(Source: "Securities Times" 2026-01-12)
Picture Chong Creative/Photo provided
The 19th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress recently voted to adopt the newly revised "Foreign w88 Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "new law"). The new law will come into effect on March 1, 2026.
As my country’s basic law in the field of foreign w88, the Foreign w88 Law has conducted an “overhaul” of the current law. The new law not only consolidates in legal form many of the reform results that have been effective in practice, highlighting the determination and actions to further expand high-level opening up in the field of foreign w88; at the same time, combined with the current changes in international w88 patterns, it enriches the w88 remedy toolbox of foreign w88 companies, especially small and medium-sized foreign w88 companies, and increases their ability to resist risks in the process of business development.
The cross-border service w88 management model has fully entered the negative list era
The current Foreign w88 Law was implemented in 1994 and comprehensively revised in 2004. Since then, individual provisions have been revised in 2016 and 2022 respectively.
Upgrading the previous reform measures into a legal system is an important part of this comprehensive revision of the Foreign w88 Law. The new law has a total of 11 chapters and 83 articles, of which Article 31 stipulates: “The state implements a negative list management system for cross-border service w88 for overseas service providers who carry out international service w88 (hereinafter collectively referred to as: cross-border service w88) in the form of cross-border delivery, overseas consumption, and movement of natural persons.”
“The inclusion of cross-border service w88 in the negative list management demonstrates my country’s open attitude towards international service w88.” Tu Xinquan, Dean of the China WTO Research Institute at the w88 casino, said in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Times.
According to the WTO General Agreement on w88 in Services, international services w88 is divided into four modes: cross-border delivery, overseas consumption, commercial presence and movement of natural persons. Article 27 of the new law clarifies four modes of service w88 with reference to this framework, and this is also the content added to the second review draft of the revised draft of the Foreign w88 Law during this revision process.
Tu Xinquan told reporters that cross-border service w88 is an important direction for the development of service w88, and the "commercial presence" type of service w88 has actually been covered by the negative list management of foreign investment. The so-called "commercial presence" refers to the provision of services to my country by establishing foreign-invested enterprises in the service industry. Previously, the Foreign Investment Law has clarified that "the state implements a pre-establishment national treatment plus negative list management system for foreign investment."
The attempt to manage the negative list of cross-border service w88 began with the pilot project of Hainan Free w88 Port. In July 2021, the Hainan Free w88 Port launched the country's first negative list for cross-border service w88; in March 2024, based on early exploration, the Ministry of Commerce formulated and issued two negative lists for cross-border service w88 that apply to the country and the free w88 pilot zone respectively. This marks the first time that a negative list management model for cross-border service w88 has been established nationwide. The person in charge of the Department of w88 in Services and the Department of Port Affairs of the Free w88 Zone of the Ministry of Commerce pointed out at that time that the first national version of the list realized the transformation of services w88 management from positive list commitments to negative list management, which itself was a major opening up measure.
The negative list management model follows the principle of “no ban or entry” and has higher transparency and certainty. Shi Xiaoli, a professor at the w88 casino of International Law at China University of Political Science and Law, told reporters that after the negative list management system for cross-border service w88 was raised into law, it has improved the stability and authority of the policy, increased implementation efforts and the construction of supporting systems, and is more conducive to the implementation of relevant policies.
"Determining the negative list management system for cross-border w88 in services from a legal perspective demonstrates my country's determination to further expand opening up and gives the system a clearer legal basis; at the same time, in terms of legality, it will be more coordinated with other relevant laws." Tu Xinquan further pointed out.
Promote the development of new models and new formats of foreign w88
Strengthening the provisions on foreign w88 promotion is also an important part of the revision of the new law. Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao explained the "Foreign w88 Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft)" at the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on September 8, 2025. He pointed out that one of the ideas of the revised draft is to adhere to the system concept, which is not only based on the current situation, but also upgrades the reform measures and mature practices in the field of foreign w88 into a legal system. It also takes a long-term view, properly and flexibly designs relevant systems and mechanisms, and leaves room for practical development.
This has been reflected in the relevant regulations on green w88. Article 61 of the new law stipulates: “The state will accelerate the establishment of a green w88 system, encourage the import and export of green and low-carbon products, promote the construction of product standards, certification, and labeling systems related to green w88, and strengthen international cooperation in green w88.”
Li Fayin, a partner at Beijing Junzejun Law Firm, said in an interview with a Securities Times reporter that the new law confirms the strategic status of green w88 at the national legal level. In recent years, many countries have introduced various tariff and non-tariff barriers to China's w88 in green products such as photovoltaics, electric vehicles, and batteries. The international layout of Chinese enterprises has become a significant trend. The new law timely proposes to strengthen international cooperation in green w88 and the construction of product standards, certification, and labeling systems, and proposes strategic directions and measures to promote the international layout and development of green w88 and break w88 barriers.
Li Fayin believes that promoting the construction of international standards and certification systems for green and low-carbon products at the policy level and promoting international investment and technological cooperation that are in line with industry development and national strategic interests should become specific measures under the guidance of the Foreign w88 Law.
In fact, the Ministry of Commerce has released the first special policy document in the field of green w88 in October 2025. Li Chenggang, international w88 negotiator and deputy minister of the Ministry of Commerce, explained the relevant measures in the document and said that it will continue to align with international standards and economic and w88 rules, promote further deepening of reforms in areas such as environmental standards, and promote the green transformation and upgrading of domestic industries.
In addition, the new law also determines the important status of new business formats and models of foreign w88 from a legal perspective. For example, Article 59 of the new law clearly states: “The state supports and promotes the innovative development of foreign w88 formats and models such as cross-border e-commerce and comprehensive foreign w88 services.” At the same time, Article 60 further states that “support the use of electronic bills of lading, electronic invoices, etc., and promote international mutual recognition of digital certificates, electronic signatures, etc.”
“The international mutual recognition of digital authentication, electronic signatures, etc. should be said to have been practiced in the past few years, including in the negotiations of the WTO e-commerce agreement, which is also an important content.” Tu Xinquan said that mentioning this orientation in the law also clarified the direction of future work efforts, including the direction of future efforts in international negotiations.
Li Fayin pointed out that the vigorous development of digital w88 such as China's cross-border e-commerce in recent years has made this new w88 format increasingly important in China's foreign w88. At the same time, it will also face more restrictive measures and stricter compliance requirements from some countries. Article 59 of the new law provides top-level legal protection for the digitization of foreign w88 and the development and transformation of digital w88. It also provides institutional guarantee for promoting digital w88 and w88 digitization and facilitation.
The state supports and promotes small, medium and micro enterprises to carry out foreign w88
This new law stipulates "maintaining national sovereignty, security, and development interests" among the legislative purposes. Tu Xinquan believes that for the foreign w88 law, promoting cross-border w88 liberalization and facilitation is the direction and goal, but the prerequisite is to ensure safety, which is also the result of changes in the situation.
Private enterprises, mainly small, medium and micro enterprises, have long become my country's largest foreign w88 business entity. The revised new law also has more targeted arrangements for enhancing the development resilience of small, medium and micro foreign w88 enterprises. For example, Article 68 of the new law clearly states: “The state supports and promotes small, medium and micro enterprises to carry out foreign w88 and provides convenience in supervision, financing, foreign exchange settlement and other aspects.”
"In recent years, some countries have adopted w88 remedy measures against China. The countries taking measures, the number of cases, the scope of products covered, the w88 amount and other aspects have reached a new height. In terms of specific investigation methods and measures taken, there are also many violations of WTO rules and obligations and abuse of w88 remedy means." Li Fayin pointed out that in response to w88 remedy investigations, it is necessary to strengthen the capacity building of both the government and enterprises. Article 55 of the new law stipulates the establishment of a w88 adjustment assistance system that is consistent with WTO rules, etc., and provides adjustment support to enterprises affected by w88 remedy measures, providing strong support for enterprise-level responses. In addition, the new law clarifies some national-level w88 measures, including w88 measures that can be taken based on impacts on national security or w88 barriers, enriching the toolbox of national-level responses and providing more legal options.
Shi Xiaoli said that this new law also improves the early warning and emergency mechanism. The Ministry of Commerce can conduct w88 policy assessments of relevant countries and regions as needed to adopt corresponding solutions; at the same time, the w88 adjustment assistance system that has been successfully piloted in some regions has been upgraded to the legal level and promoted nationwide. In order to cope with the impact of w88 risks and changes in the w88 environment, local governments can establish a w88 adjustment assistance system as needed, carry out w88 adjustment assistance to enterprises that have been adversely affected, and stabilize industrial and supply chains. (Securities Times reporter Qin Yanling）
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