跨境电商综合试验区 (kuàjìng diànshāng zōnghé shìyànqū): Comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce

The State Council, China's cabinet, recently issued a document on establishing comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in 22 cities including Beijing, Shenyang in Liaoning province, Nanjing in Jiangsu province and Zhuhai in Guangdong province.

There are already comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in 13 cities including Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, and they have made notable progress in promoting opening-up and upgrading foreign trade.

The new pilot zones should learn from their experience and focus on exploring the technological standards, business procedures, supervision models and B2B cross-border e-commerce. Establishing the comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones is a significant measure to nurture new development drivers and increase the country's global competitiveness.

In the next stage, the Ministry of Commerce will lead and supervise the implementation of specific plans for the pilot zones and later evaluate the results. Local governments should vigorously support the bold exploration and innovation of the comprehensive e-commerce pilot zones, and further streamline the examination and approval procedures in the areas of logistics, warehousing and customs clearance.

They should also accelerate innovation in institutions, management and service, and promote the improvement of institutional mechanisms to adapt to and promote the healthy development of cross-border e-commerce.