Do You Change Your Guangzhou Company's Business License to a New Version?

The new licenses will be held by any company founded on or after 1 March 2014, or which has renewed its business license since that time. All companies in China are required to switch over to a new license before 28 February 2015. In the meantime, however, a dual system is in place where both old and new licenses are in circulation.

The redesigned business licenses are in portrait orientation (rather than landscape, as previously) and contain an embedded QR code linked to the company listing in the National Enterprise Credit Registry. Most importantly, however, paid-in capital has been removed from the new licenses—this refers to the percentage of registered capital that a company has actually contributed to its operations in China. The reason why the paid-in capital has been removed is the government protects the information of the company. Certainly, it can still be accessed through local AIC records.

Two other minor changes consist of permitting multiple entities to list the same registered address on their respective business licenses, and switching over from a system of multiple types of licenses for different types of commercial entities to a standardized license including a “Type” criterion.

Touch Law Firm is dedicated to provide you Foreign-funded Enterprises Registrataion, Representative Office Registration, Company Change & Official Approval, and Tax & Accounting service. For further information, please follow our online secretary Ms. Touch (ID: touch-law-firm), call at +8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

Free Booths for the Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Expo

"Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo" is a valuable cooperation platform organized by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Provincial Committee to further enhance the multilateral investment and trade cooperation with Southeast Asia and China.
Since receiving a good response from first application on August 4, Touch Law Firm would like to provide MORE FREE PLACES for our clients. If you are interested in the exhibition, please contact at 020-8355 5515, or our WeChat online secretary Ms. Touch (touch-law-firm) before 15:00 at August 27, 2014.

Make the application for participation or purchasing via Touch Law Firm. You can get benefits below,
1. Free standard booth (worthy RMB 30,000);
2. Free shuffle bus;
3. Free accommodation.

5 Business Opportunities:
1. Entering China consumer market;
2. Purchasing high quality products;
3. Searching for Chinese investment partners;
4. Investing and business promoting;
5. Racing to control the overseas tourism market.

4 Exhibition Area:
1. Special Competitive Products Trade Cooperation Area;
2. Investment Cooperation Platform Display Area;
3. Tourism Culture Cooperation Exhibition Area;
4. Cross-border Trade E-commerce Exhibition Area.

Venue: Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center, Houjie Town, Dongguan City
Agenda: October 31, 2014 (Professional Purchase Day)
November 1 - 2, 2014 (Public Days)

More information, please contact our WeChat online secretary Ms. Touch (touch-law-firm), call at +8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

Trademark Registration in Guangzhou: An Idle Trademark Worths 340,000 USD

Recently, French well-known tire manufacturer Michelin signed a contract worthy 340,000USD (2,000,000 RMB) with Jiangyin Boer Auto Parts Industrial Co. Ltd. in mainland China. Michelin got the use right of trademark “PRE-MIER” on the auto tire category. According to Jiangyin Industrial and Commercial Bureau, it is the highest transaction price of trademark transfer in Jiangyin.

In 2005, Boer Auto Parts declared the right to use of trademark ”PRE-MIER” and registered items including tire valve, tire and other 12 categories. But the right to use of trademark of tire has been standing idle all the time. 

Coincidentally, Michelin were merchandizing a tire in same name “PRE-MIER” in North America, and intending to get the right of the brand manufacture and use in China. Last year, Michelin contacted Boer Auto Parts. Both sides reached an agreement of common use of trademark on different categories.

Touch Law Firm is dedicated to providing Trademark Registration in China, Trademark Search service in China, as well as China company registration, tax & accounting, intellectual property, legal service etc. For further information, please follow our online secretary Ms. Touch (ID:touch-law-firm), call at +8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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340,000 USD! An Idle Trademark could be Worthy

Things You Should Know about HongKong Company Registration

Due to the simply tax system in Hong Kong, setting up a Hong Kong company is much convenience to all SMEs to extend their business which going to Worldwide or Mainland China both. If you live and work overseas but want to start a business in Hong Kong, Touch Law Firm provides you an available solution.

Hong Kong Company Registration

HK company registration can be done in a short time. Registering of a brand-new HK company takes about 10 working days. You can also buy an existing HK company, namely a shell company. You can also choose the electronic registration by way of e-Registry, which can be done in 3 working days.

Bank Account Opening

Touch Law Firm is honored as valuable business partners by many local or international banks in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Our consultants’ assistance in the bank account opening and follow up will make you easier to open a bank account for your HK company. We provide bank account opening service for those who register HK companies in our company for free, including recommending banks, making appointment, offering certified true copy by our CPA, useful advices for the whole processing, etc.

Legal Secretary

Although a legal secretary is a must for a Hong Kong limited company required by the local government, a legal secretary would be an alternative offered by Touch Law Firm.

Annual Return

Each year the company must submit an annual return to the Hong Kong Companies Registry and the Hong Kong Inland Revenue. You can hand it over to Touch Law Firm by simply signing back the confirmation letter. We will give you a notice one month before it gets overdue. If failed in doing so, penalties will be implemented accumulatively, you can't expect that the company will be suspended and cancelled eventually as China does, the maximum fine could be as high as several hundreds of HKD per day.

Audit Service

If a company has business running on within Hong Kong, account book should be well kept monthly for an annual audit before you carry on a tax return to the Inland Revenue. We can arrange bookkeeping and auditing for you in time of need. Every company is required to finish tax return annually. Submission of “nil” profit tax return without auditor ’ s report and financial statement would be accepted for the companies without business operation.

Trademark Registration

Trademark registration is deemed to be an effective mean by which the enterprises can protect their own brands. However, trademarks provide regional protections, as different countries and regions impose different requirements and procedures on trademark registration. Touch Law Firm not only provides trademark registration in mainland of China but also in Hong Kong.

Why Choose Touch Law Firm?

Touch Law Firm has experiences for over 8 years in Hong Kong company registration, tax & accounting, audit for Hong Kong company, Hong Kong company secretary and Hong Kong trademark registration, etc. If you are interested in our service, please contact our online secretary Ms Touch ( Wechat ID: Touch-Law-Firm ), email to info@touchlawfirm.com or call at +8620-8355 5515.

Read More:
Things You must Know Before Hong Kong Company Registration
 

Ignore HongKong Company Audit, Your Bank Account would be Closed

Recently, HSBC is checking the audit of HK companies which have HSBC accounts. If the company is operating but can’t provide the last year audit report, the HSBC account will face the risk of being closed.

According to Hong Kong company law, all HK companies should do the audit reports as required and the reports must be issued by international accredited CPA. The government need the audit report as reference when doing company cancellation.

For a new company, it should do the audit for the first time if it is operating after it has been set up for 18 months. After that, the audit should be done annually. 

Touch Law Firm is dedicated to provide you not only the Audit Service for Hong Kong companies but also services for Hong Kong Company Registration, Annual Renew, Tax & Accounting and Deregistration etc. For further information, please follow our online secretary Ms. Touch (ID: touch-law-firm), call at +8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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Don't Ignore HK Company Audit! Or Your Account would be Closed

Trademark Registration: Urgent Notice from China Trademark Office

Notice
From the middle of April, 2014, there is a complete upgrade of automatic system of Trademark registration and management. While a serious technical problem happened during the upgrading process, which results in the works of trademark registration such as the acceptance of applications, examination, production of trademark registration certificate, acceptance and hear of trademark appraisal can’t be proceeded.

Now, some services of trademark like the examination of trademark registration returns to normal. But the acceptance of applications of trademark registration, production of trademark registration certificates, acceptance and hear of trademark appraisal and others are still on hold. For the inconveniences caused by, we sincerely apologize for that.
We are trying our best to fix up the system and make sure all works can return to normal as soon as possible.

Hereby Notice.
State Administration for Industry and Commerce
8/11/2014
Since the notice is urgent, the official english edition will release later.
Here is only the Chinese link below:
http://sbj.saic.gov.cn/sbyw/201408/t20140811_147459.html

Touch Law Firm is dedicated to providing Trademark Registration, Trademark Search service in China, as well as company registration, tax & accounting, intellectual property, legal service etc. For further information, please follow our online secretary Ms. Touch (ID: touch-law-firm), call at +8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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Urgent Notice from China Trademark Office

Why I have No Notice of Acceptance from Trademark Office in China?

The new Trademark Law is enforced from May 1st, 2014 and still in the transitory stage. It takes time to adjust the system and complete the specific rules. The reasons why there is no notice of acceptance from Mark Office are as followed:

1. The Upgrade of Trademark Office System

From April to June, there is an upgrade of Trademark office system. And during that period, the office will only accept the documents but not actually process them, which cause different influences to each procedure of Trademark application.

2. The Changes of Trademark Processing Procedure

The biggest change Trademark processing procedure is from the procedure of material inspection. The Trademark office applies a new way of material inspection and has much stricter requirement to it. What’s more, the notice of acceptance can only be issued after the pass of second material inspection, which means the Trademark office will firstly issue the additions and corrections notice if there is mistakes of the submitted materials, then the notice of acceptance after all are corrected.

Old application procedure of Trademark registration

Receive Materials---Inspect Material---Input Material---Proceed Fee---Issue Notice of Acceptance

New Application Procedure of Trademark Registration

Receive Materials---Inspect Material---Proceed Fee---Second Time of Inspecting Material---Issue Notice of Acceptance

Touch Law Firm is dedicated to providing Trademark Registration in China, Trademark Search service in China, as well as company registration, tax & accounting, intellectual property, legal service etc. For further information or to contact us at 8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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Why There is No Notice of Acceptance from Trademark Office? 

Touch Law Firm's Legal Service: Deal With Employee Disputes in China

The foreign business owner in China like you probably have not been to labor court at least once. Therefore, former employees who bring these complaints tend to be financially focused – many believe that a company will settle just to stay out of the courts.

Many Western companies have taken a stance of going to court and not settling these disputes to avoid earning a reputation for caving in. Frustratingly, the thing you ignore will one day become the danger you will face.

One companies’ first auctioneer at iPai — the Chinese subsidiary of the Phoenix-based auction company — offered his resignation, telling the boss that he wanted to leave Shanghai to return to his hometown to work. He gave the customary 30 days’ notice and continued to work until his last day. The boss hired another auctioneer and thought no more of the matter. Then the company received notice that he had filed a labor dispute.

In the dispute, he said he had never signed the agreement with the company. If the judge were to rule for the former employee, the company would owe him one full year of his substantial pay for not having a signed labor contract.

Fortunately, the company arrived at court with an original and copy of the document.

If you choose to navigate the rocks and shoals of Chinese employment contracts, here are three tips to keep in mind:

1. Know the labor law and stay on top of changes.
2. Have very specific, detailed job descriptions for your labor contracts.
3. Keep original labor agreements, and keep them secured like the valuable assets they are – or may someday become.

Legal risks are hiding everywhere. Since China's existing laws and regulations has related to imperfections, Touch Law Firm suggests you should do the prevention for your business.

Touch Law Firm provide annual legal counselor service for you. Professional legal advice and solutions can help you avoid all the different risk in China. If you are interested in our annual legal counselor service or other legal service, do not hesitate to contact us at 8620-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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 Dealing With Employee Disputes in China

How to Change the Business Scope of Guangzhou Company

In China, a company’s operations are defined by its business scope, a one-sentence description of the industry(s) it is authorized to operate in. Therefore, any significant change to company operations must be preceded by a registered change of business scope.

The wholly-foreign owned enterprises (WFOE) are categorized as one of three types—Service, Trading, or Manufacturing—which differ in terms of their eligible business scope and corporate establishment procedure. Generally, it is much easier to register a change of business scope within one’s existing WFOE category, rather than expand from a Service WFOE into a Manufacturing WFOE, for example.

Often, but not always, a change of business scope will require additional investment into the company’s registered capital, which can considerably prolong the application process. Additionally, depending on the nature of the proposed change of business scope, the enterprise may be required to obtain additional approval or modify their business premises to engage in the specified industry. Lastly, the enterprise will have to renew its Certificate of Approval granted by MOFCOM, this being the distinguishing factor between FIEs and domestic enterprises. These steps must all be completed prior to applying with the Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC) to change the enterprise business scope, which proceeds as follows:

 

Step 1 — The company should convene a shareholder meeting and obtain a decision to alter the company business scope, including the specific revision(s) to be made. Next, the business scope as appearing in the company’s articles of association should be altered in light of the decision. Within 30 days of this decision, the company should apply at the original AIC of registration using the related application form. Following AIC approval and the payment of related fees, the company will receive the revised business license.

Step 2 — As with any update to a company’s business license, there will be various other forms of documentation that must be updated in light of the revised business scope, including the enterprise’s tax registration. Updating tax registration is quite complex, but is a crucial step in the overall process, as it affects the company’s ability to issue fapiaos (and thereby allow its customers to deduct input VAT).

Even based on the condensed procedure given above, it should be clear that modifying the business scope of a company in China is no easy task. Given the proper planning, however, it can be done. Depending on the specific revisions to be made to one’s business scope, the overall process can carry on for months, excluding the time required for the company to prepare internal documents.

 Touch Law Firm is dedicated to provide business scope changing service in China, as well as company registration in China, tax & accounting, intellectual property, and legal service for you. For further information or to contact us at 020-8355 5515 or email to info@touchlawfirm.com

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Changing Business Scope of a Company in China

Touch Law Firm's 2014 Ramadan Kareem Iftar

On July 18th, 2014, Touch Law Firm hosted the 2014 Ramadan Kareem Iftar at Salam International Restaurant.

It was also a great opportunity to celebrate Touch Law Firm’s 5th Anniversary during the Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

Touch Law Firm’s managing director Mr. Jimmy Li Tianzhi made the welcome speech by illustrating that Guangzhou had been the commercial bridge between China and the Middle East for over 2,000 years. As Touch Law Firm is now headquartered in Guangzhou, we would also like to devote ourselves in facilitating business development and prosperity for both sides.

During the Iftar, we had celebrated the birthday of both Touch Law Firm and our customer and dear friend Mr. Ali Omar. It was an exciting moment for attending guests during the birthday festivity, while Mr. Ali Omar had also expressed his thanks to Touch Law Firm and shared his business experiences in China.

Furthermore, managing director Mr. Jimmy Li Tianzhi awarded Salam Group a memento of endorsement for purchase of our annual legal counselor service, and in the name of Ramadan, made a donation of $2,000HKD to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It was great an opportunity to help protect client’s business from legal issues, as well as helping to save others in need.

Finally, the 2014 Touch Law Firm Ramadan Kareem Iftar ended in the cheers of a round of lucky draw. Thank you for your constant support and we look forward to seeing you soon.

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2014 Touch Law Firm Ramadan Kareem Iftar

Touch Law Firm's Legal Seminar about International Maritime Transportation Risks & Prevention

For modern international trade, China is the best choice for foreign merchants. After goods had been purchased, choosing the form of transportation for the shipments is important. In addition to fuel efficiency and cargo capacity, utilizing ships to transport these goods are of great benefit to merchants and most of which, merchants will make the terms of shipping by customary rule. However, the terms of the contract may not be in accordance with the Chinese laws and regulations and thus, no one can guarantee your investments from damages.

Come join us at our legal seminar on International Maritime Transportation Risks & Prevention to learn more about how you can avoid these potential risks and secure your profits in China. ( Here are some amazing moments of the First Section Legal Seminar of Touch Law Firm about International Trade Risk & Prevention)

Speaker:

Mr. Junius Xu, one of the most experienced English speaking lawyers on international legal affairs in Guangzhou.

Time:

August 8th (Friday), 2014

Agenda:

15:30-16:00-Registration
16:00-16:45-Seminar
16:45-17:00-Communication
17:00-17:15-Tea Break
17:15-17:30-Lucky Draw

Topic:

1. The types of the Maritime Legal Risks
2. Risk analysis of each link
3. The terms of the maritime transportation
4. Prevention Measures

Venue:

(Meeting Room of Touch Law Firm) Room 1909, Office Tower, Asia International Hotel, 326, Huanshidong Rd., Guangzhou

FREE OF CHARGE, LIMITED SEATING
FIRST COME FIRST SERVED

RSVP via Tel 8620-8355 5515 or E-mail info@touchlawfirm.com or WeChat before August 6th .

Thank you!

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 Seminar about International Maritime Transportation Risks & Prevention

To Exhibit & Explore More Business Opportunities in China

Since ancient times, the Maritime Silk Road has been an important bridge between East and West for economic and trading exchanges. It played an irreplaceable role to promote the economic and trading exchanges and cooperation between East and West. In 2013, China has developed a starting point of building a “21st Century Marine Silk Road". It was supported by economic belt in the countries along the Maritime Silk Road and got positive response. 

 

Thus, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Provincial Committee will host the "Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Fair". We not only invite foreign businessmen from all over the world to set up booths, but also welcome them to purchase in the fair.

 

Time:
October 31st , 2014 – November 2nd, 2014

 

Venue:
Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province

 

Benefits of Joining the Fair:
1. To show your business and products to all businessmen from home and abroad in the fair.
2. Some leaders or representatives in the commercial world of different countries will attend the fair.
3. It’s the largest international fair for "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" in China
4. You can get free booths by registering via Touch Law Firm. 

 

If you are interested in the fair, please contact us at (8620)-8355 5515, Email: info@touchlawfirm.com, WeChat: Touch-Law-Firm to register before 15:00 at August 4th, 2014. 

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Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Fair