Legal-Express

China's commerce ministry has released a negative list for cross-border trade in services in its southern island province of Hainan, the first negative list for services trade in the country.
The list outlined 70 special management measures in 11 categories for overseas services providers, according to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Commerce.
For areas not included in the list, domestic and overseas services providers shall have a level playing field and enjoy equal market access in Hainan free trade port, the statement said.

Liu Bo, deputy director general of Shanghai Customs, said at a press conference of the Shanghai municipal government on July 22 that the General Administration of Customs issued 15 measures in five aspects to support the construction of the Pudong New Area as a leading area for socialist modernization. In the next step, Shanghai Customs will resolutely implement the plan and formulate a detailed task list, so as to contribute customs wisdom and strength to the construction of Pudong Leading Area.

On July 19, 2021, General Administration of Customs announced 11 typical cases of intellectual property infringement where they were able to seize infringing goods. The cases included both domestic and foreign brands as well as products bearing Olympic marks. The infringing goods included counterfeit Hugo Boss clothing; counterfeit L’Oreal, DIOR, Maybelline, MAC, Huda, and St. Ives cosmetics; and counterfeit Disney stickers among others.

China's foreign trade rose 27.1 percent year on year to 18.07 trillion yuan (about 2.79 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first half of the year, the best performance in history, official data showed Tuesday.

The growth marks an increase of 22.8 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.Exports jumped 28.1 percent from a year earlier, while imports climbed 25.9 percent in yuan terms.

The Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") issued the Commerce Development Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan Period (the "Plan").

The Plan looks forward to the prospects of commerce development in 2035 and sets the goals of commerce development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, namely, building a strong domestic market to achieve new results, promoting high-level opening up to a new step, participating in global economic governance and shouldering new responsibilities, and improving the ability to prevent and resolve risks.

In the first five months of this year, 18,497 foreign-invested enterprises were established in China, up by 48.6% year on year and up by 12.4% from the same period in 2019. Paid-in foreign investment reached RMB481 billion, up by 35.4% year on year and up by 30.3% from the same period in 2019.

By sectors, paid-in FDI to service sector reached RMB381.9 billion, up by 41.6%. Paid-in FDIto high-tech industries grew by 34.6%, among which high-tech service industries grew by 37.6% and high-tech manufacturing industries grew by 25%.

The customs authorities seized nearly 31 million items of suspected goods during the period, amid a nationwide IPR-protection campaign launched at the beginning of 2021, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC).
Besides crackdown on malpractices, customs nationwide have improved services for IPR protection. A total of 5,629 applications for IPR protection were approved in the January-May period.

According to the statistics of China Customs, in the first five months of 2021, the import and export amount of the Comprehensive Bonded Zones reached 2.08 trillion yuan, a 31.6% year-on-year increase.

The Comprehensive Bonded Zones are serving as major engines in stabilizing foreign trade and foreign investment. The exports of the zones recorded 116.73 billion yuan, while the imports 976.37 billion yuan,which indicates an increase of 36.4% and 26.6% respectively.