Online Interview
Topic: China Customs 20 Measures to Support Steady Foreign-Trade Growth
Time:10:30 AM (Fri) May 23, 2014
Special Guests:Li Kuiwen, Deputy Director General, GACC Department of Policy Research; Miao Yuexue, Deputy Director General, GACC Department of Customs Control and Inspection; Huang Guohua, Associate Counsel, GACC Department of Statistics
Online Interview Photos
China Customs 20 Measures to Support Steady Foreign-Trade Growth
[Li Kuiwen]:The twenty measures proposed by GACC rightly conform to both the requirements of the State Council and the practical situation of the Customs. They are actually more concrete and more workable measures refined from relevant part of the State Council policies. 05/23/2014 10:34:06
[Wang Hua]: What are the twenty measures about? 05/23/2014 10:34:39
[Li Kuiwen]: Those measures can be summarized into four parts: focusing on reform, reducing burdens, promoting upgrading and optimizing development environment. The first part comprises six specific measures, including deepening the innovation of the supervision and service systems of China(Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, accelerating the regional clearance integration, fully implementing the reform of paperless clearance, improving the efficiency of customs inspection, comprehensively promoting the cooperation between Customs and Bureau of Inspection and Quarantine in the “Three Ones” (One declaration, One inspection and One release), and advancing the building of “Single Window” for international trade. 05/23/2014 10:35:17
[Li Kuiwen]: Reducing burdens is realized by optimizing tax levy, perfecting the policy on export tax refund and further regulating operational services and charges in import and export sectors, with a purpose to bring down the operating costs of enterprises. Promoting upgrading is mainly to promote the transformation and upgrading of processing trade through innovative regulatory model. Optimizing development environment means continuing to streamline administration and promote decentralization, and supporting the development of new trading platforms, so as to create a favorable import and export environment for foreign trade enterprises and improve their competitiveness. 05/23/2014 10:36:10
[Wang Hua]: As far as I know, in 2008 and 2012, GACC released measures to support the steady growth of foreign trade respectively. Compared with those previous ones, what are the features of the twenty measures released this year? 05/23/2014 10:37:02
[Li Kuiwen]:It’s the GACC’s functions to serve import and export enterprises and support the development of the country’s foreign trade. The GACC has introduced relevant policies, to go with the tide of foreign trade development, and carry out the decisions and deployment made by the Central Government and the State Council. 05/23/2014 10:38:07
[Li Kuiwen]:Compared with the previous measures, these twenty measures feature, in the first place, a highlight in reform orientation and a top priority of “focusing on reform”. For instance, GACC recently are successively applying fourteen innovative systems to the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. For another example, the cooperation between Customs and Bureau of Inspection and Quarantine in the “Three Ones” and the reform of paperless clearance in an all-round way means that those measures will be practiced across the country instead of just in pilot zones. Particularly, the project on integrating the clearance process among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province will be a highlight of the reform on Customs. 05/23/2014 10:38:59
[Li Kuiwen]: Secondly, the measures are characterized by the emphasis on burden release and efficiency improvement, where improving the efficiency of customs inspection and continuing to streamline administration and promote decentralization are the perfect examples. Thirdly, the measures focus on optimizing environment. For instance, supports are given to the development of such new trading platforms as e-commerce for trading across borders. 05/23/2014 10:40:06
[Li Kuiwen]: Another feature lies in the “double promotion” in commodity and service trades. In the past, the Customs attached much more importance to the former than to the latter. In order to boost service trade, we, for the first time, express the requirement to establish and perfect the customs supervision mode which corresponds to the characteristics of service trade. This will positively advance the structural transformation and upgrading of foreign trade. 05/23/2014 10:41:25
[Wang Hua]: Quite a few of them are really new, such as the innovation in the systems in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, as mentioned by Mr. Li just now. Those new measures are also a common concern of many enterprises. Then what are the actual benefits brought by them to enterprises? Mr. Miao, would you mind explaining that for us? 05/23/2014 10:42:10