, the construction and so on in the protected areas of the water sources of Shitouhe reservoir, and prevent the vegetations from destruction and the water quality from pollution in the water source protected areas.Article 27 When dangerous situation appears in the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir, the specialized organ shall report immediately to the water administrative superintending department at the higher level and the local people’s government, as well as take contingency measures.Chapter V Legal LiabilitiesArticle 28 Where for the violation of Clauses (7) and (8) of Article 10 of these Measures, the specialized organ shall order to stop the illegal action, and shall impose the fine of not more than RMB 200 Yuan.Article 29 Where for the violation of Article 11 of these Measures, the specialized organ shall order to stop the illegal action, and impose the fine of not more than RMB 1000 Yuan; if any loss incurred, that loss shall be compensated according to law.Article 30 Where for other actions in violation of these Measures, and laws, rules and regulations have the provisions for the punishment, these provisions shall prevail.Article 31 Where in the violation of these Measures by obstructing law enforcers’ to perform their official functions under law, the public security organs shall carry out the punishment in accordance with the relevant provisions on security administration; if a crime has been suspected to constitute, that suspect can be transferred to a judicial organ for investigation and punishment according to law.Article 32 Where the working personnel from corresponding units, during the protection and the administration of the water leading system of Shitouhe reservoir, have abused their authority powers, neglected their duties, practiced favoritism and engaged in fraud,theri working unit or the administrative department at the higher level shall grant administrative sanction according to law; if a crime has been suspected to constitute, that suspect can be transferred to a judicial organ for investigation and punishment according to law.Chapter VI Supplementary ProvisionsArticle 33 These Measures shall be in force as of February 1st, 2009. While the Measures of Shaanxi Province for the Administration of Xi’an Water Supply Works of Shitouhe Reservoir promulgated by the people’s government of Shaanxi Province on March 19th, 1997 shall be abolished at the same time.

Decision of the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province on Amending the Measures of Shaanxi Province for Levying on Water Resource Fees

The people’s government of Shaanxi Province has decided to make the following amendments to the Measures of Shaanxi Province for Levying on Water Resource Fees in accordance with the Regulations Governing the Licensing for Water Drawing and the Levying on Water Resource Fees of the State Council:1. Amending Article 1 as: “These Measures are formulated for the purposes of strengthening the administration of water resources and promoting the reasonable exploitation and the sustainable utilization of water resources, in accordance with the Water Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of the Licensing for Water Drawing and the Levying on Water Resource Fees and the Measures of Shaanxi Province on the Implementation of the ‘Water Law of the People’s Republic of China’ and in combination of the actual situations of Shaanxi Province.”2. Amending Clause 1 of Article 2 as: “Any unit or individual (hereinafter referred to as the ‘water taker’) who draws water directly from underground, rivers, lakes and reservoirs by making use of water drawing projects or facilities within the administrative region of Shaanxi Province shall pay water resource fees in accordance with these Measures.”Adding “The term ‘water drawing projects or facilities’ as entitled in these Measures shall refer to water gates, dams, channels, siphons, artificial riverways, water pumps, wells and hydropower stations” as Clause 2 of Article 2; Changing accordingly the original Clause 2 and Clause 3 of Article 2 to be the Clauses 3 and Clause 4.3. Amending Clause 2 of Article 8 as: “The water administration superintending departments of the people’s governments at or above county levels that grant water drawing licenses shall issue special payment letter for water resource fees in accordance with the water withdrawal of the water taker.”Amending Clause 3 as “The water resource fees for the water withdrawals licensed by the watershed administrative organs of the State within the administrative region of Shaanxi Province shall be levied upon by the water administration superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province.”4. Amending Clause 2 of Article 9 as: “The water taker should go to the exchequer correspondent bank to pay the water resource fees within seven days upon receipt of the payment notice for water resource fees. An overdue fine of 2‰ per day shall be imposed on the delayed payment; those who reject to pay the fees shall be punished by the water administration superintending department that made the decision on levying on water resource fees according to Article 70 of the Water Law of People’s Republic of China.”5. Amending Article 12 as: “All water resource fees levied upon at all the levels shall be turned into the special financial account of Shaanxi Province, be mainly used for the economization, protection and administration of water resources, and also be used for reasonable exploitation of water resources. The specific administrative methods of allocating and using shall be formulated separately by the superintending departments of finance and water administration of Shaanxi Province.”6. Amending Article 17 as: “Where the working personnel from water administration superintending departments, in their work of levying on water resource fees and the supervision and administration, fail to levy on water resource fees according to the provision, fail to perform their obligation of supervision, abuse their authorities, seek favoritisms and crook laws, and figure for self-interests, their superintending department or the supervision organs shall impose an administrative sanction on the person in direct charge and on the person directly responsible for from that department; if the circumstances are so serious as to constitute a crime, that person(s) shall be transferred to a judicial organ for investigation according to law.”This Decision shall be in force as of November 1st, 2008.The Measures of Shaanxi Province for Levying on Water Resource Fees shall be amended correspondingly and be re-promulgated in accordance with this Decision.Measures of Shaanxi Province for Levying on Water Resource Fees(Promulgated on February 25th, 2004 by Decree No. 95 of the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province and amended in accordance with the Decision of the People’s Government of Shaanxi Province on Amending the ‘Measures of Shaanxi Province for Levying on Water Resource Fees' issued on October 20th, 2008.)Article 1 These Measures are formulated for the purposes of strengthening the administration of water resources and promoting the reasonable exploitation and the sustainable utilization of water resources, in accordance with the Water Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of the Licensing for Water Drawing and the Levying on Water Resource Fees and the Measures of Shaanxi Province on the Implementation of the ‘Water Law of the People’s Republic of China’ and in combination of the actual situations of Shaanxi Province.Article 2 Any unit or individual (hereinafter referred to as the ‘water taker’) who draws water directly from underground, rivers, lakes and reservoirs by making use of water drawing projects or facilities within the administrative region of Shaanxi Province shall pay water resource fees in accordance with these Measures.The term ‘water drawing projects or facilities’ as entitled in these Measures shall refer to water gates, dams, channels, siphons, artificial riverways, water pumps, wells and hydropower stations.Water resource fees shall be exempted for those who are not required to apply for the water withdrawal license according to the Detailed Rules of Shaanxi Province on the Implementation of Licensing System for Water Drawing.Water drawing for agricultural irrigations shall be provisionally free of water resource fees, but not including the water drawing for the plantation of farm produces, the cultivation and the processing engaged by enterprises and institutional units.Article 3 The water administration superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province shall be responsible for the administration and supervision of levying on water resource fees in the whole province.The water administration superintending departments of the people’s governments of cities, counties and districts shall be responsible for the administration and supervision of levying on water resource fees within their respective administrative regions in accordance with the permitted power limit for water drawing provided in the Detailed Rules of Shaanxi Province on the Implementation of Licensing System for Water Drawing.Article 4 Water resource fees shall be measured and collected according to the water withdrawal per water taker as a unit, while the water resource fees from the water withdrawal for the hydorpowershall be measured and collected in terms of electricity capacity generated. Water resource fees for such industries as mining of coal, oil and so on shall be measured and collected on the basis of gross exploitation capacity of crude coal and oil.Article 5 The criteria for levying on water resource fees shall be confirmed in accordance with the principles of groundwater higher than surface water, groundwater over-extraction areas higher than ordinary areas, areas in short of water resources higher than plentiful areas and water withdrawal for production operation higher than life and environmental water withdrawal. The specific criteria for levying on water resource fees shall be separately made certain by the price superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province along with the water administration superintending department and the finance superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province.Article 6 Water takers should draw water in accordance with the water use plan approved by the water administration superintending department. For those who have overtaken water beyond the plan, they shall be imposed a progressively price -increasing water resource fees. Where the exceeding amount of water withdrawal is within 20% (including 20%) beyond the plan, the water resource fees shall be measured and collected twice from the exceeding amount according to the specified levying criteria; where the exceeding amount of water withdrawal ranges from 20% to 40% (including 40%) beyond the plan, the water resource fees shall be three times from the exceeding amount according to the specified levying criteria; where the exceeding amount of water withdrawal exceeds 40% of the plan, the water resource fees shall be five times from the exceeding amount according to the specified levying criteria.Article 7 Water takers should install qualified water drawing metering devices in accordance with the provisions. Where for those who fail to install metering devices in accordance with the provisions or their metering devices are not in normal working conditions, the water administration superintending department shall order them either to install or to repair or to replace the device within the time limit; if they refuse to either install or repair or replace the device beyond the limited time, the water resource fees shall be measured and collected according to the maximum water withdrawal capacity of the water drawing device in successive running.Article 8 Water resource fees shall be levied upon by classification grade in accordance with the authorities for water drawing licensing.The water administration superintending departments of the people’s governments at or above county levels that grant water drawing licenses shall issue special payment letter for water resource fees in accordance with the water withdrawal of the water taker.The water resource fees for the water withdrawals licensed by the watershed administrative organs of the State within the administrative region of Shaanxi Province shall be levied upon by the water administration superintending department of the people’s government of Shaanxi Province.Article 9 Water resource fees shall be paid and received on a monthly basis.The water taker should go to the exchequer correspondent bank to pay the water resource fees within seven days upon receipt of the payment notice for water resource fees. An overdue fine of 2‰ per day shall be imposed on the delayed payment; those who reject to pay the fees shall be punished by the water administration superintending department that made the decision on levying on water resource fees according to Article 70 of the Water Law of the People’s Republic of China.Article 10 Special charging bills for water resource fees shall be printed and made uniformly by the financial department of Shaanxi Province.Article 11 The water administration superintending departments shall not extend without authorization their ambit of charges, or increase their charge criteria, or collect fees exceeding their authorities; nor shall reduce or exempt at will water resource fees.Article 12 All water resource fees levied upon at all the levels shall be turned into the special financial account of Shaanxi Province, be mainly used for the economization, protection and administration of water resources, and also be used for reasonable exploitation of water resources. The specific administrative methods of allocating and using shall be formulated separately by the superintending departments of finance and water administration of Shaanxi Province.Article 13 Water resource fees contributed by water supply enterprises shall be reckoned into the water supply price as the resource water price while those Water resource fees contributed by other enterprises shall be reckoned in production cost. But these fees collected as a result of a progressively price-increasing water resource fees for the overtaken water amount beyond the water use plan shall not be reckoned into production cost.Article 14 Where for those to draw water without acquiring for the water drawing license, the water administration superintending department of the people’s governments at or above county levels shall order them to stop drawing water or to make supplementary payment of the water resource fees for the water amount they have drawn, and punish them in accordance with Article 69 of the Water Law of the People’s Republic of China.Article 15 Parties shall have the right to request for an evidence hearing provided they have been imposed a fine of more than RMB 30,000 Yuan in accordance with these Measures.Article 16 Parties may apply for an administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit according to law, if they are malcontent with the specific administrative action made by the water administration superintending department.Article 17 Where the working personnel from water administration superintending departments, in their work of levying on water resource fees and the supervision and administration, fail to levy on water resource fees according to the provision, fail to perform their obligation of supervision, abuse their authorities, seek favoritisms and crook laws, and figure for self-interests, their superintending department or the supervision organs shall impose an administrative sanction on the person in direct charge and on the person directly responsible for from that department; if the circumstances are so serious as to constitute a crime, that person(s) shall be transferred to a judicial organ for investigation according to law.Article 18 These Measures shall be in force as of April 1st, 2004. The Interim Measures of Shaanxi Province on the Administration and Use of Levying on Water Resource Fees jointly printed and distributed by the price bureau, the finance department and the water conservancy department of Shaanxi Province shall be abolished at the same time.

The investment environment in Hubei Province

1.  Location Hubei Province lies in the middle reach of the Yangtze River with an area of 186,000 square kilometers. Situated 108'21"-116'07" east longitude and 29'05"-33'20" north latitude, it got its name from being in the north of the Dongting Lake. The terrain of Hubei Province is high in the west and low in the east and wide open to the south, the Jianghan Plain. The province is surrounded on three sides (east, west and north) by mountains. Its low and flat middle part is a piece of incomplete basin slightly open towards south. Of the gross area, there are 56% mountains, 24% hills and 20% lowland lake area. As to mountains, they are divided into four parts in the province. Northwestern mountains are area extending to the east by Qinling and east section of Daba Mountain. Area extending to the east by Qinling is called Wudang mountain chain, going from northwest to southeast, with lots of mountains. Altitude of ridge of mountains is generally above 1000m, and the highest is Tianzhu Peak of Wudang Mountain with altitude of 1621m. East section of Daba Mountain consists of Shennongjia, Jingshan Mountain and Wushan Mountain, with thick forests and deep river valleys. Peak of Shennongjia is Shennongding with altitude of 3105m, always known as “The First Peak in Central China”. 2. Industry Hubei, the birthplace of modern industry in China, is one of the important old industrial bases and one of the three largest steel bases in our country. It is also the largest production base of medium, heavy, sheet plates and special steel, the second largest production base of automobiles and the largest production base of medium trucks, the largest production base of heavy machine tools and packaging machinery, the biggest hydraulic power base, and the largest production base of Join-alkali, agricultural chemicals, phosphorus, salt chemical industry and striate gypsum. It is also a national photoelectron information industrial base in China and one of modernized traditional Chinese medicine bases and important textile bases. It has established a distinctive industrial system, forming a pattern with automobile, steel and photoelectron information as advantaged industry. (I) Automobile Industry With the construction and development over 50 years, the mechanism and automobile industry in Hubei province has established the industrial foundation with “one leading industry and two belts”. “One leading industry” refers to take the automobile industry as the leading role, building a wide range of 13 industries with rich strength such as machine tools, electrical appliances, instruments and meters, general petrochemical machinery, heavy mining machinery, food packaging machinery, general basic parts, engineering machinery, agricultural machinery, internal combustion engine, cultural office equipment, civil machinery and so on. “Two belts” refers to the two centralized belts, including an automobile industry belts based on the Dongfeng Motor Company in Shiyan, Xiangfan and Wuhan and a large technical equipment belt based on Yichang, Jinzhou, Wuhan and Huangshi, which brought about an industry pattern supported by a large number of big corporations and companies such as Dongfeng Motor Corporation, Dongfeng Peugeot Automobile Company, Tri-ring Group Corporation, Wuhan Kaidi Electric Power Co., Ltd, Wuhan Boiler Co., Ltd, China Chang Jiang Energy Corp.(Group), China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Wuchang Shipyard and so on. Dongfeng Motor Corporation has realized multinational reorganization with Nissan Motor Co.，Ltd, enhanced operation with PSA Peugeot Citroen and expanded operation with Honda, which marked that Dongfeng Motor Corporation has stepped into the queue of international big companies; after reorganization with the automobile corporations in Hubei province, Tri-ring Group Corporation has further enhanced its strength. As one of the three big production bases for manufacturing automobile components and parts, Hubei Province has achieved a productivity of 800,000 entire vehicles. On the whole, it has formed a product structure which pays equal attention to “limousine, heavy, medium, light and special” and the wide range of vehicle type. Due to the rapid development of entire vehicles, the components and parts industry in Hubei has strengthened day by day. At present, there are more than 700 components and parts enterprises in Hubei (of which there are more than 310 enterprises above the scale), and the annual capacity to provide the auxiliary items exceeds 600,000 vehicles. The industrial output accomplished by the top 10 big companies in this industry take up more than 60% of the total industrial output accomplished by the mechanism and automobile industry in Hubei. (II) Information Industry The information industry in Hubei Province maintained comprehensive, rapid and effective development. The scale of manufacturing industry grew in duplication. The government affairs, enterprises and social informatization have been push forward in an all round way. The informatization level has improved remarkably, and the wireless infrastructure construction is highly effective. Supervision competence is strengthened time and again. The function and status of information industry in the national economy and social development has been reinforced at large, which lays a solid foundation for the sustainable development of “10th Five-year Plan”. As a result of the construction and development, the information industry in Hubei Province has formed a development pattern featuring optical communication, mobile communication, laser, display, chemosynthetic foil electronic material and software industry. The scale of optical fibers and cables industry is in the first place at home and the third place in the world, and the research and development as well as the production scale of the optical communication come out at the top in China; the output of micro-midi broadcasting station and mobile base station antenna system is on top at home, the same with the production scale of laser; production of mobile phone, display and air condition respectively has formed a scale of 10,000,000 sets; the production scale of chemosynthetic foil electronic material is also on top at home with an output of 50,000,000 square meters; by the same token, the software industry provided with domestic considerable foundation and strength is in full flourish. As to the industry structure of the information industry in Hubei Province, it has changed from the single manufacturing industry in the past to the modern information industry integrated by manufacturing industry, software industry and information service industry. The product structure with dominant investment class products in the past has entered into an amenable environment in which the products of investment class, consumption class and foundation class are developed side by side. By means of developing the photoelectron information and organizing and optimizing some essential elements including industry, qualified personnel and resources, Optical Valley of China (Wuhan) has rapidly developed into the biggest photoelectron information industry base in China. (III) Light Industry Hubei Province, one of the largest provinces in China in respect of light industry, has established a self-contained light industry system with a wide range of products, including 22 categories and more than 40 industries such as subsidiary foodstuff processing, foodstuff manufacturing, drink, crude salt, leather, cabinetmaking, paper making and paper products, stationery and sporting goods, chemical industry concerned with products for daily use, plastics, household electrical appliances, illuminating electrical appliances, articles of artistic industry and so on. The major light industries in Hubei Province, including foodstuff and drink, household electrical appliances, paper making, plastics, crude salt and so on, which is playing an important role at home and provided with relatively strong comparative advantage. The subsidiary foodstuff processing industry ranks the 10th place in China the foodstuff manufacturing industry ranks 12th, drink manufacturing ranks 8th, paper making and paper products industry ranks 10th, plastics industry ranks 11th, and household electrical appliances manufacturing industry ranks 10th. Moreover, there are many national renowned native enterprises concerning light industry in Hubei, such as Jingshan Light Machinery Group Co., Ltd., Angel Yeast Co., Ltd., Kaile Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Hubei Yuli Abrasive Belt Co., Ltd., Hubei Baiyunbian Wine Co. Ltd., Zhijiang Wine Co., Ltd, Jing Brand Co. Ltd. and so on. Meanwhile, Hubei Province is provided with a large number of Chinese well-known brand products, including “Kinglong” Beer, “SLEK” cosmetics, “Dongbei” refrigerator compressor, “President” juice, “Jinhuang” jewelry, “Lianle” mattress, “Daqiao” chicken essence, “Jinchen” toothbrush, “Jinlan” jewelry and so on. With more open up to the outside world and improvement on the investment environment, a large number of national and international renowned enterprises concerning light industry have settled in Hubei, including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Philips, Budweiser, Red Bull Drink, Hair, Little Swan, China Resources Power, Tsingtao Brewery, Wahaha, Huiyuan, TCL, Nongfu-shanquan and so on, which have further strengthened the Hubei light industry. 3. Technology National key laboratories Hubei has more than 10 national key laboratories and more than 1,200 scientific research and development institutions. 7 years ago, they have achieved outstanding academic accomplishments with 750 provincial and ministerial level scientific and technological achievement and 28 national high-tech industrial development projects with total investment of 3.0 billion RMB Yuan. Human Resource Hubei province is abundant in labour resources with 36.2 million employees. It ranks the first among all the cities in the number of college students on campus. The 3551 Talent Project of the East Lake National High-tech Innovation Demonstration Zone has an annual investment of no less than 150 million RMB yuan. There were 64 academicians and 118 persons from “One Thousand Talent Program” in Hubei province, coming out top in China. The scientific research level and production capacity in the hi-tech fields such as photo-electronic information, new-type materials, bio-engineering and new medicine, aviation, laser, digital control technology and computer software development is superior all over the country.