Shanghai SAFE abolishes the annual filing/registration requirements of SAFE registered incentive plans.
In late January 2021, the China State Administration of Foreign Exchange Shanghai Branch (“Shanghai SAFE”) verbally notified local counsels that the annual filing obligation for companies who have incentive plans registered with Shanghai SAFE is to be relaxed.
There is still an obligation to make a filing (within three months) where certain “Significant Changes” have been made to registered incentive plans or how those incentive plans are operated.
This means that certain changes to the SAFE registration (including the regular participants’
list update) which are not “Significant Changes” are not required to be reported to SAFE when they happen or on an annual basis, but may be reported if and when a filing is made in connection with a Significant Change.
This is good news for companies that have Shanghai SAFE registrations and reduces the filings burden under SAFE.
We will be monitoring this throughout the year to see the effects of this on SAFE registrations in Shanghai province and throughout China.
Let us know if you require any further detail on this.