Published by ChinaMNC · Pingshan

China Government Information Disclosure: A Practical Guide for Foreign Founders

A ChinaMNC guide for foreign founders on how Chinese government information disclosure works, based on the Sichuan provincial government's published index of disclosure rules and documents.

What This Source Actually Covers

The source is the government information disclosure (政府信息公开) section of the Sichuan provincial government website. It functions as an index rather than a narrative article. It links national regulations, State Council General Office documents, and provincial finance and development documents that set the framework for how Chinese government bodies publish information and how the public, including foreign-invested enterprises, can request it. For foreign founders, this is useful background: it shows the formal channels through which official rules, policy documents, and administrative records become public in China, and it lists the national and provincial instruments that govern those channels.

ChinaMNC has summarised the substantive content of the index below, focusing on what foreign founders setting up or running a company in China should understand about accessing government information. Nothing here is a substitute for the underlying documents, which are published on the source website.

National Framework: Regulations and State Council Guidance

The index lists the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Disclosure of Government Information (State Council Order No. 711) as the core national rule. It is dated 15 April 2019. Alongside it, the index lists a series of State Council General Office and its Government Information and Openness Office documents. These cover:

• Public institutions: a notice on measures for making information public by public enterprises and institutions (21 December 2020).
• Fees: a notice on measures for managing information processing fees for government information disclosure (1 December 2020).
• Administrative reconsideration: a notice transmitting the Ministry of Justice's guidance on hearing administrative reconsideration cases involving government information disclosure (4 January 2022).
• Centralised publication of rules: a notice on publishing regulations in a centralised way and updating them dynamically (29 October 2021).
• Annual reports: a notice issuing the format for annual work reports on government information disclosure (29 September 2021).
• Platform standards: a notice on standardising matters relating to government information disclosure platforms (3 December 2019).

The index also lists several interpretive documents from the Government Information and Openness Office addressing practical questions. These include how applications are handled after institutional reform (11 February 2019), which channels may receive applications (24 October 2017), who is the proper respondent to an application (24 October 2017), how items in annual reports should be completed (24 October 2017), how decisions are delivered (24 October 2017), and how to distinguish government information disclosure from general business enquiries (24 October 2017).

Provincial Layer: Sichuan's Fee Notice

At the provincial level, the index lists a notice from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Finance and the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission on matters relating to information processing fees for government information disclosure, dated 25 January 2021. It follows the national fee measures listed above. The index also shows a category for provincial departmental normative documents, with a link to the Provincial Development and Reform Commission (24).

The page's navigation categories distinguish policies (政策), regulations (规章), administrative normative documents (行政规范性文件), government normative documents (政府规范性文件), and departmental normative documents (部门规范性文件). This structure matters in practice: when a foreign founder looks for the rule that applies to a licence, a filing, or a subsidy, the document may sit in one of several categories, and the disclosure system is the route to finding it.

Why This Matters for Foreign Founders

Foreign founders often need to confirm what an agency has published about a procedure, a policy, or a decision affecting their company. The framework indexed here establishes that government information is disclosed through defined platforms, that applications can be submitted through specified channels, that responses come from a properly identified respondent body, and that fees may apply for processing requests. It also establishes annual reporting, so agencies publish accounts of their disclosure work.

In practical terms, a foreign founder can use these channels to:

• locate national rules and State Council guidance that apply nationwide, including to foreign-invested entities;
• identify the provincial documents and notices that apply where the company is registered or operates;
• understand the formal process for requesting information that is not proactively published, including which channel to use and who should answer;
• recognise that some enquiries are business enquiries rather than disclosure requests, since the framework separates the two;
• anticipate that processing fees may apply under the national and provincial fee measures.

Reading the Source Correctly

The source is an index, not a set of operational instructions for company registration. It does not describe registration steps, capital rules, tax treatment, or sector-specific licensing. Foreign founders should treat it as the map to China's government information disclosure system rather than as a guide to incorporation. Where a specific procedural question arises, the underlying regulation or notice listed in the index is the authoritative text.

The page also carries standard website identifiers: a site identification code (5100000062), a Sichuan ICP filing number (蜀ICP备 13001288号), and a public security network filing number (川公网安备 51010402000507号). These are technical identifiers for the website itself.

Next Steps

Foreign founders who need to register a company in China or keep one operating in compliance can use official disclosure channels to check the rules, and can also seek professional support. ChinaMNC assists foreign founders with company registration and ongoing operations in China.

Call to action: Foreign founders can contact ChinaMNC on WhatsApp / WeChat at +86 153 1898 8535 for help registering and operating a company in China.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.