China has established 105 cross-border e-commerce pilot zones in five tranches, according to a World Trade Organization (WTO) report.
China has also provided guidance to local authorities to build testing labs for new ideas and has promoted business model innovation.
Meanwhile, given the characteristics of small transaction volume with high frequency of cross-border e-commerce, China has studied and created various experiences and practices by using new technologies and tools, which have been reproduced and adopted throughout the country.
In general, China actively promotes the well-regulated, sound and sustainable development of cross-border e-commerce and other novel forms and modalities.
On January 1, 2019, the Electronic Commerce Law came into force. Standards in the e-commerce industry have continued to be improved and the integrity and reliability of the industry has been deepened.
Then, in August 2020, China released the Comprehensive Plan for Deepening Innovation-Based Service Trade Development Pilot Program to promote the transformation, upgrading and development of high-quality foreign trade.
Electronic commerce
As envisaged in the Plan, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and 25 other provinces/cities/regions are designated as pilot zones, which will comprehensively study eight pilot tasks during the three-year pilot period.
In the key areas of services trade under arm’s length or limited competition, and in the competitive elements of services trade under natural monopoly, China promoted the removal or relaxation of restrictions on trade in services, guided by by the principles of total suppression, substantial relaxation and orderly liberalization.
According to the WTO report, with the development of modern information and communication technology, digital trade prospers and becomes a new engine for the development of trade in services.
Companies, as the main promoters of innovation, are encouraged to increase their investment in R&D, while the Government offers policy incentives that apply to all sectors.
In particular, there is steady progress in new types of infrastructure, such as 5G, data centers, cloud computing, and the industrial Internet.
The industrial sector is modernized with digital and intelligent technologies. At the national level, digital economy pilot zones are being created to promote innovation-driven development. Measures are taken to encourage new forms of business in the digital economy.
