China issues guideline on improving business environment for foreign investors

Beijing: The State Council has issued a guideline on better using foreign investment with a focus on safeguarding the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises, according to the government’s website Thursday.

The guideline puts forward 20 policies in four aspects to create a more “fair, transparent and predictable” business environment for foreign investors.

To deepen opening-up, China will continue to reduce the negative lists for foreign investment access in both pilot free trade zones and the rest of the country, and comprehensively eliminate restrictions that are not included in the negative lists.

China will accelerate the opening-up of the financial sector and optimize the foreign investment policies for automobile industry.

In promoting investment, China will optimize scientific and technological innovation services for foreign-invested enterprises and improve the construction of pilot free trade zones.

More efforts will be made to improve state-level economic and technological development zones in attracting quality foreign investment and give priority to the establishment of a number of comprehensive bonded zones in the central and western regions.

In deepening reform to facilitate investment, China will lower the cost of cross-border capital use, make it easier for foreigners to work in China and optimize the approval process for the use of land for foreign-funded projects.

In protecting the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors, China will fully implement the foreign investment law and establish and improve institutions for accepting complaints.

The country will implement the regulatory policies more strictly and improve the transparency of the formulation of regulatory documents, according to the guideline.

China will give full play to the role of judicial protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), improve the IPR protection mechanism, support both domestic and foreign enterprises in their fair participation in the standardization of products like medical equipment, food and medicine, and ensure their equal participation in government procurement, said the document.