April 10 this year, China (Dalian) Pilot Free Trade Zone was formally established. The reporter learnt yesterday that in the past six months central, provincial and municipal departments had carried out 89 policy measures to support the building of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone, relevant departments of the Zone had made and issued 66 Free Trade Zone reform measures among which some institutional innovation initiatives like “respect precedents according to classification”, “three mutual clearance”, “bonded mixed-ore”, “export rebates platform” and “free trade online service platform” not only promoted the development and building of Dalian Zone and had been popularized all over the country and therefore provided valuable “Dalian experience” for the building of free trade zones in China.

Around the goal of providing a facilitated environment for international trade, provincial and municipal port departments have accelerated the upgrading of “single windows” for international trade in Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone. Municipal Free Trade Office has organized several departments including Customs, Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Liaoning Electronic Port, DPN and Free Trade Zone Administrative Service Center to promote the building of “Free Trade Sector” and realize information sharing between administrative departments and port functional departments. Liaoning Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau has issued 28 measures concerning facilitation of inspection and quarantine, and Dalian Customs has carried out 25 measures to support the building of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone, and facilitation measures like “three mutual clearance”, “respect precedents according to classification”, and “bonded mixed-ore” have been popularized in all ports in our country; Dalian Maritime Safety Administration has implemented the 10 measures of Liaoning Maritime Safety Administration actively to support the building of the Pilot Free Trade Zone through which joint visit and inspection of ships is realized. Through policy innovation, the clearance time of international trade enterprises has been shortened by 1/3, the clearance cost has been reduced by 10% on average and the time for offline procedures of international trade has been cut by 1/3.

Around the goal of building an open innovative financial environment to serve the real economy, the People’s Bank of China Dalian Central Sub-branch has announced 8 measures of the second batch to support the building of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone and formulated 44 financial innovation plans covering six aspects; China Banking Regulatory Commission Dalian Bureau has issued a series of policies and systems to support the development of the Free Trade Zone including Regulatory Work Program in Banking Industry in China (Dalian) Pilot Free Trade Zone, systematically examining and optimizing market access process from three dimensions of organization, business and management and cancelling some of the items subject to examination and approval; China Insurance Regulatory Commission Dalian Bureau has cancelled the ex-ante approval of qualification of senior management of insurance unit and supported the building of insurance agencies and insurance finance services in Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone; State Administration of Foreign Exchange Dalian Branch introduced 10 measures in four aspects to enhance facilitation of cross-border e-commerce trade financing; Municipal Financial Office has actively applied to the state for setting up joint venture securities companies and HK-funded insurance companies in the Pilot Free Trade Zone to build a financial innovation demonstration zone in the Zone and promote the settling of newly-established angel fund and equity investment in Jin Pu New Area; ICBC Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone Sub-branch carried out cross-border RMB pilot work, CCB planned to build a head-office-level “ship financing center”, Bank of China, SPDB, CMBC and Industrial Bank have launched a series of new products and solutions in cross-border finance to help enterprises expand financing channels, obtain low-cost offshore funds and provide diversified financial services to “going global” enterprises.

In order to develop a law-based, international, facilitated investment and business environment, Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone actively transforms government functions, and has built a “one-stop” comprehensive service hall integrating functions of investment, registration, taxation, supervision, international trade, foreigners’ certificates, financial services and professional services, set four single windows respectively called “ enterprise access”, “enterprise governance”, “cross-border investment service” and “services to foreigners”, and implemented innovative service mechanisms like “wechat waiting to be called”, “wechat ID”, “windows without veto”, “tolerant acceptance” and “enterprise commitment system”, through which enterprise registration is instantly finished and efficiency has been greatly enhanced; market supervision department of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone has issued 28 measures for deepening the reform of commercial system among which “enterprise cluster registration”, “law firm trusted registration” and “video material inspection of catering companies” are all conducted for the first time in the Northeast; the public security organization of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone has carried out 19 innovative measures, shortened the time it takes for 9 categories of foreigners to apply for permits for residence and stay and started the business to change driver’s license for foreigners; the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of the Zone has made 19 talent policies, and high-end talents can receive a support fund of up to 6 million CNY for starting a business in the Zone.

Those reform and innovation initiatives have greatly boosted the construction and development of Dalian Pilot Free Trade Zone, fully optimized the business environment in varies fields such as investment, trade, finance and supervision and stimulated the enthusiasm and vitality of market participants to invest. As of September 30, 3681 enterprises have newly registered in Dalian Pilot Zone with registered capital of 45.61 billion CNY, and the monthly average registered capital is twice the level before the opening of the Zone. Among all the newly registered enterprises, 67 are foreign-funded enterprises with registered capital of 396 million USD; 93 of them have registered capital of above 100 million CNY with registered capital of 25.2 billion CNY which accounts for 55.3% of total registered capital. The registered enterprises have covered a variety of sectors including finance, trade, logistics, finance lease, electro-mechanics, software development, information, etc. More than 50 industrial projects have been signed, a number of headquarters mansions have started building, a batch of advanced-manufacturing projects have been put into production, and the building of a variety of projects has been accelerated.