The Relationship with other administrations and their provisions
In accordance with Decision of the State Council on the Administrative License Created for the Items of Administrative Examination and Approval to Be Really Needed for Retaining, the Maritime Safety Administration of People's Republic of China (China MSA) is the administration of administrative approvals of the ship survey company established by the foreign ship survey institution in China. The administrative approvals carried out by China MSA do not exempt the ship survey company from obligations to comply with other laws and provisions of the government authorities concerned in China. These companies shall go through corresponding procedures in accordance with the provisions of government authorities concerned in economic and trade, industry and commerce, taxation, etc. For details, whereas necessary, may consult relevant authorities.
The Definition of Offshore Installation (Article 3)
Offshore wind energy equipment, offshore oil and natural gas platform are Offshore Installation in accordance with Article 29 of Regulations of the People's Republic of China Governing Survey of Ships and Offshore Installations. Survey on offshore wind energy equipment, offshore oil and natural gas platform is the ship survey activity as defined in Article 3 of The Measures.
The scope of ship survey activities and permanent representative office (Article 5 / 6)
One foreign Ship survey institution can only establish one survey company in China, but it can establish branches or departments dealing with different kinds of ship survey activities. Before carrying out ship survey activities prescribed in Regulations of Registration and Management for Company Business Scope, but not in Article 3 of The Measures, Ship survey companies shall apply to the administration for approval.
Once the ship survey company is established, representative office of foreign ship survey institution shall be closed in principle. Only one representative office may be set up, whereas in real need, in a city without port, and shall not carry out survey activities. The foreign ship survey institution may apply for dependent accounting branches or offices in Beijing which shall not carry out survey activities.
Requirements of the ship survey company (Article 7)
The foreign organization applying for establishing Ship Survey Company in China shall be the ship survey institution recognized by state or local government.
Qualification and certificates requirements (Article 7/10/13)
The qualification requirements of Chinese citizen employed by foreign ship survey company for ship survey activities shall be the same as those employed by Chinese ship survey institution.
Surveyor qualification is not required for the personnel preparing the company establishment. Evidence of qualification mentioned in Article 10 refers to the document for the personnel position in the foreign ship survey institution.
The surveyors prescribed in Article 13.3 of The Measures include Chinese and foreign surveyors.
The person in charge of the ship survey activities (Article 8/13)
The person in charge of the ship survey activities takes the general responsibility for the ship survey quality in the company (or branch). The competent authority has no compulsory requirement on the position of the person in charge of the ship survey activities. However, if any survey incident mentioned in Article 18 or matters mentioned in Article 20 occur, the person in charge of the ship survey activities shall be fully authorized by the ship survey company to allocate necessary resources and bear the relevant legal liabilities. The obligation and rights of the person shall be stipulated clearly in the quality management system mentioned in Article 13.[page]
The Authorization Documents by the Flag Administrations for the Statutory survey (Article 10)
The foreign ship survey institution authorized by several flag administrations for the statutory surveys, when applying for the first time, shall submit the authorization documents as follows:
(1). Authorization documents for the statutory surveys by the state that issued the certificate of the capacity of the ship survey institution;
(2). Authorization documents for the statutory surveys by the flag states besides the preceding states can be exempted temporarily, but the key information of all authorizations shall be submitted covering the following contents;
a. The name of the flag state;
b. The ship survey item of authorization with authorized time
c. Date for signature of authorization documents
d. Special requirements of the flag state.
The competent authority reserves the right of requiring the applicant to provide the authorization documents and files in whole or in part.
(3). The foreign ship survey institution, once obtaining new authorization after submitting the application or achieving the approval, shall report updated authorization to the administration.
PreparationPlan (Article 10)
Preparation plan refers to the description of the schedule and planned outcome of the company from preparation to operation, and has no requirement of a fixed format and illumination of the future business and expected turnover.
The Notarization for the Documents Submitted (Article 11)
Among the material submitted to China MSA, the copy of documents, certificate or evidence and other files issued by the organizations concerned shall be notarized to prove the consistency between the copy and the original. The documents (both original and copy) issued by the organizations concerned with no stamp but only issuer's signature shall be notarized to prove their authenticity. The translated text in Chinese for the non-Chinese documents (either original or copy) shall be submitted and notarized to prove its consistency with the original. In case the preceding translated text in Chinese is accomplished by the translation company recognized by relevant authorities in China, the notarization may be exempted.
The document evidence of quality management system in operation (Article 13)
The ship survey company which establishes and implements the quality management system independently shall submit the accreditation granted by accreditation body recognized by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China.
The ship survey company whose quality management activities are completely included into its quality management system of foreign ship survey institution shall submit the proof with the accreditation granted by the relevant foreign accreditation body.
Validity of the approval for establishing the Ship Survey Company concerning approvals of other administrations. (Article 13/ 14/ 15/ 16/ 17)[page]
The documents prescribed in Article 13.4 may be exempted. Under this circumstance, the administration shall grant approval with a validity of 6 months for the first time, and remark with "only for ship survey company to apply for relevant approval". After account opening, registered capital deposit, industrial and commercial registration etc, the ship survey company shall submit relevant documents to the administration for review and filing, and the administration shall replace with an approval of long-term validity.
If the application for establishment registration fails within validity of 6 months for particular reasons, the administration may conduct the confirmation procedure in accordance with Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Company Registration. Following documents shall be submitted by the ship survey company:
The valid notice of pre-approval of the name;
Statement of the overdue application for establishment registration;
Other documents (whereas necessary).
The ship survey company may refer to the above procedures and document requirements when applying an interim or long-term approval to set up a branch.
The Expiry of the Approval of the Ship Survey Company (Article 15)
Ship survey is a licensed operation in accordance with Article 14 of the Administration of Registration of the Scope of Business of Enterprises Provisions promulgated by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People's Republic of China; In case approval has expired and the survey company fails to obtain the approval, the ship survey company shall cease any ship survey activities.
The Establishment of Branch (Article 16)
To apply for a branch under an established ship survey company, the following documents shall be submitted
(1) Preparation Application
a. Location of the branch, region and the scope of survey activities, or other explanatory information;
b. List of personnel for the establishment preparation, resumes, valid identification documents, qualification certificates;
c. Other documents (whereas necessary).
(2) Opening Application
a. Documents required in the Article 13.2/.3/.4/.5 of The Measures;
b. Supporting documents of the company's quality management system covering the branch;
c. Other documents (whereas necessary).
Caution Money (Article 18)
The ship survey company shall deposit the caution money to the bank as specified by the administration before the long-term permit approval is conferred, and the bank name will be notified to the applicant along with the approval.
The ownership of the caution money belongs to the ship survey company. Except for company liquidation, the ship survey company can not use the caution money without the permission of the administration. The payment and the payment voucher shall be conducted in accordance with the relevant laws and provisions of the State, in case the caution money is required as the fee for the authority's investigation to survey incidents.
Stamp for the Survey Certificates and Documents Issued (Article 20)
The ship survey company shall provide the sample stamp to be used on the survey documents to the administration, and the scope of the stamp application shall be clarified for the record. The documents shall be classified into Article 13.10 and submitted with relevant documents for the opening application as follows:
Original authorization letter by the foreign ship survey institution to its established ship survey company in China for the authorized use of the survey certificate stamp;
The scope of application, sample and use instruction of the survey certificate stamp.
The ship survey company shall report in written to the administration in time when changing the survey certificate stamp.
(All information published in this website is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only.)