Workarounds for foreign investors in fast-growing advertising industry

Close on the heels of advertising powerhouses the US and Japan, China has now taken its place among the giants of the world’s advertising markets. To provide better policy support for the development of the domestic advertising industry, the Catalogue for Guiding the Adjustment of the Industrial Structure (2011 Edition) issued by the National Development and Reform Commission in June 2011 lists “advertising creativity, advertising planning, advertising design and advertising production” as an encouraged industry for the first time.

Pursuant to the Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment in Industry, revised in 2011, although advertising business still is not listed as an industry where investment is encouraged, it is no longer restricted or prohibited.

Looking back at the evolution of the legislation governing foreign investment in the advertising industry, it must be acknowledged that, relative to other sectors with foreign investment, legislation and regulation seriously lags behind, and blank spots remain numerous. The work on revising the Advertising Law, promulgated in 1995, has not yet achieved a conclusive result.

Nick Bai is a partner and Wang Ling is an associate at Concord & Partners