A social organization with a legal corporate status established on July 12, 1992 upon approval by the Dongguan City Bureau of Civil Affairs, the Dongguan City Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (the “Association”) is a local non-profit social group approved by State authorities and registered with the industry and commerce administration departments to provide services to the Sino-foreign joint venture enterprises, Sino-foreign contractual cooperative enterprises, wholly foreign-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises involved in foreign processing and assembly (including enterprises funded by our compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas Chinese) in Dongguan City (“Foreign-invested Enterprises”).

The Association is under the guidance of Bureau of Commerce of Dongguan City, which is the competent department in charge of its business, and the supervisory management of Bureau of Civil Affairs of Dongguan Municipality ( Bureau of Administration of Social Organizations of Dongguan City ).

The Association now has 35 affiliates (including SongShan Lake Branch,Korean Enterprise Branch and Logistics Enterprise Branch), which distributed in neighborhoods of Dongguan City, and about 2300 members. The purpose of the Association is to “serve enterprises and embrace the future” and its objective is to build itself into an association of Foreign-invested Enterprises with Dongguan characteristics.

Since 2002, the Association has gradually changed from a group dominated by government agencies to a nongovernmental body oriented toward foreign investors. Its functions are to:

(1)    Communicate the laws, regulations and policies of the State, province and city concerning foreign trade and foreign investment by, for example, holding policy presentations and seminars and releasing the Weekly Information Express and the latest Industrials Information. Other means by which it aims to fulfill this function include launching a website and publishing its own journal, the Dongguan Foreign Businessmen, to create a more convenient and extensive publicity platform and create an important channel through which people can be informed about policy dynamics;

(2)    Increase contact with government agencies, assist in importing high technology, quality capital and advanced management philosophies, and reflect and help solve the difficulties of enterprises and create a favorable environment for the production and operations of enterprises by, for example, calling on the secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the city each year; holding a “Symposium of Foreign Businessmen” to communicate with the functional departments; taking part in the monthly “Coordination Meeting of the Foreign Businessmen Liaison Group of Dongguan City” to maintain dialogues with leaders directly and solve problems on the spot;

(3)    Strengthen contact and cooperation with functional government departments and other units to exchange information and experience by, for example, cooperation with Customs to guide the enterprises to consummate the customs affairs management, and apply for the “A Class Management Enterprise”, holding a quarterly symposium with Dongguan Customs, and establishing a cooperation mechanism of specially engaged liaison people to reinforce contact between enterprises and the customs, and provide enterprises with an express channel for Customs clearance; and by signing the “cooperation memorandum” with Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong Chinese Manufacturers’ Association, Hong Kong Chinese entrance and exit to the chamber of commerce, Hong Kong Young Industrialists Council, Federation of Hong Kong Industries PRD Council, Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in China (Guangdong), Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association and Dongguan Electronic Industries Association for the exchange of information, mutual support and common progress;

(4)    Organize member enterprises to conduct mutual exchanges for common progress through, for example, visits to enterprises to learn from each other;

(5)    Guide and assist the branches by, for example, visiting them to learn about their operations, exchange learning experiences and enhance cohesiveness;

(6)    Encourage members to play a positive role in the social and economic development of Dongguan by, for example, gathering from member enterprises complaints, comments and suggestions from their daily business management to form reports and relay the information at the symposiums and workshops held by the State, provincial and municipal government departments, thereby providing an important reference for developing relevant policies, laws and regulations. Meanwhile, the collection of the comments enables foreign-funded enterprises to be more confident in their development, actively reflect on their own business situation and offer good suggestions on economic development to achieve a win-win result for both the government and the enterprises.