Foreign trade laws need supporting measures to foster high-level opening-up

The decision of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee to continue adhering to and improving socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to expedite the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity means that China should improve the foreign trade laws and rules system in order to promote higher-level opening-up.

The foreign trade laws and rules system is the general name for all the laws and regulations related to foreign trade, including not only administrative laws and regulations such as the Customs Law and the Import and Export Commodity Inspection Law, but also laws and regulations related to foreign trade and economic relations such as the Contract Law and Foreign Investment Law. And the rules system covers not only domestic laws and regulations but also international treaties and conventions.

Since the launch of reform and opening-up－especially since it joined the World Trade Organization－China has continuously improved its foreign trade laws and rules system with the aim of making them standardized and transparent, and globally pertinent. But China still faces several problems in building a comprehensive legal framework for foreign trade, which has acquired additional importance due to the rising trend of anti-globalization and protectionism in some economies.

First, foreign trade and economic rules guarantee the smooth functioning of foreign trade and economic activities, which in turn will promote higher-level opening-up. China is the world's largest trading nation, and the second-largest foreign investment destination and investor abroad. And further improving the foreign trade laws and regulations will be conducive to maintaining China's status as an economic powerhouse, and promote foreign trade, investment and economic cooperation.

True, China's economy grew at an unprecedented pace because of its export-oriented development model. But that doesn't mean it has removed all the risks and corrected the flaws in the fields of capital security, trade remedies, intellectual property rights protection, credit support, and talent cultivation. So in the construction of a foreign trade and economic legal framework, legislative and judicial bodies should cooperate with foreign trade and economic sectors to ensure fast-paced and sustainable development of China's economy.

Second, foreign trade laws should abide by the principle of consolidating multilateral and bilateral relations, and supporting new forms of opening-up. In order to join the WTO, China incorporated some rights, obligations and commitments in WTO rules into its domestic laws, which promoted the country's foreign trade and economic legal construction. But some of the negative terms China accepted have had a huge negative impact on legal issues.

The global economic environment has drastically changed since China joined the WTO 18 years ago, and the WTO's rules face serious challenges because of rising unilateralism and protectionism. Moreover, with the prosperous development of bilateral and regional trade treaties, China has inked or initiated many bilateral, multilateral and regional trade cooperation agreements. So the construction of comprehensive foreign trade rules should take into full consideration bilateral cooperation, and relevant organizations should pay attention to bilateral and regional accords.

Third, there should be clear and detailed supporting measures for the laws and regulations to guarantee effective implementation. Although China has gradually built a foreign trade and economic legal system, many laws and regulations are at the macro level and lack supporting measures and specific enforcement regulation.

For instance, the Foreign Investment Law, which will come into effect on Jan 1, is a very important measure that China has taken to further open up its economy and promote foreign investment. Yet public opinions are still being solicited for the supporting administrative regulations for the Foreign Investment Law. If the supporting regulations are not up to the mark, they could impede law enforcement. So the legislative and judicial organs should cooperate to synchronize the foreign trade and supporting measures.

The author is a researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategy and a professor of economics at Renmin University of China. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.