Recently, seven departments including the Ministry of Commerce have jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Enhancing International Cooperation and Improving the Position of Chinese Industries in the Global Value Chain (the "Opinions").
The Opinions set out specific requirements from different perspectives, such as making the development direction clear, enhancing international cooperation and communication, and improving resource allocation ability. The Opinions support enterprises to undertake outsourced high-end services, such as the research and development of products and technologies, and the industrial design, and encourage enterprises to be part of foreign innovation-oriented enterprises and research institutes through mergers, joint ventures or participation in accordance with international rules. Moreover, the Opinions clarify that efforts shall be made to implement policies on the zero-rate VAT or VAT exemption for export services; duplicate and popularize experience gained from the pilot reform in free trade zones, and improve the efficiency as to the application for licenses through examination and approval, annual inspection of licenses, and inspection and quarantine, as well as the level of customs clearance facilitation by identifying technologically-advanced service enterprises and enterprises with high customs credit etc.; speed up the reform of the foreign investment management system and fully implement the system of pre-establishment national treatment and the negative list management system; and open up banking companies, insurance companies, securities companies and venture capital companies to a wider scale.