According to the Circular on Problems of Foreign Investment to Set Up Research & Development (R&D) Centers of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation and other regulations，the procedures to set up foreign invested R&D centers are as follows：

If a foreign investor plans to invest and set up a new R&D center，he shall first go to the industrial and commercial administration to handle the enterprise name pre-approval registration．

Then，the investor shall submit an application to Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission．The Chinese-foreign equity joint venture or the contractual joint venture can submit the application by the Chinese party and the wholly foreign-owned enterprise shall submit the application through and agency and submit the relevant documents as follows：

1．The application to set up a foreign invested R&D centers （apart from the basic contents，the following parts shall be included）：

（1）The direction and field of R&D，its main task and plan of implementation；

（2）Its location，personnel and relevant research facilities

（3）The source of necessary funds for R&D，the specific expenditures and amount of the funds，and the relevant financial budget report；

（4）Within the total amount of investment or self-owned capital，the list of self-use equipment and complementary technology，fittings，spare parts，samples and chemical reagent for R&D that are to be imported；

（5）Description of the advantages of the R&D，which shall also explain if there is an R&D achievement，to whom the achievement belongs．

2．Feasibility study report

3．Bank credit certificate of the investor, registration certificate （copy）, legal representative’s certificate（copy）．

4．（If the Chinese side invests with state-owned assets）the approval document issued by the state-owned assets administration authority on the evaluation report regarding the state-owned assets to be invested by the Chinese side．

5．Contract and Articles of Association signed by authorized representatives of all the investors（Articles of Association only for wholly foreign-owned enterprise）．

6．Name list of members of the Board of Directors to be established, and letters of appointment of the directors．

7．Name pre-approval notice for the enterprise to be set up．

8．Certificates to use the registered location and operation address．

9．Other documents required by the examination and approval authority．

The above-mentioned documents shall be the original except those noted in fax copy．For documents signed by non-legal representatives, the Letter of Entrustment by the legal representative shall be submitted．
After the receipt of the application documents, Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission will examine and approve the foreign-invested R&D center, and will give the approval to the qualified applicants; Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission entrusts Pudong New Area Government to examine, approve and administrate the foreign invested R&D centers located in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park; entrusts Project Office of Caohejing New Tech Development Zone General Company to examine, approve and administrate foreign-invested R&D centers in Caohejing New Tech Development Zone．The projects approved by them would be reported to Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission and Shanghai Science & Technology Commission for record．

The approved foreign invested R&D centers shall, within one month after the date of being approved, transact the registration procedures at the industrial and commercial administration.