State Council Calls for Vigorous Development of E-Commerce

On May 7, the State Council released on its website the Opinions on Vigorous Development of E-Commerce to Speed Up Cultivation of New Economic Drivers, with the aim of promoting innovation and development of e-commerce.

The Opinions set forth detailed policy measures with a goal of establishing an open and competitive, secure and reliable e-commerce market by 2020, including: 

• loosening market access restrictions for foreign investment in e-commerce businesses,
• reasonably reducing taxes and fees,
• increasing financial support,
• encouraging employment and entrepreneurship in the e-commerce field,
• promoting development of e-commerce in traditional trade and logistics service sectors,
• requiring e-commerce enterprises to adopt secure and controllable information technology and cybersecurity products based on national multi-level protection rules and standards, and
• designing certification regimes for e-commerce enterprise information and transaction security management.