Hainan Free Trade Port’s legislation will continue to be reviewed next year to strive for an early release-Finance News

Hainan Free Trade Port’s legislation will continue to be reviewed next year to strive for an early release

Our reporter/Pei Yu/Report from Beijing

Hainan’s desire to further deepen reforms and “legislation” since opening to the outside world is approaching reality step by step. After Hainan officials have expressed on various occasions their desire to give “special legislation” to the deepening of Hainan’s reform and opening up to the outside world, the legislation of the Hainan Free Trade Port finally entered the “procedure”.

On December 22, the 24th meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee was held in Beijing. This meeting will review a number of legal amendments or drafts. At the same time, the meeting will also deliberate on the proposal by the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to submit for review of the draft Hainan Free Trade Port Law. This is the draft of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law, which first appeared in the “deliberation” link of the National People’s Congress.

As of the press time of the “China Business News” reporter, the draft of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law has not yet been announced, but its content basically fixes the special preferential policies granted to the Hainan Free Trade Port in the form of law. The exact news shows that the Hainan Free Trade Port Law will continue to be reviewed next year to “strive to be published as early as possible.”

“First Appearance” People’s Congress

Not local regulations, but in the form of legislation by the National People’s Congress, Hainan Free Trade Port is “leading the country.” “The specifications of the Free Trade Port Law are higher than we initially expected. After all, the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the country’s first free trade zone, was only a path of local legislation at the time. The Hainan Free Trade Port is indeed different in strength. “On October 22, a business person in charge of a central enterprise that has been investing in Hainan for a long time told reporters.

What made him sigh was that the Hainan Free Trade Port Law first appeared in the “procedures” of the National People’s Congress. On October 22, the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress was held in Beijing. According to the agenda of the meeting, this meeting will review the proposal of the Chairman’s meeting on the proposal of the draft Hainan Free Trade Port Law.

On November 27, the 78th Chairman’s Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress was held. It was at this meeting that the Chairman’s Meeting made this proposal. Together with the Hainan Free Trade Port Law, the bills proposed to be considered at the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress also include the draft Anti-Food Waste Law and the Anti-Organized Crime Law.

In fact, since Hainan has further deepened reforms and opened up to the outside world, Hainan has always hoped that the central level will enact separate legislation for Hainan. During the “two sessions” throughout the country, Liu Cigui, then secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee, expressed on many occasions that he hoped that the central government would “make legislation for Hainan.” At the end of 2020, Liu Cigui stepped down as Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee and was replaced by Shen Xiaoming. The latter are “Shanghai officials” who have been in charge of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone for many years.

Prior to this review of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law, the National People’s Congress has conducted a special class investigation on the Hainan Free Trade Zone legislation. During the investigation, I went to Sanya, Yangpu, Boao, Haikou, Lecheng and other places to conduct on-the-spot investigations on “first-line liberalization and second-line management”, and listened to the opinions of grassroots governments and enterprises. In line with this, Hainan has also established a special coordination group, which shows the importance attached to legislative work.

Not copyable

According to the work plan and time node proposed in the “Overall Plan for the Construction of Hainan Free Trade Port” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”), in 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port will formally realize the “closing operation”. By then, the Hainan Free Trade Port will be implemented. The model of “opening up on the first line and controlling on the second line” implements a high degree of openness, and its policy will be different from other regions in China.

Before the customs is closed for operation in 2025, a number of special policies will also be implemented through the active coordination of relevant central departments. This includes a number of tax exemptions. “The outside world is more concerned about the duty-free shopping on outlying islands. However, the tax exemption policy in the fields of imported raw materials, spare parts, etc., is also a very substantial preferential policy at the enterprise level.” Said the aforementioned head of central enterprise affairs in Hainan.

At present, according to the relevant list of this tax exemption policy, there are a total of 169 tax-free raw materials and auxiliary materials. There are many high-end manufacturing products such as “other parts used in radar equipment and radio navigation equipment”, “aircraft and other landing gear and parts”, “other unspecified aircraft and spacecraft parts”, “other liquid crystal devices and optical instruments”, etc. For companies, this list is “extraordinary.”

At the same time, the relevant central ministries and commissions and the relevant departments of the Hainan Provincial Government are formulating the “tax exemption policy for imported vehicles used in operation”, which has been “coming soon”, and in the “positive list” that Hainan local residents can enjoy tax exemption, whether Including cars, it has not yet been finalized, and the final “positive list” must be the final version. This is probably one of the most sensitive issues at present.

“This principle is very clear, that is, Hainan’s policies cannot be copied across the country.” A person close to the central ministries and commissions told reporters. Therefore, it is necessary to fix these special policies in the form of laws. Special policies, it is unlikely to promote replication outside Hainan.”

Continue next year

“Some previous trials in China were conducted through the legislature of the National People’s Congress. In the pilot area, the method of suspending relevant legal provisions or clauses that are different from the pilot practice was carried out. However, the Hainan Free Trade Port has been very vigorous and involved. It is very broad. It is not enough to use the National People’s Congress to authorize the suspension of certain legal provisions in the pilot area.” A person who has been engaged in policy consultation for a long time told reporters.

Prior to this, in the same way, the National People’s Congress promptly authorized the State Council to temporarily adjust the application of relevant laws and regulations in the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone. However, when the Hainan Free Trade Port Law will be promulgated, it has become the next most concerned issue.

In fact, the twenty-fourth meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress of the People’s Congress deliberated on 8 “continued deliberation” bills, including the draft amendment (11) of the Criminal Procedure Law. At the same time, there were 8 bills under review for the first time, and the Hainan Free Trade Port Law Draft was one of the eight bills under review for the first time. This shows that the legislative work of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law must continue to undergo relevant legislative procedures before it can be realized.

The exact situation that the reporter knows shows that if there is no accident, the draft of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law will be arranged for the NPC Standing Committee meeting to continue its deliberation next year. The current “caliber” is: “strive for early Taiwan.” In the classification of the relevant work of the National People’s Congress, the Hainan Free Trade Port Law is classified as “strengthening the legal protection of major national strategies.”

It is worth noting that in the “Plan”, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council clearly stated that the various institutional arrangements of the free trade port should be clarified in legal form to provide principled and basic legal protection for the construction of the free trade port.

“I personally believe that the “Plan” will be the basic content of the Hainan Free Trade Port Law. Legislation is to adopt the form of law to determine the relevant systems, policies, and practices involved in the “Plan” in the form of law, Guaranteed.” said the person in charge of the aforementioned central enterprises in Hainan.

Earlier, the new Hainan Provincial Party Committee Secretary Shen Xiaoming stated that the legislative work of the free trade port law should be the top priority of the provincial People’s Congress party group work, promote national-level law adjustments, and strive for the early and fast promulgation of the free trade port law. We must make good use of local legislative power and the legislative power of special economic zones, improve the legislative work mechanism, strengthen the coordination of legislative plans, further improve the communication and coordination mechanism between the people’s congress and the government, and fully do the preliminary work of legislation to improve the quality of legislation.