'The policy was announced last year and now the market regulators are filling in the details.'

Several leading foreign companies have said they would like to list shares of their mainland operations on a domestic market.

Taiwan bicycle maker Giant Manufacturing as well as multinationals Unilever and Kodak have expressed interest in a mainland listing. Grace Group, which has links to Taiwan, has said it would like to list its non-semiconductor operations.

Under the guidelines, foreign joint ventures or wholly owned firms wishing to list must disclose risks from foreign exchange movements and dependence on foreign suppliers or customers.

They are also required to disclose government investment rules and other policies that affect their operations in China and could be subject to change.

An offer prospectus must also list any technology transfer requirements, disclose related-party transactions and give details of all foreign shareholders with more than 5 per cent of the company's stock.

Analysts and legal experts defended the additional requirements for foreign companies, saying these were reasonable because of additional risks to domestic investors.

'Local investors may not understand the operations of foreign companies so it is not unreasonable to have additional requirements,' said Xu Cheng, a lawyer at the Guohao Law Firm.

Mr Xu said the first listing may be drawing nearer though several other matters needed to be resolved. Many foreign firms in China were limited companies and they needed to be reorganised as shareholding firms while some did not yet meet the requirement of three consecutive years of profitability.