外国保险机构驻华代表机构管理办法(英文版)
外国保险机构驻华代表机构管理办法(英文版)
Rules on Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Insurance Institutions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1
These rules are formulated in accordance with the Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China, and for the purpose of strengthening the administration of representative offices of foreign insurance institutions (hereinafter referred to as “representative offices”), and meeting the needs of the opening up of China’s insurance market to the outside world.
Article 2
Foreign insurance institutions hereof referred to in these rules are those insurance companies, reinsurance companies, insurance intermediaries, insurance associations, and other insurance organizations incorporated outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China.
Representative offices hereof referred to in these rules are both representative offices and general representative offices established by foreign insurance institutions within Chinese territory for the purpose of conducting such non-operational activities as liaison service and market research etc.
Chief Representative hereof referred to in these rules is the principal responsible person of the representative office, and the general representative is the principal responsible person of the general representative office.
Article 3
Representative offices shall abide by Chinese laws and regulations and related regulations made by China Insurance Regulatory Commission (hereinafter referred to as “CIRC”) and their legitimate rights and interests are protected by Chinese laws.
Article 4
CIRC is authorized by law and the State Council to perform regulatory responsibilities over the representative offices.
Under the authorization scope of CIRC, the local branch offices of CIRC take general regulation of those representative offices that are located in their jurisdictions on behalf of CIRC.
Chapter Ⅱ Application and Establishment
Article 5
Foreign insurance institutions (hereinafter referred to as “the applicant”) applying to establish a representative office shall satisfy the following requirements:
(1) Good business performance;
(2) No record of any major violation of laws and regulations within three years prior to the application date;
(3) Other prudential requirements stipulated by CIRC.
Article 6
The formal application form for the establishment of representative office is provided by CIRC.
Article 7
The applicant shall submit the following documents:
(1) The formal application form;
(2) A letter of application addressed to the Chairman of CIRC and signed by its Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned insurance institution;
(3) A photocopy of the business license or the certificate of authorization for insurance business, or the registry certificate issued by the relevant regulatory authorities of its home country or territory;
(4) Articles of association and the name list of the members of the Board of Directors, management personnel or principal partners;
(5) Annual reports of the last three years prior to the application;
(6) A letter of permit issued by the competent authority of its home country or territory allowing it to set up a representative office in China, or a letter of recommendation from the industrial association of which the applicant is a member, and both types of letters shall contain information about the penalty records of the applicant received within three years prior to the application;
(7) A power of attorney signed by the Chairman of the Board or General Manager for the chief representative designated;
(8) The resume of the designated chief representative and other relevant supporting documents;
(9) Other documents and materials required by CIRC.
The photocopy of the business license or the certificate of authorization for insurance business, or the registry certificate shall be subject to notarization certified by the applicant’s home country or territory or verification by the resident Embassy or Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in the applicant’s home country or territory.
Article 8
The applicant shall submit its application documents to CIRC. CIRC shall handle all the applications according to the following conditions:
(1) If the document has a mistake (mistakes) that can be corrected on the spot, the applicant shall be allowed to make the correction on the spot;
(2) If the document is incomplete or does not comply with regulatory formats, the applicant shall be informed on the spot or within five days of all the required corrections at one time. If the applicant is not informed of such information in this period, then it is assumed that the application is accepted for review on the day it is received by CIRC;
(3) If the document is complete and complies with regulatory formats, or after the applicant, upon request, has submitted additional documents and made necessary corrections, then the application shall be accepted for review.
Whether or not CIRC accepts the application for review, CIRC shall issue a written document with designated stamp and date indicated.
Article 9
Within 20 days from the date of receiving the application letter, CIRC shall make a decision on whether or not to approve. If the decision can not be made in the said 20 days, at the approval of the Chairman of CIRC, the said period can be extended 10 more days and the applicant shall be informed of reasons for the extension.
If CIRC decides to accept the application, it shall issue an approval document; in case of disapproval, CIRC shall state reasons in a written document.
Article 10
After a representative office receiving the official document of approval, it shall register with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce in line with relevant rules.
The representative office shall move into its official premises within three months from the date on which the approval document is issued; the approval document shall automatically become invalid if the said deadline is not observed.
Article 11
Any foreign insurance institution that has already established no less than two representative offices in China shall be allowed to apply to CIRC to appoint one of its representative offices as a general representative office.
Article 12
In applying to appoint the general representative office, foreign insurance institutions shall submit a letter of application addressed to the Chairman of CIRC and signed by its Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned insurance institution.
The application for setting up a general representative office is subject to the same rules governing the application of a representative office.
Chapter Ⅲ Supervision and Administration
Article 13
The official title of the representative office shall be arranged in the following order: name of the foreign insurance institution + name of the city where the representative office is to be located + representative office; The official title of the representative office shall be arranged in the following order: name of the foreign insurance institution + general representative office in China.
Article 14
Except the principal responsible person, other major staff members shall be entitled “Representative” or “Deputy Representative”.
Article 15
Employees of representative office shall abide by Chinese laws and regulations, with high integrity and clean record.
Article 16
A general representative shall have a work experience above 8 years and hold a junior college degree or a higher academic degree; a chief representative shall have a work experience above 5 years, and hold a junior college degree or a higher academic degree.
Without a junior college degree, the general representative or chief representative shall have a work experience above 10 years in the insurance business.
Article 17
A maximum of three employees of foreign nationality are allowed in each representative office.
Article 18
A representative office and its employees shall not enter into any agreement or contract with any legal or natural persons, which might generate an income to the representative office or the foreign insurance institution it represents, and shall not be involved in business activities of any kind.
Article 19
A representative office shall have official premises, necessary office facilities and full-time staff.
Article 20
The General Representative or Chief Representative shall not work in two or more representative offices or any business institution in China.
Article 21
The General Representative or Chief Representative shall attend to the daily activities of the representative office on a permanent basis. If he or she consecutively stays away from the representative office for a period or more than one month, he or she shall delegate his or her responsibility as the General Representative or Chief Representative to a person specially appointed, and submit a written report to the local branch office of CIRC.
Article 22
A representative office shall submit two copies of its annual work report of the previous year before the end of each February to the CIRC’s local branch office, who shall then forward the report to CIRC’s head office.
The work report shall follow the format prescribed by CIRC.
Article 23
A representative office shall submit the annual report of the foreign insurance institution it represents to both CIRC and CIRC’s local branch office within six months after the end of each accounting year of the foreign insurance institution.
Article 24
If any following major event occurs in an insurance institution that has maintained a representative office in China, the representative office shall, within 10 days after the occurrence of the event, submit a written report to CIRC and copy the report to CIRC’s local branch office.
(1) A change in its articles of association, register capital, and registered business address;
(2) Division or merger or change of top management;
(3) Serious losses resulted in business operation;
(4) Penalties imposed for violations of laws and regulations;
(5) Major regulatory actions taken against it by the regulatory authorities of its home country or territory;
(6) Other matters which may seriously disrupt business operation of the foreign insurance institution.
Article 25
In case of changing a General Representative or Chief Representative, the representative office shall apply to CIRC, and submit the following documents:
(1) A letter of application addressed to the Chairman of CIRC, and signed by its Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned insurance institution;
(2) Power of attorney of the proposed General Representative or chief representative signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager;
(3) Proof of personal identity certificates, certificate of academic degree and resume of the proposed General Representative or Chief Representative.
Article 26
If a foreign insurance institution intends to terminate its representative office’s operation, it shall submit a letter of application addressed to the Chairman of CIRC, and signed by its Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned insurance institution.
Article 27
If a foreign insurance institution intends to change the name of its representative office, it shall submit a letter of application addressed to the Chairman of CIRC, and signed by its Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned insurance institution, together with other relevant proving documents about the renaming.
Article 28
Under the situation stipulated in Article 25, Article 26, and Article 27, CIRC shall make a decision on whether to approve or disapprove of the application within 20 days from the date of receiving a complete set of application documents.
If a decision of approval is made, it shall issue an approval document; if a decision of disapproval is made, it shall notify the applicant in writing and give the reasons.
Article 29
A representative office can change its office location within the same administrative area it resides only.
The concerned representative office shall submit CIRC’s local branch office of its new office address, telephone and fax numbers within 5 days from the date of changing.
Article 30
In case of changing, increasing or reducing the number of Representatives, Deputy Representatives, or foreign employees, the concerned representative office shall report to CIRC’s local branch office within 5 days from the date of changing, and submit the proof of personal identity certificates, certificate of academic degree and resume of the nominated personnel.
Article 31
When a representative office is approved to be changed to a general representative office, the original representative office is cancelled automatically. The general representative office shall apply to the State Administration of the Industry and Commerce for cancellation of the registration of the representative office within one month from the date of CIRC’s approval within one month from the date of CIRC’s approval.
Article 32
If a general representative office is the only representative office in China after the insurance institution it represents withdraws all other representative offices, the general representative office shall be changed into a representative office.
The general representative office shall apply to CIRC by submitting an application letter regarding such change signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager of the concerned foreign insurance institution. Within 20 days from the date of receiving the application letter, CIRC shall make a decision on whether or not to approve. If CIRC decides to accept the application, it shall issue an approval document; in case of disapproval, CIRC shall state reasons in a written document.
When a general representative office is approved to be changed to a representative office, the original general representative office is cancelled automatically. The representative office shall apply to the State Administration of the Industry and Commerce for cancellation of its registration within one month from the date of CIRC’s approval.
Article 33
After a representative office of the foreign insurance institution is terminated by the CIRC, all the issues left unsettled shall be taken over and handled by its general representative office in China; if there is no such a general representative office, responsibilities on all issues left unsettled shall be taken over and handled by the foreign insurance institution’s other representative offices in China; if there is no any other representative office in China, responsibilities on all issues left unsettled shall be borne by the foreign insurance institution itself.
Article 34
CIRC and its local branch offices conduct general supervision and annual inspection over the representative offices of foreign institutions in regard to the following issues:
(1) The completeness of the procedures for the changes made by the representative office;
(2) The truthfulness of the documents and materials submitted to CIRC;
(3) The completeness of the procedures for the appointments or changes of staff members of representative offices;
(4) Whether or not representative offices are conducting business activities;
(5) Other items required by CIRC and its local branch offices.
Chapter Ⅳ Legal Liability
Article 35
Any representative office established without approval, in violation of certain provisions of these Rules, shall be banned by CIRC in accordance with law.
Article 36
If a representative office is engaged in financial business activities in violation of these Rules, it shall be punished by CIRC in line with relevant laws and regulations. If a representative office is engaged in profit-seeking operational activities other than insurance business, it shall be imposed a disciplinary warning or a fine below RMB 300,000 yuan.
Article 37
If a representative office fails to submit relevant reports or documents as stipulated in Article 22, 23, 24 of these Rules to CIRC, it shall be imposed a warning and ordered to make correction by CIRC’s local branch office.
Article 38
Employees of a representative office being with direct responsibility for activities violating these Rules shall be imposed by CIRC with a disciplinary warning and /or a fine below RMB 5000 yuan, according to the seriousness of the cases.
Article 39
CIRC may issue a disciplinary warning to a representative office involved in providing false information or concealing important facts.
Article 40
CIRC may order the representative offices, found in violation of other provisions stipulated in these Rules, to make corrections; those who do not make corrections within a prescribed time period shall be issued a disciplinary warning.
Chapter Ⅴ Supplementary Provisions
Article 41
These Rules shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the representative offices established in the mainland by insurance institutions from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region.
Article 42
These Rules shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the resident offices of foreign insurance institutions approved to establish in China by CIRC.
Article 43
The terms “above”, “below” and “within” used to indicate a threshold number shall include the number itself.
Article 44
The approval and reporting periods prescribed in these Rules concerning licensing and reporting periods refer to working days, which exclude weekends and public holidays.
Article 45
CIRC shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Rules.
Article 46
These Rules shall be effective as of March 1, 2004, and the Rules on Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Insurance Institutions, issued by CIRC on November 26, 1999 shall be repealed simultaneously.