The State Council, China’s cabinet, issued guidelines on Monday intended to facilitate trading firms to promote products originally designated for exports to be sold on the domestic market, in an effort to ramp up the domestic consumption power and back up the economic growth.
By the end of 2020, export products that are both in line with the national standard for production at the export destination and meet the requirements of China’s standards will be allowed to be sold in the domestic market through self-conformity declarations, according to the guideline.
Relevant written commitment from foreign trading companies is needed too.
Foreign trade companies must take responsibility for the consistency of commodity labels and marks in Chinese and foreign languages that are attached to the products they sell, the guideline noted.
Also, China will support foreign trading firms to negotiate with their clients on the authorization of intellectual property involving export products. Relevant departments should provide support in patent applications as well as trademark and copyright registration.
The guideline also encourages foreign trading firms to make full use of new business models such as online sales and live streaming to promote the integration of online and offline sales.
China will provide other kinds of administrative, financing and insurance support for these trading companies.
Industry observers said the guideline represents Beijing’s latest effort to alleviate the woes of trading companies as the coronavirus outbreak sees no sign of abating overseas.
The situation could wreak havoc on global trade and push thousands of Chinese trading firms to the brink of bankruptcy.
In the first five months of 2020, China’s exports slumped 4.7 percent year-on-year to 6.2 trillion yuan ($879 billion), while imports dived 5.2 percent year-on-year to 5.34 trillion yuan, according to customs data.
Gao Feng, spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press briefing in early June that uncertainties still hang over the country’s foreign trade prospects.
But Gao stressed the sector’s resilience, potential and ample scope for recovery. “The long-term good prospects of China’s foreign trade has not changed,” Gao noted.
Photo taken on March 25, 2020 shows the dock in Dalian, northeast China’s Liaoning Province. As the coronavirus pandemic has been subdued in China, Dalian port saw an increasing container throughput in the past two weeks. (Xinhua/Yao Jianfeng)
