Zhinews of Shenzhen Satellite TV:

We have noticed that Chinese customs recently issued 10 policies and measures to deal with the impact of the pandemic on foreign trade. We know that foreign trade enterprises have always been concerned about the business environment. So, what changes have taken place in the business environment of China's ports since the 18th CPC National Congress? Thank you.

Wang Lingjun:

This is a very good question because the business environment matters. As the saying goes, "plant a Chinese parasol tree, and phoenixes will follow." In the past decade, we have focused on facilitating customs clearance and have made sustained efforts. We have introduced an array of policies and measures and adopted a series of tough and practical means. The business environment at ports continues to be optimized, and the level of cross-border trade facilitation has been greatly improved. They are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

First, promote streamlining administration and delegating power, and make great efforts to cancel matters requiring government approval. Up to now, only 10 matters requiring government approval have been retained. We have improved the online customs platform for obtaining government approval, making it more convenient for enterprises to go through the procedures. We promote the oversight model of randomly selecting inspectors to inspect randomly selected entities and requiring the prompt release of results, which has covered the customs' 28 matters concerning the inspection of administrative law enforcement.

Second, carry out a special campaign for cross-border trade facilitation. Reduce time, documents and costs, and create a market-based, rule-of-law, and internationalized business environment at ports. "Reducing time" means greatly shortening the customs clearance time for goods. In 2021, the overall customs clearance time for imports was 32.97 hours, which is more than 60% shorter compared to that in 2017. The time for exports was 1.23 hours, a decrease of more than 80% compared to 2017. "Reducing documents" means streamlining the supervision certificates that need to be verified in imports and exports. The customs actively coordinated with relevant competent departments to streamline the documents and basically realized the online verification. "Reducing costs" refers to reducing compliance costs in imports and exports, and we have realized the full disclosure of the list and standards of fee-charging items at ports of the country.

Third, comprehensively promote the "single window" for international trade. Meeting enterprises' "one-stop" business processing needs, the "single window" extends from law enforcement at ports to logistics, trade, services, and other fields. With the improvement of the digital and smart level of customs clearance at ports, enterprises can inquire and track the real-time status of the customs clearance process and logistics at any time.

There is no end to the improvement of the business environment. We will, as always, persevere in promoting the continuous improvement of the business environment at ports with practical and feasible measures. Thank you.

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