The service industry expands opening up, and 155 pilot tasks have been identified in multiple fields such as finance and medical care.

Source: Xinhua Finance

On April 21st, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the relevant situation of the "Comprehensive Pilot Work Plan for Accelerating the Expansion of Opening-up of the Service Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Work Plan").

It was introduced at the press conference that the "Work Plan" clarifies 155 pilot tasks from multiple dimensions such as the opening-up of key service areas and the innovative development of industries.

First, promote the opening-up of key industries and fields. In the telecommunications field, pilot tasks such as canceling the restrictions on the foreign shareholding ratio of services such as application stores and Internet access are proposed; encourage the development of the data annotation industry, improve the data trading market system, and support the development of new business forms and models such as "data processing incoming"; develop the business of exporting games, and lay out the industrial chain from IP creation to game production, distribution, and overseas operation. In the medical field, it is proposed to support foreign doctors in opening clinics; allow foreign medical professionals to practice temporarily; support the establishment of foreign-funded nursing colleges; allow non-profit medical institutions and elderly care institutions to be established through donation; support the construction of a special patent database for gene and cell therapy; explore and optimize the sampling inspection model for the import of drugs for rare diseases, etc. In the financial field, it is proposed to support the exploration and development of international factoring business; support multinational companies in carrying out cross-border capital centralized operation business in RMB; deepen the pilot of Qualified Foreign Limited Partners (QFLP); attract overseas insurance companies, sovereign funds, pension funds, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance System) funds, and certification and verification institutions to provide investment, financing and technical services for green projects; encourage credit rating agencies to carry out green bond rating services, and support eligible financial leasing companies to issue green bonds, etc. In the fields of commerce, trade, culture and tourism, foreign-invested travel agencies are allowed to operate outbound tourism business; in Tianjin, the pilot of bonded display and custody business of traditional classic cars is supported; in Hainan, the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone is supported to carry out pilot projects for the import and use of special medical foods and health foods in advance. In the field of transportation, support cooperation in container sea transportation, interchange, sharing, etc., and explore the "one-container-through" model; create a "green channel" for cross-border road shuttle buses during transit; explore and support new combined transportation models for the export of new energy vehicles and power batteries, etc. In addition, a number of pilot tasks are also proposed in terms of empowering the development of new business forms in the service industry and improving the level of liberalization and facilitation.

Second, in terms of improving factor guarantees, pilot tasks are proposed around aspects such as visa-free transit, permanent residence, payment facilitation, and recognition of professional qualifications, to facilitate the entry and exit of overseas talents and their employment and practice; around aspects such as foreign-related arbitration, lawyer practice, international judicial cooperation, labor security supervision and law enforcement, and talent cultivation and training, strengthen the legal guarantee, and carry out foreign-related legal services in an orderly manner.

Third, in terms of promoting the compatibility of rules and norms, continuously improve the basic norms in important business fields such as cross-border data flow, standard formulation, intellectual property rights, and commercial cryptography; promote the compatibility of domestic and overseas management norms in fields such as carbon emissions, carbon footprint management, cross-border cargo combined transportation, the qualifications of inspection and testing institutions, digital identity, and electronic invoices.

Fourth, in terms of strengthening the construction of a coordinated supervision system for risk prevention and control, adhere to both breaking and establishing, establishing first and then breaking, formulate and improve the implementation plans and regulatory measures for the opening-up of key industries, and promote the implementation in an orderly manner.

In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the pilot provinces and cities and relevant departments, will fully and thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, accelerate the implementation of all tasks determined in the "Work Plan", speed up and intensify the pilot work, better lead and drive the opening-up of the service industry across the country, and make greater contributions to building a new open economic system at a higher level.

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