GAC Introduces Support Measures for FTZ Customs Development

The General Administration of Customs (GAC) has laid out a set of comprehensive support measures to facilitate the development of the newly announced free trade zones (FTZ) in Guangdong, Tianjin, and Fujian. On May 7, People.cn, an authoritative Chinese news website, posted a news report outlining these measures, which were designed to replicate the experiences of pilot customs reform policies in Shanghai FTZ.

The support measures included five key areas:

• Regulation reform: promote "single-window" customs clearance integration, flexible declaration locations nationwide, and tax guarantee pilot schemes for trade;
• Policy extension of special customs areas: adopt selective taxation policies for processing and trade companies in special customs areas, and support transformation of FTZ special customs areas to bonded areas for tax benefits;
• Emerging trade business support: further optimize and relax regulation of cross-border e-commerce businesses, supporting services such as high-tech and value-added product repair and bonded exhibition and transactions in FTZ special customs areas;
• Individually-tailored trade strategies: facilitate the collaboration of Guangdong FTZ with Hong Kong and Macao customs, coordinated development of Tianjin, Hebei and Beijing customs, and the economic and trade cooperation between Fujian FTZ and Taiwan; and
• Overall enhancement for IPR protection and law enforcement in FTZ customs offices.