The branches and the foreign exchange administration departments of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the branches of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Shenzhen, Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Ningbo, and all designated Chinese-funded foreign exchange banks:
Please be notified of the following:

The trade credit registration management system and the online inspection system for foreign exchange collection and settlement of export proceeds have begun on a trial basis as of July 14, 2008. After the running of the two systems, owing to the fact that networking operations have not yet been realized and the initial value of the collectible amount of foreign exchange for the advance receipts of some enterprises which is given by the system is small or zero, these enterprises are unable to conduct settlement or transfer of foreign exchange for advance payments received at a bank after July 14 in a timely fashion. In response to these problems, we hereby provide notification on the relevant issues concerning confirmation of the enterprises registration for the withdrawal of advance receipts prior to the networking operations of the systems as follows:
1. For those enterprises whose registration for the withdrawal of advance receipts has been confirmed, the SAFE shall distribute the confirmation list of the enterprises registration for the withdrawal of advance receipts to all branches in a timely manner, and send the list in disk form to China E-port. All branches will notify the relevant enterprises to handle the procedures for the settlement or transfer of foreign exchange at a bank upon the strength of the list.

2. For these enterprises that have newly launched foreign trade business (Note: enterprises that have no record of collecting foreign exchange from exports by May 30, 2008), if the advance receipts occurred after July 14, these enterprises shall register for the withdrawal of advance receipts in the trade credit registration management system, and then apply for confirmation of the registration of the withdrawal of advance receipts at the local SAFE branch and submit the following materials:
(a) A written application (see the Annex for the format).
(b) The signed export contract (for future exports) (an export agency must submit an export agency agreement).
(c) Other materials.

The local SAFE branches shall first check the basic information on the enterprise in the enterprise foreign exchange information archives database system upon receiving an written application from an enterprise (if the SAFE branches cannot find the basic information for the enterprise in the database system, they shall ask the enterprise to open an account in the database system in line with the relevant provisions, and to provide the basic information). Second, they shall examine and verify the trade authenticity of the enterprises in accordance with the materials provided, and based on that they shall offer an Approval Document for Foreign Exchange Business under the Capital Account to those enterprises that meet the examination and verification requirements. The enterprises shall, upon the strength of the approval documents, handle the procedures at a bank for the settlement and transfer of foreign exchange for advance receipts.

3. For these enterprises that have already launched foreign trade business (Note: enterprises that have a record of collecting foreign exchange from exports by May 30, 2008), and the advance receipts to be collected or withdrawn are within the verified rate of the local SAFE branches, the enterprises may directly handle the procedures for the settlement or transfer of foreign exchange at a bank after registering for a withdrawal. When the advance receipts to be settled or transferred exceed the verified amount, the enterprises shall apply for confirmation of the registration for the withdrawal of advance receipts to the local SAFE branches and shall submit the following materials:
(a) A written application (see the Annex for the format, with a detailed description of the reasons for the application in the remark column).
(b) Evidential materials concerning the enterprises exports and collection and settlement of foreign exchange during the previous twelve months, etc..
(c) The signed export contract (for future exports) (an export agency must submit an export agency agreement).
(d) Other materials.

The local SAFE branches shall examine and verify the trade authenticity of the enterprises in a timely fashion and on this basis shall provide the Approval Document for Foreign Exchange Business under the Capital Account to the enterprises that fulfill the examination and verification requirements. The enterprises shall, upon the strength of the approval documents, handle the procedures at a bank for the settlement or transfer of foreign exchange for advance receipts.

4. After the networking operations of the trade credit registration management system and the online inspection system for foreign exchange collection and settlement of export proceeds are realized, all the branches and foreign exchange administration departments shall, in a timely fashion, record the conditions of the enterprises settlement or transfer of foreign exchange for advance receipts that have been verified in accordance with the Approval Document for Foreign Exchange Business Under the Capital Account in the column of the advance receipt amount specially approved for enterprises in the trade credit registration management system.

All the branches and foreign exchange administration departments shall, in light of the principles and requirements for the administration of short-term external debt, strengthen the investigation and analysis of the operational conditions of the foreign trade enterprises under their respective jurisdictions, grasp the historical and actual conditions of the advance receipts of the enterprises, and conduct scientific administration over the trade credit of the enterprises; perfect the trade credit statistical and monitoring administration, while providing convenient services for the normal trade financing of the enterprises and the normal business operations of the banks.

July 21, 2008