This maintained source station identifies the official instruments and regulator portals that should anchor a China outbound-investment or cross-border work plan. Start here when testing an overseas holding structure, acquisition, greenfield project, funding path, data transfer or related compliance question.
The sources do not produce a transaction-specific answer by themselves. Confirm the version in force, implementing practice, project facts and destination law with qualified counsel and the handling bank before signing, filing or moving funds.
Start with the transaction, not a jurisdiction ranking
- Record the mainland investor, ultimate controller, ownership path, destination, activity, amount, funding and guarantees.
- Identify whether the project is direct or indirect and whether it involves a new entity, acquisition, branch, holdco or multi-tier group.
- Map China corporate authority, NDRC, MOFCOM, bank and foreign-exchange workstreams against one controlled fact set.
- Add destination investment screening, licensing, tax, employment, data and governance advice.
- Recheck the register before signing, funding, changing ownership or function, reinvesting or exiting.
Core China outbound-investment sources
| Official source | Use in the work plan | Recheck when |
|---|---|---|
| State Council Decree No. 837: Provisions on Outbound Investment | Overarching scope, investor duties, classified supervision, security review, protection and enforcement. Effective 1 July 2026. | Any new project, indirect path, financing, guarantee, material change or overseas compliance event. |
| Official Ministry of Justice, NDRC and MOFCOM explanation of Decree No. 837 | Regulatory purpose, relationship with the existing system and official explanation of the new framework. | New implementing rules, regulator guidance or a project near a security or scope boundary. |
| NDRC Order No. 11: Measures for the Administration of Overseas Investment of Enterprises | NDRC project scope, approval or filing route, authority, timing, completion and change duties. | Investor, destination, sector, amount, route, control, financing or project status changes. |
| MOFCOM Order No. 3 of 2014: Measures for the Administration of Overseas Investment | MOFCOM enterprise-side approval or filing, certificate and reporting framework. | Overseas enterprise, ownership path, destination, sensitive factors or registered particulars change. |
| SAFE Circular 13 of 2015 on direct-investment foreign-exchange administration | Bank-handled registration and authenticity review for direct-investment foreign exchange. | Before selecting a bank, fixing a remittance date or changing the funding evidence. |
| SAFE Circular 37 on resident SPVs and round-trip investment | Separate resident-SPV registration questions; not a substitute for enterprise ODI analysis. | A resident individual, offshore SPV, round-trip path or ownership change is involved. |
Funding and bank evidence station
Use the NDRC and MOFCOM records together with the current SAFE capital-account guidance and the handling bank's own evidence list. Peter Ye's reviewed foundation remains important here: the project amount, ownership path, funding source, use of funds and ultimate controller should tell one consistent story across the three tracks. A certificate should not be treated as an automatic promise that a bank will remit funds.
- SAFE explanation of authenticity and compliance review - official discussion of source-of-funds, use plan, board resolutions and transaction evidence for ODI registration and remittance.
- SAFE English portal - current rules, interpretations, notices and institutional updates.
Cross-border data and technology sources
- CAC Provisions on Promoting and Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows - official 2024 text for exemptions and transfer-mechanism thresholds; assess it with PIPL, the Data Security Law, the Cybersecurity Law and later CAC materials.
- US Bureau of Industry and Security: Export Administration Regulations - US export-control text and supplements.
- US Treasury OFAC sanctions programs and OFAC 50 Percent Rule guidance - program rules, blocked-person ownership and screening inputs.
- EU Dual-Use Regulation 2021/821 and the European Commission sanctions portal - EU export-control and restrictive-measures starting points.
Destination-law source handoff
The China-side sources do not decide whether the destination permits the investment or structure. Give destination counsel the same ownership and transaction record and ask for written scope covering foreign-investment screening, merger control, sector licensing, beneficial ownership, tax, employment, data, IP, real estate, banking and post-closing reporting as relevant.
- United States: CFIUS screening guide
- Canada: foreign-investment review guide
- United Kingdom: NSI transaction-document guide
- Singapore or Hong Kong: function-led comparison
Source-control record
| Record | Minimum entry |
|---|---|
| Instrument | Official title, issuing authority, number, publication date and effective date. |
| Version | Official URL, language, amendment or replacement status, and date checked. |
| Project use | The exact classification, filing, funding, control or reporting question it supports. |
| Owner | Named internal owner, PRC counsel, destination counsel or handling-bank contact. |
| Trigger | Change in investor, controller, path, amount, destination, sector, function, funding, data, technology or law. |
Connected workflows
- Overseas holding-structure decision framework
- End-to-end outbound-investment and funding roadmap
- NDRC, MOFCOM and SAFE workflow
- ODI timing, filing questions and remediation
- Outbound-investment readiness checklist
Attribution and change log
Reviewed foundation: Peter Ye, Beijing, outbound investment counsel. His original review covered the ODI, NDRC, MOFCOM and SAFE orientation and the need for consistency across those workstreams.
24 August 2026: Rebuilt the page as a maintained source station; added Decree No. 837, official links, source-control fields, destination handoff and change triggers; removed mojibake. These additions are subject to refreshed legal review.
