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China has made earnest efforts to fulfill its commitments in ensuring transparency and openness in its legal system and business environment during the first 12 months of its World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, officials said yesterday in Beijing.
At several gatherings around the city on the eve of the one year anniversary, they agreed the country has reason to celebrate the headway it scored in making the nation more WTO-compatible.
For one thing, new policies and regulations made by the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) are now being made known to all enterprises, including foreign groups, before they are put into force.
Before China joined the WTO, the information was only channeled to economic and trade commissions at provincial levels and a few key Chinese enterprises in the form of "red documents," said Zhang Zhigang, vice-minister of the influential commission.
But now the commission offers to provide timely, full and accurate bulletins to all businesses so they can get convenient access to China's economic and trade statutes and policies, he said during a seminar yesterday.
Zhang said the key for the commission to deal with the challenges and changes along with the WTO entry was to quicken the transformation of government functions and perform its official duties according to law.
For example, the commission has significantly reduced the scope of administrative examinations and approvals over the past year. At least one-third of the items formerly subject to SETC examinations have been removed from the list, he said.
To make its work more compatible with WTO requirements, SETC has taken a hard look at the 113 rules and regulations it issued before 2001. As a result, 19 of them have been abolished and 38 others have been revised.
Also yesterday, a forum discussing WTO and Chinese laws was held to review the impact of entry on the nation's legal system.
Sun Wanzhong, vice-chairman of the China Society of Law, said China's efforts to perform its commitments to the WTO in the past year is "obvious to all."
Sun said China has initially established a uniform, complete and transparent legal system on foreign trade, which not only suits the requirements of the nation's development of a socialist market economy, but accords with WTO rules and international practice.
China's Key Commitment to WTO
Banking
Immediately after WTO accession, the country removed restrictions on foreign exchange clients of foreign banks and allowed them to conduct renminbi business in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Dalian.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, allowed foreign banks to conduct renminbi business from December 1 in five more cities including Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Guangzhou and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province, Qingdao in Shandong Province and Wuhan in Hubei Province.
Insurance
Upon accession, China allowed foreign insurers to set up joint ventures. Life and non-life insurers can take at most a 50 and 51 percent stake respectively.
For brokerage for insurance of large scale commercial risks, brokerage for reinsurance and brokerage for international marine, aviation, and transport insurance and reinsurance: upon accession, joint ventures with foreign equity of no more than 50 percent are permitted; For other brokerage services: Unbound.
Foreign life and non-life insurers, and insurance brokers were permitted to provide services in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shenzhen and Foshan immediately after China joined WTO.
Upon accession, foreign non-life insurers are permitted to provide "master policy" insurance of large-scale commercial risks, which has no geographic restrictions.
Foreign non-life insurers are permitted to provide insurance of enterprises abroad as well as property insurance, related liability insurance and credit insurance of foreign-invested enterprises in China upon accession.
Retailing Services (excluding tobacco)
Foreign service suppliers can supply services only in the form of joint ventures in five special economic zones (Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Xiamen and Hainan) and six cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Dalian and Qingdao).
In Beijing and Shanghai, a total of no more than four joint venture retailing enterprises are permitted respectively. In each of the other cities, no more than two joint venture retailing enterprises are permitted. Two joint venture retailing enterprises among the four to be established in Beijing may set up their branches in the same city.
Upon China's accession to the WTO, Zhengzhou and Wuhan are immediately open to joint venture retailing enterprise.
Distribution Services
Within one year of China's accession to the WTO, foreign service suppliers are allowed to establish joint ventures to engage in the commission agents' business and wholesale business of all imported and domestically produced products, except the distribution of books, newspapers, magazines, pharmaceutical products, pesticides and mulching filmschemical fertilizers, processed oil and crude oil.
Legal Services
Foreign law firms can provide legal services only in the form of representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Haikou, Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Yantai, Tianjin, Suzhou, Xiamen, Zhuhai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Shenyang and Kunming only.
Non-tariff Measures
Import licences and import quotas are eliminated in many key products such as wool, grain, cotton and chemical fertilizers.
Tariff
The averaged tariff rate has dropped from 15.3 percent to 12 percent.
(Edited by china.org.cn from China Daily December 11, 2002)
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