Administrative fragmentation is one of the main challenges SMEs face when entering the China market. Regulations on pre-market approval and products’ legal requirements are of competence of a number of different governmental authorities, each ruling on specific areas of market access and product compliance. However, a lack of understanding of how the different legal product requirements are interconnected lead to uncertainty especially for those SMEs accessing the market for the first time.
The majority of all products require a license before they can be imported to the Chinese market. Some licenses are linked to a lengthy and costly conformity assessment procedure. Developing a clear understanding of who are the actors involved in market access in China, what are their roles and their responsibilities is the first step towards a successful entry in the local Chinese competition.
In short, this guide aims to provide an overview of the administrative system and explains some of the most important relevant administrative governmental organizations involved when exporting to China.
Moreover, you will find links to the EU SME Centre’s publications that provide further details on market access procedures, including product registration and certification.
Key contents
Market Access – the Big Picture
2. China’s large scale government restructure in 2018
3. Whom to Meet – The Institutional Players
4. My Sector – An Overview of the “Whom” and “What” When Exporting to China
About the Authors
Liam Jazcii, Business Development Advisor at EU SME Centre
China expertise: market entry strategy, cross-border e-commerce, food & beverage, marketing strategies for SMEs.
Liam Jazcii has over four years of working experience in advising European businesses in market access and business strategies in China. Liam has solid experience in all aspects of large-scale events and trade mission organisation and project management. Prior to joining the EU SME Centre, Liam served as the Marketing and Membership Manager at the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China.
Helen Ju, Legal Advisor at EU SME Centre
Helen has been working at the Centre for the past five years, providing legal advice on various aspects of economic cooperation between Europe and China to EU SMEs looking to establish themselves in the Chinese market.
Before joining the Centre, Helen worked as a lawyer for over seven years specializing in foreign direct investment, general corporate and commercial laws, and tax law etc. Among others, she provided full legal support to clients from Europe, the US and Singapore, advising on the feasibility of their proposed transaction models and compliance of the models with PRC regulations, issuing legal opinion and advice, and drafting and reviewing legal documents. She also has five years’ experience with an export and import company. Helen has gained broad knowledge and rich experience especially in company law, labour law, contract law, tax law and social insurance law.
Ingrid Ge, Standard and Conformity Assessment Advisor at EU SME Centre
Ingrid has 15 years of consulting experience in international trade rules and China’s import and export policy. Ingrid served in the World Trade Management Services team in PwC, China-Britain Business Council, EU SME Centre, and has provided trade compliance advices and tax arrangement to a number of world leading MNCs and provided professional China market access advices to British and European enterprises.
