Hainan FTP to benefit from new measures

For example, a number of measures in the services trade field clearly allow foreign institutions to run businesses with more policy support. The new measures will allow overseas institutions to independently organize foreign-related economic and technological exhibitions except for those using words such as "China "or "National "in their names. Registration requirements for commercial activities regarding technology imports and exports, and licenses for setting up auction firms, have been eased.

Fast track treatment for services export and import safety management cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and Hainan province will be established, and in some key areas, domestic regulations will be standardized to support the latter's free trade and trade facilitation in the services sector.

As development of the Hainan FTP is a strategic choice to implement new development concepts to promote high-quality development and build a modern economic system, the free trade port must be built into an area featuring high-quality production factors such as capital, knowledge, technology, management and data, and provide many demonstration practices for the high-quality development of the country. Several measures have fully reflected the needs of the high-quality development of the Hainan FTP, and a series of targeted and important measures have been launched.

Among the 28 new measures, 13 measures focus on goods trade while the rest deal with services. The supporting measures include the following: piloting accreditation of trade in goods-related commodities; management and service certification bodies; encouraging Hainan to develop new trade patterns such as offshore global trade, digital, technological and cultural trade; developing the exhibition economy; welcoming the establishment of trade bases of cultural goods; vigorously innovating models of international cooperation in the trade in services sector; and expanding trade by focusing on market entities so as to build Hainan into a new global and regional offshore trade center as well as an exhibition center.

All these moves will support policy optimization not only in the trade of goods, but also in serving the high-quality development of Hainan's pillar and emerging industries such as tourism, modern services and tropical agriculture.

In addition to improving risk warning and rapid response supervision capabilities for the quality and security of foreign goods trade, and strengthening innovation of Customs supervision models, these new policy measures will certainly help the local government implement multilevel approval models, facilitate prescribed examination procedures, support Hainan to participate in establishing recommended national, regional or group standards and improve the statistical monitoring system and other measures in a bid to realize integrated innovation in trade systems.

Apart from focusing on the innovation of regulatory models, the government must pay attention to establishing early warning, risk management and response capacity systems, as they can be guarantees for ensuring openness and industrial security.

Under such circumstances, it is equally important to set up work stations across government departments and levels to help deal with trade frictions and launch trade adjustment assistance programs, as well as reinforce the quality and safety risk warning mechanism and rapid response supervision capabilities of trade in foreign goods.

Again, a law-based environment is the best business environment as well as the most stable and predictable. As China will accelerate the formulation of laws and regulations for the development of the Hainan FTP on fair competition, social credit and business registration and deregistration this year, it is vital to push forward the building of law-based governance in all respects and regulate activities between the government and market in a law-based manner and through law-based procedures and approaches, thus better protecting the legitimate rights and interests of investors.

The writer is researcher and vice-president of Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, under the Ministry of Commerce.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.