Shared offices by affiliated enterprises, cluster registration, and centralized office areas are now being encouraged by the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin. This reduces operating costs, optimizes the local business environment, and attracts Macao investors to innovate or start businesses.

Hengqin Duoyuan Industry Consulting Service, founded by Gan Yanxia of Macao, signed an office carrel rental contract with Sany South Headquarters Building upon release of the regulation. Gan described as attractive the new policies tailored for Macao investors and entrepreneurs. She wants trusteeship institutions to integrate platform resources, provide more legal and tax services, and help Macao enterprises dock with the mainland resources for better development in Hengqin.

The One Address, Multiple Licenses system is part of recently released administrative regulations for market entities in the Cooperation Zone. It allows enterprises with Macao investors, which contribute more than 50 percent capital, or key industrial enterprises introduced to Hengqin to use the address designated by the Cooperation Zone Commercial Services Bureau for three years without bearing corresponding economic costs.

In Macao, Article 181 of the Commercial Code permits the registered office of a company to be established in a determined place. Registration of multiple enterprises at the same address is not restricted while enterprises may also use the address provided by the law firm for registration.

In the Chinese mainland, however, an enterprise must provide different support documents for use of its registration address when registering establishment. The company's operation premise shall be recorded with the commercial registration authority according to law and be subject to supervision and management in case it is inconsistent with the registration address.

International Commercial Center in Hengqin [Photo courtesy WeChat account: hengqinzaixian2021]

Hengqin regulations now state that for "cluster registration," the trusteeship institutions shall have an office area of at least 2,000 sqm (21,528 sqft), a shared space area of no less than a designated proportion, be equipped with adequate support facilities for physical offices, and fire control acceptance. The sites may be used as cluster registration areas after filing with the Cooperation Zone Commercial Services Bureau. They will provide settled enterprises with physical office spaces as the registered address in the form of station, carrel, and office, and offer business secretary services such as for document receipt and delivery, information submission, and more.

Guiding enterprises in Hengqin to operate step by step, the measures stipulate that the registered address cannot be used as a physical office for an enterprise entity. To continue operating, the company is to apply for a change of the registration address to its physical address when the three-year period expires.

The new model enables the Cooperation Zone to provide more high-quality and inexpensive office space for enterprises. Meanwhile, the shared office mode allows parent, subsidiary companies, and brother companies to share an actual address for business registration. Operating costs of enterprises with the mode of "multiple enterprise entities under one management institution" will be significantly reduced.

The new measures not only simplify filing and registration procedures for Macao enterprises in Hengqin, but also create a business environment like that of Macao. More Macao enterprises, investors, and entrepreneurs are expected with streamlined procedures and lower investment and operating costs during their start-up stage, noted Cui Tianli, a member of the Youth Affairs Committee of the Macao SAR and accredited lawyer in Hengqin.

Cui expressed confidence that more Hong Kong and Macao investors would develop industries in Hengqin and promote local economic and social development with the further marketized, legalized, and internationalized business environment in the Cooperation Zone.

A responsible person at the Cooperation Zone Commercial Services Bureau expressed hope that the measures would encourage more Macao investors to take Hengqin as a "starting point and touchstone" for further investment in the Chinese mainland and integrate into the overall development of the country.