Regular Briefing on State Council Policy

On April 28 this year, the Political Bureau meeting of the CPC Central Committee pointed out that it is necessary to support qualified free trade pilot zones and free trade ports to connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and carry out reform and opening up first. Recently, with the approval of the Party Central Committee, the State Council issued the "Several Measures on Piloting the Connection with High International Standards in Qualified Free Trade Pilot Zones and Free Trade Ports to Promote Institutional Opening-up", focusing on trade in goods, trade in services, temporary entry of business personnel, Six aspects, including digital trade, business environment, and risk prevention and control, put forward pilot policy measures and risk prevention and control measures.

The State Council Information Office held a regular policy briefing of the State Council on the afternoon of June 30, introducing conditions for the pilot free trade zones and free trade ports to be connected to international high-standard economic and trade rules. Let's see together——

Q1 : What are the specific measures to facilitate the temporary entry of business personnel?

A:

One is to allow the accompanying spouses and family members of experts transferred by foreign-invested enterprises in the pilot areas to enjoy the same entry and temporary stay period as the experts, to provide convenience for the families of foreign experts to live together in China, and to ensure that experts can work in China with peace of mind , life, which is conducive to attracting the gathering of international talents and driving the flow of various development factors such as knowledge, technology, capital, and market in the pilot area.

The second is to extend the validity period of temporary entry stay to 2 years for relevant senior managers of foreign companies who plan to establish branches or subsidiaries in pilot areas, and allow accompanying spouses and family members to enjoy the same entry and temporary stay period. Foreign corporate executives, spouses and family members who invest in inspections and plan to establish branches or subsidiaries are given convenient arrangements for entry, stay and residence.

Q2 : What specific measures will be taken to promote customs clearance facilitation? What convenience will it bring to market operators?

A:

One is to further improve the transparency of customs clearance time. This "Several Measures" further clarifies the time standards for customs clearance of air express cargo and general cargo in the pilot areas, stipulating that under the premise of meeting the supervision requirements of my country's customs and completing the necessary quarantine procedures, air express cargo normally arrives within 6 hours. Release within 48 hours for general cargo that has arrived and submitted all the information required for customs clearance. The more transparent customs clearance time standard will help improve the predictability of the import process of business entities and create a better environment for promoting trade development.

The second is to further reduce customs clearance costs. For example, it is clarified that the customs allows minor errors in the certificate of origin. Under the condition of confirming the origin of the goods, minor errors such as printing errors, typing errors, and non-critical information omissions or minor differences between documents will not affect the enterprise's enjoyment of preferential tariffs. Remuneration, the enterprise does not need to repeatedly revise and submit the application materials, which is beneficial to reduce the capital, manpower and time costs of the enterprise. As another example, it is clarified that if the law, facts and circumstances on which the pre-ruling is based remain unchanged, import companies are allowed to apply for an extension before the pre-ruling expires, and the customs will make a prompt decision before the expiry of the ruling, ensuring the continuity of the pre-ruling decision. , to avoid the gap period between the new and old rulings, which is conducive to improving the level of trade facilitation.