Government Official Blueprints Future CBEC Policy during CIIE

On Nov. 7, 2018, Qian Fangli, director of E-commerce and digitization department of the Ministry of Commerce, said during a CIIE press conference that the administration of CBEC-traded products will still follow the principle of being supervised as a personal commodity.

The director stated that the Chinese government has prioritized development of cross border e-commerce. Currently Ministry of Finance and other related authorities are drafting a CBEC policy and developing a regulatory scheme for CBEC supervision after the grace period. "Based on the principle of innovation, inclusiveness and prudence, we will optimize the supervision measures of cross border e-commerce and ensure a stable policy transition" Qian Fangli said.A series of positive signals regarding CBEC were revealed during CIIE. President Xi delivered the opening speech during CIIE, stating that the government would take further steps to lower tariffs, facilitate customs clearance, reduce institutional costs associated with import, and step up cross-border e-commerce and other new forms of trade and models of business. The implications of this statement are that in future CBEC-traded products may not be subject to stringent administrative supervision (it is still difficult to speculate if some high risk products will be exempted from registration approval).