Opinions of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on the Reform, Innovation and Development of Digital Trade

(August 17, 2024)

Digital trade is an important part of the digital economy and has become a new trend in the development of international trade and a new growth point for the economy. In order to promote the reform, innovation and development of digital trade, with the consent of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the following opinions are hereby put forward.

I. General requirements

Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully and accurately implement the new development concept, adhere to the general tone of work of seeking progress while maintaining stability, serve the construction of a new development pattern, strive to promote high-quality development, coordinate the domestic and international situations, coordinate development and security, promote the deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, promote the reform, innovation and development of digital trade, and make greater contributions to shaping new momentum and new advantages for the development of foreign trade and accelerating the construction of a digital China and a strong trading country.

According to the principles of innovation as the priority, security as the basis, expanding opening up, win-win cooperation, deepening reform, systematic governance, pilot first, and key breakthroughs, promote the reform, innovation and development of digital trade. The main goals are: by 2029, the scale of digitally deliverable service trade will increase steadily, accounting for more than 45% of my country's total service trade; the layout of digital trade infrastructure will be further improved, the system and mechanism that adapts to the development of digital trade will be basically established, the level of opening up in the digital field will be greatly improved, and the connection with international high-standard economic and trade rules will be comprehensively strengthened. By 2035, the scale of digitally deliverable service trade will account for more than 50% of my country's total service trade; an orderly, safe and efficient digital trade governance system will be fully established, and the level of institutional openness will be comprehensively improved.

2. Support the development of digital trade sub-sectors and business entities

(I) Actively develop digital product trade. Strengthen the innovation of digital application scenarios and models, improve the quality and level of digital content production, cultivate and expand cross-border digital delivery channels, and enhance international competitiveness.

(II) Continue to optimize digital service trade. Promote the innovative development of digital service trade such as digital finance, online education, telemedicine, and digitally delivered professional services, and enhance the influence of brands and standards. Develop new formats and models of service outsourcing such as cloud outsourcing and platform subcontracting, and promote service outsourcing to accelerate digital transformation.

(III) Vigorously develop digital technology trade. Strengthen innovation in key core technologies and accelerate the development of foreign trade in the fields of communications, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, satellite navigation, etc.

(IV) Promote high-quality development of digital ordering trade. Encourage e-commerce platforms, operators, supporting service providers and other entities to become bigger and stronger and accelerate brand building. Promote the construction of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones and support the development of "cross-border e-commerce ' industrial belts". Promote the integration of domestic and foreign trade in the digital field.

(V) Cultivate and strengthen digital trade operators. Cultivate a group of digital trade leading enterprises with strong innovation capabilities and influence. Actively cultivate small and medium-sized digital trade enterprises with high outward orientation and unique competitive advantages. Build a good ecology of mutual promotion and coordinated development of large, medium and small enterprises, and create a digital industry cluster with international competitiveness. Support the orderly development of digital platform enterprises and play an active role in leading development, creating jobs and international competition.

III. Promote institutional opening of digital trade

(VI) Relax market access in the digital field. Improve the management model of pre-entry national treatment plus negative list, promote orderly expansion of opening up in the fields of telecommunications, the Internet, culture, etc., and encourage foreign investors to expand investment in the digital field. Deeply remove market access barriers and improve the level of convenience for foreign-invested enterprises in the field of digital trade to invest and operate in China.

(VII) Promote and regulate cross-border data flow. Improve the data outbound security management system, improve relevant mechanisms and procedures, and conduct data outbound security assessments in a standardized and orderly manner. On the premise of ensuring the security of important data and personal information, establish an efficient, convenient and secure cross-border data flow mechanism to promote the orderly cross-border flow of data.

(VIII) Build a high-level open platform for digital trade. Build digital service export platform carriers with high standards and create digital trade clusters. Actively connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and encourage various reforms and opening-up measures in the digital field to carry out pilot trials and stress tests in digital service export platform carriers, free trade pilot zones and free trade ports with conditions. Give full play to the role of platforms such as the China International Import Expo, the China International Service Trade Fair, and the Global Digital Trade Expo to promote exchanges and cooperation in the field of digital trade.

IV. Improve the digital trade governance system

(IX) Actively participate in the formulation of international rules for digital trade. Actively participate in the formulation of digital trade-related rules by multilateral, bilateral and regional organizations such as the World Trade Organization, the Group of Twenty, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and create an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory digital development environment. Actively promote the process of joining the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Participate in the formulation of international tax rules to deal with economic digitalization, and explore the establishment of a digital trade-related tax system with a more reasonable distribution of tax benefits and a fairer tax burden. Participate in the negotiations on digital economy and commercial rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law and the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

(10) Deepen international cooperation in digital trade. Promote the establishment of an international cooperation mechanism in the digital field, strengthen international cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data, cross-border settlement, mobile payment, and deepen the interconnection of digital infrastructure. Strengthen digital trade cooperation with ASEAN countries, Central Asian countries, BRICS countries, and Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states.

(11) Accelerate the construction of a digital trust system. Accelerate the construction of a digital trade certification system, promote the development, innovation and application of cutting-edge digital trust technologies, and cultivate a digital trust ecosystem. Promote international mutual recognition of digital certificates and electronic signatures. Encourage the international development of third-party service agencies such as data security, data assets, and digital credit.

(XII) Strengthen security governance in the digital field. Optimize and adjust the catalog of prohibited and restricted import and export technologies. Continue to promote the openness, security, stability, and sustainability of the global digital technology, product and service supply chain. Give full play to the role of various professional courts and promote the diversified development of international commercial dispute resolution mechanisms in the digital field.

V. Strengthen organizational guarantees

(XIII) Strengthen organizational leadership. Adhere to and strengthen the Party's overall leadership over digital trade. Party committees and governments at all levels should implement this opinion in light of actual conditions, improve relevant systems and mechanisms, and provide strong guarantees for the development of digital trade. The Ministry of Commerce should give full play to its leading role, strengthen overall coordination and supervision and guidance, and promote the formation of a joint force for the reform, innovation and development of digital trade. All regions can formulate supporting documents related to the development of digital trade according to local conditions.

(XIV) Improve laws, regulations and standards. Promote relevant legislation in the field of digital trade, and coordinate the promotion of domestic rule of law and foreign-related rule of law. Encourage places with conditions to issue local regulations on digital trade. Strengthen the construction of digital trade standardization technology organizations and accelerate the formulation and revision of standards in the field of digital trade.

(XV) Establish and improve the statistical system. Establish and improve a digital trade statistics monitoring and early warning system, and publish digital trade statistics in a timely manner. Support statistical exchanges and cooperation with relevant international organizations, key countries and research institutions. Compile and publish China's digital trade development report and related indexes to improve the level of public services.

(16) Strengthen multi-channel support and guarantee. Strengthen support for digital technology research and development, promote the transformation of results and the integration and innovative development with other industries. Give full play to the role of the service trade innovation and development guidance fund to drive social capital investment in the field of digital trade.

(17) Strengthen intellectual property protection. Study and build data intellectual property protection rules. Strengthen legal protection of source code, algorithms, encryption keys, trade secrets and other proprietary information. Accelerate the promotion of digital product identification. Strengthen intellectual property public services in the field of digital trade. Strengthen trademark registration and protection related to digital trade. Broaden overseas intellectual property rights protection and dispute resolution channels.

(18) Strengthen talent and intellectual support. Strengthen digital trade-related training and improve the professional quality of leading cadres. Give full play to the role of digital trade experts and strengthen related theoretical and practical research. Support colleges and universities to set up digital trade-related disciplines. Innovate the digital trade talent training model, strengthen the training of top innovative talents, deepen the cooperation between schools and enterprises, and government and enterprises, and support enterprises to strengthen professional talent training.