The public finance departments (bureaus) of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government; and the Finance Commission of Shenzhen Municipality:

In November, 2015, the Mainland had signed the Service Trade Agreement between the Mainland and Hong Kong regarding the Arrangement for Establishing A Closer Economic and Trade Relationship and the Service Trade Agreement between the Mainland and Macau regarding the Arrangement for Establishing A Closer Economic and Trade Relationship with Hong Kong and Macau respectively (hereinafter collectively referred to as Service Trade Agreements), which shall come into effect on June 1, 2016. In a bid to meticulously implement the Service Trade Agreements, support and regulate the permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macau who have obtained the Chinese certified public accountant qualification (hereinafter referred to as accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau) and serve as partners of the accounting firms in the Mainland, promote the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau to develop and prosper in the Mainland, relevant issues are hereby notified as follows:

I . Conscientiously studying and precisely grasping the provisions of the Service Trade Agreements

There are three parts of the provision in the Service Trade Agreements concerning the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who serve as partners of the partnership accounting firms: firstly, accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau are allowed to serve as partners of the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland, the controlling power of the accounting firms shall be held by residents of the Mainland, and the specific requirements shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the public finance authority of the Mainland; secondly, the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who serve as partners shall have settled domiciles in the Mainland and reside in the Mainland for no less than 6 months each year; thirdly, when applying for becoming partners of the accounting firms in the Mainland, the audit work experience in Hong Kong or Macau obtained by the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau shall be equivalent to the audit work experience obtained within the same length of time in the Mainland.

The partnership accounting firms mentioned in the above paragraph include general partnership accounting firms and special general partnership accounting firms.

All provincial public finance departments shall conscientiously study and precisely grasp the above-mentioned provisions, handle the examination and approval work by strictly following the Law on Certified Public Accountants, the rules and regulations on the Administration of the practicing licenses for accounting firms (hereinafter referred to as relevant rules and regulations) and the provisions of the service trade agreement, so as to make sure the handling of the examination and approval work in a law-abiding, normative, efficient and convenient way.

II . Specifying the conditions for the examination and approval and simplifying the requirements on the examination and approval

The accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau, who apply for licenses for practicing in partnership accounting firms in the Mainland and serving as their partners, shall apply to the provincial public finance departments which govern the places where the accounting firms to be set up go through the industrial and commercial registration for the accounting firm practicing licenses and obtain their approval; for the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who apply for joining the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland which have obtained the practicing licenses and serving as partners, the accounting firms shall file with the provincial public finance departments which govern the places where the firm go through their industrial and commercial registration. Provincial public finance departments shall, in accordance with the Law on Certified Public Accountants and the relevant rules and regulations, conduct the examination and approval or the filing in a timely manner.

1. Conditions on making the application

The accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who apply for serving as the partners of partnership accounting firms in the Mainland shall comply with the provisions of the Law on Certified Public Accountants and the relevant rules and regulations concerning the qualifications and conditions on partners, which include being qualified certified public accountants in China, meeting the requirements on the experience and the minimum working years for the auditing work and having no record of administrative punishments, and also meet the following requirements:

(1) The chief partner of the accounting firm (or other positions which perform the supreme managerial duty) shall be a resident of the Mainland or a permanent resident of Hong Kong or Macau who possesses the Chinese nationality.

(2) Agreements shall be made on matters concerning the decision-making on the operation and management of the accounting firm in the partnership agreement, in which partners with the resident status in China's mainland shall hold no less than 51% of the voting right regarding the decision-making on the operation and management.

(3) The accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau shall have settled domiciles in the Mainland and reside in the Mainland for no less than 6 months each year.

2. Materials needed for application

The accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who apply for serving as partners of the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland shall submit the application material to the provincial public finance departments in accordance with the Law on Registered Public Accountants and the relevant rules and regulations. All provincial public finance departments shall, by taking into account the laws and regulations, the conditions on making the application and the workflow for the examination and approval, specify the checklist of the application materials and notify the applicants all together. The provincial public finance departments, when examining the application materials, shall pay more attention to the following materials:

(1) copy of the certificate for Chinese certified public accountant;

(2) copy of the material proving the personal identity of the permanent resident of Hong Kong or Macau; for a presumptive chief partner, a statement declaring that he or she does not have the nationality of another country which is confirmed and signed by himself or herself shall be submitted.

(3) materials proving the audit work experience in Hong Kong or Macau which are issued by an auditing firm in Hong Kong or Macau;

(4) copy of the written partnership agreement stating the ratio of the voting rights concerning the decision-making on the operation and management;

(5) copies of the property ownership certificates for the settled domiciles in the Mainland or copies of the certificates for the right to use such as leasing contracts (copies of the property ownership certificates of the lessors shall be attached).

Applicants shall be responsible for the authenticity, accuracy and integrity of the submitted application materials.

Provincial public finance departments may require applicants to show the original copies of the relevant certificates so as to ensure the consistency of the copies and the original copies. After ensuring their correctness by the examination, the departments shall return to the application the relevant original copies not to be retained on the spot, and keep strictly confidential the sensitive personal information in the materials submitted by the applicants which is protected under the laws of Hong Kong or Macau.

Where the application of the accounting professionals from Hong Kong or Macau for serving as partners of the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland involves the formalities on the industrial and commercial registration or the alteration of the registration, such formalities shall be conducted under the provisions of the industrial and commercial administrative department in the Mainland.

III . Relevant requirements

1. All provincial public finance departments shall be deeply aware of the significance of the Trade Service Agreements signed by the Mainland with Hong Kong and Macau respectively, pay high attention to the work related to the application of the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau for serving as partners of the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland, carry out the examination and approval or the filing under the principles of complying with the law, facilitating the people's lives and being efficient, performing the administrative duty in strict compliance with the law while effectively simplifying the service, and safeguard the lawful rights and interests of the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau for them to develop and prosper in the Mainland. Meanwhile, the departments shall vigorously strengthen the interim and post-event regulation and keep the market competition fair and orderly.

2. The accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau shall carry out the practice of certified public accountants in strict accordance with the Law on Certified Public Accountants, the relevant rules and regulation as well as the norms and rules on carrying out the practice; shall properly handle their relationship with the partners from the Mainland under the Partnership Enterprise Law and the partnership agreement, so as to jointly build and maintain a sound partnership culture; shall voluntarily accept the regulation by the public finance departments at or above the provincial level over their practicing activities and carry out their practices in a diligent and responsible manner; and shall perform their tax obligation under the law and pay all the payable tax in a timely manner.

Where there are restrictive provisions in the laws, regulations or rules of the Mainland on the access of the people from outside of the Mainland to secret-related units, sites and materials, such provisions shall be observed.

Where there are inconsistencies between the normative documents on the pilot policies pertaining to the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau serving as partners of the partnership accounting firms in the Mainland which were previously issued by the Ministry of Finance or the people's government of each province (autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government) (including its public finance departments) and this Notice, this Notice shall be observed.

For the accounting professionals from Hong Kong and Macau who serve as the partners of Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting (special general partnership), Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (special general partnership), Ernst & Young (special general partnership) and KPMG (special general partnership), the provisions on the localized system conversion shall be implemented and this Notice shall not be applied.

This Notice shall come into force from June 1, 2016.

Ministry of Finance

May 16, 2016