The Action Plan for Solidly Promoting High-level Opening-up and Attracting and Utilizing Foreign Investment with Greater Efforts was issued

Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Action Plan for Solidly Promoting High-level Opening-up and Attracting and Utilizing Foreign Investment with Greater Efforts

　　Guo Ban Fa [2024] No. 9

The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and all ministries and commissions of the State Council, and all agencies directly under the State Council:

　　The "Action Plan for Solidly Promoting High-level Opening Up and Making Greater Efforts to Attract and Utilize Foreign Investment" has been approved by the State Council and is hereby issued to you, please conscientiously implement it.

General Office of the State Council

February 28, 2024

(This is a public release)

Solidly promote high-level opening-up and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment

　　Foreign investment is an important force in participating in China's modernization and promoting the common prosperity and development of China's economy and the world economy. To solidly promote high-level opening-up and make greater efforts to attract and utilize foreign investment, we must adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, completely, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development concept, better coordinate the overall domestic and international situations, create a market-oriented, law-based and international first-class business environment, give full play to the advantages of the mainland's super-large-scale market, consolidate the confidence of foreign investment in China, and improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation. In order to implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the following action plan is hereby formulated.

　　1. Expand market access and raise the level of liberalization of foreign investment

　　(1) Reasonably reduce the negative list for foreign investment access. We will improve the pre-entry national treatment plus negative list management system for foreign investment, comprehensively remove restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector, and continue to promote the expansion of opening-up in fields such as telecommunications and medical care.

　　(2) Carry out pilot projects to relax foreign investment access in the field of scientific and technological innovation. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and other pilot free trade zones are allowed to select a number of qualified foreign-invested enterprises to carry out pilot projects in areas such as the development and application of genetic diagnosis and treatment technologies. Support the opening up of information services (limited to app stores) and other fields to better implement and achieve results in the pilot free trade zone.

　　(3) Expand access to foreign-funded financial institutions in the field of banking and insurance. On the premise of ensuring safety, efficiency and stability, support qualified foreign-funded institutions to carry out bank card clearing business in accordance with the law. Deepen the opening up of commercial pension insurance, health insurance and other industries, and support qualified overseas professional insurance institutions to invest in the establishment or equity participation of insurance institutions in China.

　　(4) Expand the business scope of foreign-funded financial institutions to participate in the domestic bond market. Optimize the relevant procedures for foreign financial institutions to participate in the domestic capital market, and further facilitate the participation of foreign financial institutions in China's bond market. Support qualified foreign financial institutions to participate in the underwriting of domestic bonds in accordance with regulations. Study and steadily promote more qualified foreign banks to participate in the pilot project of treasury bond futures trading.

　　(5) In-depth implementation of the pilot project for domestic investment by qualified foreign limited partners. Expand the scope of the pilot program for qualified foreign limited partners, standardize the requirements for qualified foreign limited partners to manage enterprises and funds in terms of registered capital, shareholders, etc., and broaden the scope of investment that funds can make. Improve the measures for the management of private investment fund service business, encourage foreign investment in the establishment of private equity funds, and carry out all kinds of investment activities in accordance with the law.

　　2. Intensify policies to enhance the attractiveness of foreign investment

　　(6) Expand the catalogue of industries encouraged for foreign investment and the list of foreign-funded projects. The national catalogue of industries encouraged for foreign investment has increased support for advanced manufacturing, high and new technology, energy conservation and environmental protection, and the catalogue of advantageous industries for foreign investment in the central and western regions has increased support for basic manufacturing, applicable technology, people's livelihood consumption and other fields. Actively support foreign-funded projects in the fields of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and high-end equipment to be included in the list of major and key foreign-funded projects, and allow them to enjoy corresponding support policies.

　　(7) Implement tax support policies. Foreign-invested enterprises that meet the conditions such as the Catalogue of Encouraged Industries for Foreign Investment may enjoy the tariff exemption policy for imported equipment for self-use in accordance with the regulations for projects invested by reinvested enterprises within the territory of China. Implement preferential tax policies for foreign investors investing in China's bond market and other financial markets.

　　(8) Increase financial support. Encourage financial institutions to provide high-quality financial services and financing support for qualified foreign-funded projects in accordance with the principle of marketization. Support qualified foreign-invested enterprises to issue RMB bonds in China for financing and use them for domestic investment projects. Promote the implementation of foreign exchange management facilitation policies for cross-border trade and investment, and continue to improve the convenience of foreign exchange business for foreign-invested enterprises.

　　(9) Strengthen the guarantee of energy use. Improve the regulation and control of total energy consumption and intensity, focus on controlling fossil energy consumption, implement policies such as excluding raw material energy consumption and non-fossil energy consumption from total energy consumption and intensity control, and ensure the reasonable energy demand of foreign-funded projects without discrimination. Accelerate the promotion of green certificate trading and inter-provincial green electricity trading, and better meet the green electricity needs of foreign-invested enterprises。

　　(10) Support the central and western regions and the northeast region to undertake industrial transfer. Encourage the central and western regions and the northeast region to give full play to their local comparative advantages, and formulate policies and measures to reduce the cost of land, energy, labor, and logistics for manufacturing enterprises in accordance with local conditions. In the central and western regions and the northeast region, we will plan and integrate key development zones, pair up with the eastern region to carry out cooperation in the transfer of foreign investment industries, and establish and improve the mechanism and implementation rules for project promotion, cadre exchanges, and revenue sharing.

　　3. Optimize the environment for fair competition and do a good job in providing services to foreign-invested enterprises

　　(11) Clean up acts and policy measures that violate fair competition. Promptly address discriminatory conduct against foreign-invested enterprises in areas such as government procurement, bidding and bidding, qualification licensing, standard formulation, and subsidy enjoyment reported by business entities, and notify the responsible entities and make corrections within a set period of time. Accelerate the formulation and introduction of standards for government procurement of domestic products, and treat products that meet the standards produced by domestic and foreign-funded enterprises equally in government procurement activities. Comprehensively clean up policies and measures that hinder a unified market and fair competition.

　　(12) Improve the bidding and bidding system. Accelerate the revision of the Tendering and Bidding Law. Organize and carry out special governance of outstanding problems in the field of bidding and bidding, concentrate on correcting a number of problems that are strongly reflected by business entities, and break down unreasonable restrictions that restrict enterprises of all types of ownership from participating in bidding and bidding on an equal footing. Formulate rules for fair competition review in the field of bidding and bidding, strengthen rigid constraints on fair competition review, and avoid the issuance of policy documents that exclude and restrict fair competition.

　　(13) Formulation and revision of standards for fair participation. Support foreign-invested enterprises to participate in standardization technical committees for advanced manufacturing, engineering materials, information and communication, or relevant standardization organizations under the same conditions, and participate in the formulation and revision of standards on an equal footing in accordance with law. Disclose national standard information in a timely manner to improve the transparency and openness of standardization work.

　　(14) Improve the scientific level of administrative law enforcement. Strictly implement the administrative law enforcement publicity system, strictly implement the list of administrative inspection items, resolutely avoid repeated inspections, promptly correct non-standard administrative law enforcement behaviors, and gradually implement off-site supervision with remote supervision and early warning prevention and control as the main features.

　　(15) Continue to build the "Invest in China" brand. Relying on important exhibition platforms, we will carry out key investment promotion activities under the "Invest in China" campaign to showcase the mainland's high-quality business environment and investment opportunities to foreign investors in an all-round way. Establish and improve the working mechanism, give full play to the role of embassies and consulates abroad as business institutions, support the combination of "going out" and "inviting in" in local governments, and carry out the work of attracting investment on a regular basis. Organize international industrial investment cooperation and docking activities to promote more project negotiation and signing.

　　(16) Strengthen services for foreign-invested enterprises. Make good use of platforms such as the roundtable meeting for foreign-funded enterprises, deepen regular exchanges with foreign-invested enterprises, foreign chambers of commerce and associations, and international organizations, respond to the concerns of all parties in a timely manner, and provide targeted service guarantees. Improve cross-departmental coordination mechanisms for complaints from foreign-invested enterprises at all levels, complete systems for direct contact with foreign-invested enterprises, clear communication channels, and promptly understand and promote the resolution of problems and reasonable demands reported by foreign-invested enterprises. Implement a foreign investment information reporting system, continue to promote departmental data sharing, and information that can be obtained through departmental information sharing must not require foreign-invested enterprises to submit duplicate reports.

　　Fourth, smooth the flow of innovation elements and promote innovation cooperation between domestic and foreign-funded enterprises

　　(17) Support the flow of data between foreign-invested enterprises and headquarters. Standardize cross-border data security management, organize and carry out cross-border data security assessments, standardize the filing of standard contracts for personal information exports, and promote the safe and orderly flow of data such as R&D, production, and sales of foreign-invested enterprises. Formulate standards for cross-border data transfer in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, rely on major cooperation platforms such as the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin and the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone to establish a cross-border data flow mechanism for Hong Kong and Macao enterprises, explore the establishment of a "white list" system for cross-border data flows, and steadily promote the realization of convenient data flow within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

　　(18) Facilitate the exchange of international business personnel. To facilitate the application of visas for foreign investors to China, the validity period of visas will be relaxed to 2 years for the management and technical personnel of foreign-invested enterprises, their accompanying spouses and minor children. Accelerate the recovery of international flights from key aviation hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

　　(19) Optimize the management of foreigners' work and residence permits in China. Optimize the process of applying for work permits and work-type residence permits for foreigners in China, and adopt the method of "one-stop acceptance and parallel approval" to form a faster and more efficient approval mechanism. Strengthen departmental coordination to facilitate the work, residence and permanent residence of foreign talents in China.

　　(20) Support cooperation and innovation between domestic and foreign institutions. We will further implement international science and technology cooperation plans under the new situation, and support foreign-invested enterprises, foreign-funded R&D institutions, and multinational companies established in China to participate in national science and technology projects such as national key research and development programs and major national science and technology projects on an equal footing.

　　Fifth, improve domestic regulations and better align with international high-standard economic and trade rules

　　(21) Strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. Align with international high-standard intellectual property rules, improve provisions on intellectual property protection, accelerate the construction of a national intellectual property protection information platform, strengthen the construction of a trade secret protection system, and thoroughly implement the work plan for the administrative protection of intellectual property rights. Focus on key areas and key links, and increase the extent of intellectual property protection for foreign-invested enterprises. Intensify the investigation and handling of cases of infringement of intellectual property rights, and resolutely crack down on and punish acts of infringing on the intellectual property rights of foreign-invested enterprises.

　　(22) Complete rules for cross-border data flows. Scientifically define the scope of important data. Fully and deeply participate in the World Trade Organization's e-commerce negotiations, and promote the acceleration of the construction of global digital trade rules. Explore pilot projects on cross-border data flows with members of the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, accelerate the establishment of cross-border data flow cooperation mechanisms with major economic and trade partner countries and regions, and promote the construction of a multi-level global digital partnership network.

　　(23) Actively promote the negotiation and implementation of high-standard economic and trade agreements. China will actively promote accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, actively promote domestic reforms in relevant areas in line with relevant rules, regulations, management and standards, and promote the incorporation of some high-standard economic and trade rules into the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements between the Mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Promote the signing of free trade agreements with more countries and regions, and expand the network of high-standard free trade zones for the world.

　　(24) Intensify the pilot efforts to connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules. Give full play to the leading role of the national service industry expansion and opening up comprehensive demonstration zone, accurately meet the needs of industrial development, take the lead in building an open service industry system that is in line with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and timely connect with the comprehensive pilot areas for the expansion and opening up of the service industry. Support the conditional pilot free trade zone and the Hainan Free Trade Port to base themselves on national conditions, align with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and take the lead in exploring and implementing the results of negotiations in the fields of domestic regulation of trade in services of the World Trade Organization, investment facilitation, and digital trade.

　　All localities and departments should thoroughly implement the requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on expanding high-level opening-up, take the initiative to implement them, and earnestly enhance the sense of gain of foreign-invested enterprises. All localities should make greater efforts to create an environment and improve services, take the practical problems that foreign-invested enterprises are concerned about as a breakthrough point, be good at using innovative thinking to solve contradictions, and consolidate the confidence of foreign investment in the development of China. All departments should pay close attention to the refinement and implementation of various tasks, formulate timetables and roadmaps, and promote the implementation of policy measures. The National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with relevant departments, should strengthen guidance and coordination, track and evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of various policies, summarize experience in a timely manner, and replicate and promote. Major matters should be reported to the Party Central Committee and the State Council in a timely manner.

Original title: The General Office of the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Solidly Promoting High-level Opening-up and Attracting and Utilizing Foreign Investment with Greater Efforts"

Source: Chinese government website

Editor: Cao Mian Encouragement