Member Article

The State Council promulgated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Road Transportation on 30 April 2004. The Regulations, which entered into effect on 1 July 2004, are applicable to the road transportation of goods, the road transportation of persons, the operation of road intervals, the repairing of motor vehicles, and the training of motor vehicle drivers. They are not, however, applicable to the urban transportation of persons by bus or taxi. Foreign investment Foreign investors may invest in road transportation and its ancillary businesses by establishing equity joint ventures, cooperative joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned enterprises. International road transportation The Regulations contain a separate chapter dealing with international road transportation. An applicant for international road transportation must satisfy the following conditions: • it must be an enterprise legal person holding a road transportation permit either for transportation of goods or persons; • it must have engaged in road transportation inside China for no less than three years and during this period must not have been involved in any serious road accidents for which it was at fault. The foreign road transportation operators’ vehicles must have national identification marks and follow set routes. Without the prior consent of the competent authorities, they may not change their routes inside China. They may also not engage in road transportation between locations in China. Foreign road transportation operators may set up representative offices in China upon approval from the department of the State Council in charge of transportation. However, the representative offices may not engage in business activities in China.