Chinadaily.com reports that the long-awaited franchise regulation in China will be promulgated this year. Major franchisor presence in China has been limited in most cases to direct ownership of units in a partnership with local Chinese company. The franchising arm of American restaurant and other franchise companies has not been permitted access to China because of its 1997 measures on franchising. These measures only allowed franchise operations for domestic companies. It is expected that the new franchise regulations will permit foreign companies to franchise in China. One caution from this article though: Although the Ministry of Commerce official has announced the promulgation of the franchise rule this year, this same promise was made in 2002 and 2003. In an interesting statement on the previous estimates, the Minister of Commerce official stated that "this time it is true . . . ."
Posted by franchiselawblog at June 16, 2004 05:51 PM