The State Council decided to adjust administrative approval items and threshold for investors from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions who invest in the mainland’s service sectors, according to a circular issued on June 1.

The move is under the framework of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) signed by the central government with the two regions in 2003, to forge closer ties and further open the mainland’s service sectors to investors, said the document.

Approval procedures for enterprises in the service trade have been loosened, with administrative approvals being replaced by documents and records, but that does not apply to telecom and cultural companies, and financial institutions, and the establishment and change of other business forms, besides companies.

According to the changes, service sector investors will be allowed to invest in telecommunications, transportation, non-degree vocational skills training, conference and exhibition, and aviation services, which were once limited or inaccessible to them.

In addition, the government also allowed investors to set up joint venture performance groups controlled by local authorities, and Chinese who own permanent residential rights in Hong Kong and Macao could set up individual workshops and engage in the performance agents business without approvals.

And investors now can independently set up entertainment businesses that are wholly foreign-owned in Guangdong province.

The regulation and adjustment will take effect on June 1. Changes in regulations for Hong Kong and Macao investors in Guangdong that were made on March 3, 2015, are no longer valid.

The State Council will adjust the regulations according to the mainland’s situation regarding the two regions.