Recently, the National Intellectual Property Administration formulated and issued the Administrative Measures for the Establishment of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Patent Agencies in China (hereinafter referred to as the Measures), which regulates the establishment and business activities of resident representative offices of foreign patent agencies in China in the form of normative documents and protects the legitimate rights and interests of resident representative offices and their representatives. The Measures will be implemented as of January 7, 2022. 

The Measures consist of four chapters and nineteen articles, mainly including the following contents: first, the division of work between the CNIPA and the intellectual property management department of the provincial people's government is clarified; second, the conditions and procedures for the establishment of representative offices are stipulated; third, in view of possible violations of laws and regulations, the legal responsibilities of representative offices or representatives are stipulated according to law, with a view to optimizing the business environment and promoting the high-quality development of the patent agency industry.