Circular of the State Council on Issuing the Plan for Further Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Circular of the State Council on Issuing the Plan for Further Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Circular of the State Council on Issuing the Plan for Further Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Guo Fa [2018] No.14
May 4, 2018
People's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, all ministries and commissions of the State Council, and institutions directly affiliated to the State Council,
The Plan for Further Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone is hereby issued to you for your earnest implementation.
Plan for Further Promoting the Reform and Opening up of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Building pilot free trade zones is a strategic approach of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council to fully deepen reform and expand opening-up under the new situation. After the operation of the China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone (hereinafter referred to as the "pilot free trade zone"), the construction has made phased progress and realized expected objectives on the whole. This Plan is formulated to implement the decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, further deepen the reform and opening-up in the pilot free trade zone and promote the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region in a deep-going manner.
I. General Requirements
1. Guiding ideology. Uphold the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, fully implement the guidelines proposed at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, remain guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement the decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, move forward with the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, remain committed to the underlying principle of making progress while keeping performance stable, firmly put into practice the new development philosophy, focus on the supply-side structural reform, take institutional innovations as the core and risk controls as the bottom line, continue to emancipate thinking and carry out ground-breaking pilot programs, promote reform, development and innovation via the opening-up initiative, and form a new situation of all-round reform. Explore new approaches and models of fully deepening reform and expanding opening-up in a wider range of sectors at higher levels, further straighten out relations between the government and the market, endeavor to form a high-standard framework for investment trading rules that is aligned with international standards, hold firm to the bottom line of risk prevention and control, strive to build the pilot free trade zone into a high-level opening-up platform for the Belt and Road Initiative and the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, and make more institutional innovation achievements that are reproducible and propagable.
2. Construction Objectives. By 2020, succeed in establishing an institutional system that is in line with international general rules for investment and trade first and creating the law-based, internationalized and facilitated business environment, make great efforts to form the new open economy system, add new superiorities in global competition, and build the demonstration regions for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region. Strengthen the joint actions between the pilot free trade zone reform and the reform in Tianjin Municipality, implement various pilot reform programs within the Binhai New Area in all aspects if conditions permit or promote the same in Tianjin Municipality.
II. Form the New Open Economy System with Reference to International Advanced Rules
3. Deeply promoting the optimization of functions and procedures relating to administrative approvals. Launch the pilot reform in separating the business license from other business permits. Streamline access formalities for investment projects, and explore ways of forming the new mode of consolidating multiple reviews into one and conducting examination uniformly. Streamline and consolidate formalities concerning the application for investment projects and explore the administrative mode whereby investment projects will be started first and examined later. Take joint actions to inspect construction projects when they are completed, make it possible to handle affairs in a one-stop way at one window and undergo only two ultimate inspections, and promote the reform in combining replies and permits and tolerating incompleteness coupled with subsequent remedies. Explore ways of operating the policy of multiple licenses under one address. Explore ways of implementing the "one license per enterprise" for production permission. Make the unified social credit code universally applicable in all licensing administration processes. Promote the standardization of administrative approvals and administrative services in all aspects. Adopt the whole-process electronic registration and exercise administration of electronic business licenses. Exempt the zero-declaration of city maintenance and construction tax and education surcharge levied together with the value-added tax and consumption tax. Delegate the power to approve (agency) business licensing items for international logistics business to the Post Bureau of Tianjin Municipality.
4. Establishing a more open and transparent management mode for market access. Further improve the management system of the pre-access national treatment plus the negative list for foreign investment, dramatically lift restrictions on market access, expand the opening-up of the service sector, make the negative list for foreign investment in the pilot free trade zone more open and transparent, and do the best to create the in-process and ex-post regulatory system compatible with the administration by the negative list system. Abolish special administrative limits on the business period of foreign-invested enterprises, except those in special sectors. Promote the connection with post-access administrative measures, implement a fair competition examination system, clear away and cancel differential treatments in respect of the acquisition of qualifications, bidding and tendering, the protection of rights and interests and so on, and realize the lawful and equal access of various market players to relevant industries, sectors and business.
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