Published by ChinaMNC · Ningnan

How Sichuan's Government Information Disclosure Rules Affect Foreign Founders Registering a Company

A practical guide for foreign founders on how Sichuan's government information disclosure system works, including proactive disclosure, information requests, response timelines, and fees, and what it means for company registration and compliance in the province.

What This Means for Your Sichuan Company Registration

Sichuan's government information disclosure guide sets out how the provincial government and its General Office publish information and how citizens, legal persons, and other organizations can request information. For a foreign founder building a company in Sichuan, this is a practical transparency framework: it tells you where to find rules, how to ask for specific documents, and how long agencies have to respond. The guide does not create investment incentives or registration shortcuts. It does, however, define the information channels you can use when checking requirements, permits, and policy details that affect your China entity.

The guide is issued under the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on Open Government Information (State Council Order No. 711). It applies to the Sichuan Provincial People's Government and the General Office of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government.

Proactive Disclosure: What You Can Find Without Asking

Sichuan commits to proactively publishing information that affects public interests, that the public needs to know widely, or that requires public participation in decision-making, along with other information required by law, regulations, rules, and national provisions. The published categories most relevant to founders include:

• Provincial government rules and normative documents issued by the provincial government and its General Office.
• Administrative licensing, administrative penalties, administrative coercion, and other external management services — the category that covers permits and approvals.
• Approval and implementation status of major construction projects.
• Policies, measures, and implementation in poverty alleviation, education, healthcare, social security, and employment promotion.
• Emergency plans, early-warning information, and response for public emergencies.
• Supervision and inspection of environmental protection, public health, work safety, food and drugs, and product quality.
• Financial budgets and final accounts, government centralized procurement, and administrative fee information.
• Provincial economic and social development plans, special plans, regional plans, and related policies, plus economic and social statistics.
• Provincial government work reports, important meetings, and major activities.

For a founder, these categories are where you look for sector rules, fee schedules, procurement notices, and inspection standards that may apply to your business.

Where the Information Is Published

Sichuan uses several official channels:

• The Sichuan Provincial People's Government Gazette.
• The Sichuan Provincial People's Government portal website.
• Official social media accounts, including the "Sichuan Release" Sina Weibo and WeChat accounts and the government website's headline account.
• Provincial government press conferences.
• Radio, television, and newspapers.

Information is also made available through the Sichuan Provincial Government Government Services and Public Resource Trading Service Center, the Sichuan Provincial Archives, and the Sichuan Provincial Library. These serve as information disclosure acceptance and reading venues.

Timing of Proactive Disclosure

Information within the proactive disclosure scope must be published within 20 working days from the date it is formed or changed, unless laws or regulations provide otherwise. For founders tracking a new rule or permit requirement, this is the outer limit for publication after the document is created or amended.

Requesting Information: Choose the Right Agency First

Beyond proactively published material, citizens, legal persons, and other organizations — referred to as applicants — may request government information from the Sichuan Provincial People's Government and its General Office. The guide stresses identifying the correct agency before applying. Applicants can log on to the provincial government portal, click on Institutional Functions, and review the main responsibilities and organizational setup of provincial administrative agencies. They then submit requests through the channel opened by the relevant agency, following its usage notes.

The guide gives examples relevant to company operations:

• Major construction project approval information and feasibility study reports: apply to the development and reform department.
• Collective land expropriation information: apply to the natural resources department.
• State-owned land housing expropriation and compensation, and shantytown redevelopment: apply to the city or county government where the applicant is located and its housing and urban-rural development department.

How to Submit a Request

The General Office of the Sichuan Provincial People's Government accepts requests submitted in person, by letter, and online, and processes them according to the application procedure. The provincial government information disclosure office handles the specifics for this agency.

• In person: the agency has a government information disclosure application acceptance point at the provincial government services center. Applicants can collect the Government Information Disclosure Application Form on site, complete it, and submit it in person.
• By letter: submit the form with the required attachments.
• Online: register a user on the Sichuan Government Services Network as prompted, log in, select the application type, enter the application information such as name and ID number, and check progress online.

The guide advises applicants to search the proactive disclosure channels first and submit a request only if the information cannot be found. Matters involving petitions, complaints, reports, consultations, or suggestions should go through dedicated channels such as the Governor's Mailbox, the 12345 online message service, and disciplinary inspection reporting.

Documents and Identity Requirements

The application form can be collected at the acceptance point or downloaded from the provincial government portal; photocopies are valid. Online applicants can fill it in directly.

• In-person applications: present a valid identity document.
• Letter applications: attach a copy of a valid identity document to the form.
• Online applications: register on the Sichuan Government Services Network and complete identity verification before logging in and submitting.

Applicants should describe the information precisely, ideally providing the document name, document number, or other characteristics that help the agency locate it.

Clarification, Responses, and Deadlines

If a request is unclear, the agency provides guidance and explanation and, within 7 working days of receiving the request, informs the applicant once of the items to be supplemented and a reasonable deadline. If the supplemented request does not meet requirements or still cannot identify specific information, the agency notifies the applicant in writing that the request is unclear and cannot be processed. If the applicant fails to supplement without justification, the request is treated as abandoned.

Where the requested information can be disclosed, the agency provides it or tells the applicant how, where, and when to obtain it. If the information is not the agency's responsibility to disclose, it informs the applicant and explains why; if the responsible agency can be identified, it provides that agency's name and contact details. Repeat requests for the same information already answered are not processed again. For information such as business registration and real estate registration records, where laws or administrative regulations set special rules for access, the applicant is told to follow those rules.

Except where an answer can be given on the spot, the agency replies within 20 working days of receiving the request. Extensions require approval by the head of the agency's information disclosure office and written notice to the applicant, with a maximum extension of 20 working days. Time spent consulting third parties and other agencies is not counted in the processing period. For supplemented requests, the response period starts from receipt of the supplement.

If the number or frequency of requests clearly exceeds a reasonable range, the agency may ask for justification. Unreasonable justifications lead to a notice that the request will not be processed; if the justification is reasonable but a response cannot be given within the period under Article 33 of the Regulation, the agency sets and informs the applicant of a reasonable delayed response period.

Form of Delivery, Fees, and Remedies

Apart from situations where the Regulation allows segregated handling, the agency provides information based on what it actually holds and is not obliged to process or analyze existing information. The form of delivery is determined by the applicant's request and the agency's actual holdings. If providing information in the requested form could endanger the safety of the information carrier or make disclosure too costly, the agency provides it as electronic data or in another appropriate form, or arranges for the applicant to inspect or copy it.

Under Article 42 of the Regulation, the agency charges information processing fees in strict accordance with the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Measures for the Administration of Government Information Disclosure Information Processing Fees (Guobanhan [2020] No. 109) and provincial rules.

Under Article 51 of the Regulation, applicants who believe their lawful rights were infringed in information disclosure work may complain or report to the higher-level administrative agency or the competent department for government information disclosure, or apply for administrative reconsideration or bring an administrative lawsuit.

For a foreign founder, the practical takeaway is to use proactive channels first, identify the correct agency, describe documents precisely, and plan around the 20-working-day response window when checking rules or permits that affect your Sichuan company.

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

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