Recently, The General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Measures on Accelerating the Integrated Development of Domestic and Foreign Trade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"). On December 18, The State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the policy of The State Council. Positive progress was made in the integration of domestic and foreign trade
"Accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade is an inherent requirement for building a new development pattern and promoting high-quality development." Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, introduced that in recent years, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments and regions, has earnestly implemented the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, and made positive progress in promoting the integration of domestic and foreign trade, and further improved the scale and quality of domestic and foreign trade. From January to November 2023, China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 42.8 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%, and the total import and export of goods reached 38 trillion yuan, the same as the same period last year, ranking the world's second largest consumer market and the world's first trading country in goods. In the first three quarters, the contribution of final consumption expenditure to economic growth reached 83.2 percent. The work system has been continuously improved. At the departmental level, 22 units such as the Ministry of Commerce have established an inter-ministerial working mechanism to promote the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, and implemented 134 work measures in 15 aspects such as promoting domestic and foreign trade laws and regulations, regulatory systems, business qualifications, quality standards, inspection and quarantine, certification and accreditation in 2022, achieving good results. At the local level, the central and local governments will jointly carry out pilot projects. It will work with 13 departments to jointly carry out pilot work on domestic and foreign trade integration, organize Beijing and nine other pilot areas to actively innovate and try to improve the domestic and foreign trade integration regulation system and promote the connection of domestic and foreign trade systems.
Domestic and foreign trade rules and systems are further connected, and the conversion rate of international standards exceeds 80%. The willingness of enterprises to develop domestic and foreign trade integration has been further strengthened, and in the first 10 months of 2023, the number of domestic and foreign trade integration enterprises in industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 4.7% year-on-year. Enhance the linkage effect of two resources in both domestic and international markets Sheng Qiuping said that the integration of domestic and foreign trade is to adhere to the "integration" development and help enterprises walk on "two legs". It is necessary to explore both the domestic market and the international market, and to encourage foreign trade enterprises to switch to domestic sales and domestic trade enterprises to do foreign trade. An important goal of domestic and foreign trade integration is to allow enterprises to smoothly switch between domestic and international markets according to changes in the market situation. On the basis of in-depth research, the Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, submitted to The State Council for consideration and introduction of the "Measures" and proposed 18 measures in 5 aspects. Sheng Qiuping said that in the drafting process of the "Measures", it has always adhered to the construction of a new development pattern of services, focused on building a strong domestic market, and enhanced the linkage effect of two resources in both domestic and international markets.
In terms of unimpeded domestic circulation, the "measures" proposed to strengthen intellectual property protection, improve the domestic and foreign trade credit system, improve logistics convenience, strengthen the support of domestic and foreign trade talents, so that more high-quality goods and services can more easily enter the domestic market, enrich the quantity of supply, improve the quality of supply, and better meet the increasingly upgraded domestic market demand. In terms of promoting domestic and international double cycles, first, better convergence of rules and standards. For example, in terms of standards, both the standard international advanced level, improve the conversion rate of international standards, by 2025, the consistency of national standards and international standards key technical indicators has been greatly improved, and the conversion rate of international standards has reached more than 85%. At the same time, strengthen the foreign language compilation of standards in key areas, let the world know more about Chinese standards, and help enterprises reduce the cost of market switching. Second, two-way connection of market channels. For example, the "measures" not only support foreign trade enterprises to expand the domestic market, but also support domestic trade enterprises to expand the international market, emphasizing the role of exhibitions and other platforms, paving the way for enterprises willing to carry out domestic and foreign trade integration, opening the domestic and international markets more quickly, and achieving "two legs" walking. Third, the integrated development of enterprises and industries. The "Measures" proposed to cultivate domestic and foreign trade integration enterprises, cultivate domestic and foreign trade integration and development of industrial clusters, increase fiscal and financial support, enhance the ability of enterprises to integrate global resources allocation, enhance the level of industrial opening and international competitiveness, and better integrate into the domestic and international double cycle.
At present, the implementation of technical trade measures with standards and conformity assessment as the main content has become one of the most important ways to affect international trade. There are differences in domestic and international standards applicable to domestic and foreign trade products, resulting in different certification procedures, scope of application and evaluation methods. The manpower, time and capital costs of enterprise docking standards and obtaining certification will weaken the motivation of domestic sales to a certain extent. The "Measures" clearly put forward the "promotion of domestic and foreign trade standards" and "promotion of domestic and foreign trade inspection and certification". Yao Lei, head of the certification supervision Department of the General Administration of Market Supervision, said that the General Administration of Market Supervision vigorously promoted the consistency of domestic and international standards and strengthened the international mutual recognition of conformity assessment. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, China has transformed 2,509 advanced applicable international standards in the fields of machinery, chemicals, information technology, and consumer goods, and the consistency of key technical indicators in major consumer goods such as household appliances, textiles and clothing with international standards has reached 95%. The State Administration for Market Regulation has joined 21 international/regional organizations for conformity assessment, signed 15 multilateral mutual recognition agreements and 128 bilateral cooperation mutual recognition arrangements, and the international mutual recognition coverage covers more than 95% of the global economic aggregate.
Li Mingxiao, director of the Policy research Department of the General Administration of Financial Supervision, said that the "measures" put forward specific requirements from the aspects of "better play the role of credit insurance" and "increase financial support", and the General Administration of Financial Supervision will actively promote banking and insurance institutions to strengthen the support of domestic and foreign trade enterprises to explore both domestic and foreign markets, and promote the improvement of comprehensive service quality and efficiency. Banking institutions are encouraged to optimize and integrate individual products on the basis of regular trade financial services such as negotiation factoring, bill discounting, and order financing, and launch comprehensive services that integrate payment and settlement, financing and credit, and exchange rate hedging. Lin Shaobin, head of the General Administration of Customs General Business Department, said that the customs will focus on market concerns and enterprise needs, continue to do a good job in foreign technical regulations and standards, especially the comparison, research and evaluation of technical regulations and standards in developed countries and regions, and promptly carry out publicity and implement relevant results to export enterprises. At the same time, we will deepen international cooperation in inspection, quarantine, certification and accreditation, actively carry out international online verification of electronic certificates for inspection and quarantine with more countries, expand the scope of third-party inspection and testing results, and vigorously promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade rules and systems.
