The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) answered a reporter's question on the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Entry (Negative List) (2024 Edition).

 On September 8, 2024, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition). In order to understand the revision of the 2024 version of the National Negative List for Foreign Investment Access, and in response to the concerns of various sectors, the reporter interviewed the relevant responsible comrades of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Q: Please introduce the background of the 2024 version of the National Negative List for Foreign Investment Access.

A: In October 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Summit Forum on International Cooperation that restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector would be completely abolished. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee demanded that we must adhere to the basic national policy of opening up to the outside world, insist on promoting reform through opening up, rely on China's advantage of its mega-market, enhance our opening-up capacity in expanding international cooperation, and build a higher level of a new open economic system. This year's Government Work Report proposes to continue to reduce the negative list of foreign investment access. Under the new situation, the introduction of a new version of the negative list of foreign investment access is an important initiative to expand high-level opening up, which will be conducive to increasing the supply of high-quality products and services and promoting healthy competition in the domestic market; it will also provide a broader space for multinational corporations to develop in China, and promote international cooperation for mutual benefit and win-win results.

In recent years, China has continuously liberalized foreign investment access, and revised the national and Pilot Free Trade Zone Negative List of Foreign Investment Access for five consecutive years from 2017 to 2021, with the restrictive measures of the two lists reduced from 93 and 122 to 31 and 27 respectively, and a series of major opening measures have been introduced in the fields of manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and finance, among which the manufacturing industry of the Pilot Free Trade Zone Negative List of Foreign Investment Access The restrictive measures in the field of foreign investment access negative list of the Pilot Free Trade Zone have taken the lead to realize “zero” in 2021.

In order to implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech on the comprehensive abolition of restrictive measures on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector and the decision-making and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has further intensified its efforts to listen to the opinions and suggestions of localities, multinational corporations, and business associations, and conducted in-depth research and demonstration of the liberalization measures with the competent authorities of the relevant industries. (Negative List) (2024 Edition), and continue to expand opening up to the outside world.

Q: What are the liberalization measures in the 2024 version of the National Negative List for Foreign Investment Access?

A: Compared with the 2021 version, the 2024 version of the National Negative List for Foreign Investment Entry deletes the only two remaining restrictive measures in the manufacturing sector, namely, “Printing of publications shall be controlled by the Chinese side”, and “Prohibiting investment in the application of the techniques of steaming, stir-frying, roasting, calcining and other concoctions of Chinese herbal medicines, as well as the production of confidential prescription products of proprietary Chinese medicines”. Production of confidential prescription products”. After this revision, the restrictive measures of the national negative list of foreign investment access have been reduced from 31 to 29, and the restrictive measures on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector have been completely abolished.

The manufacturing industry is the earliest area to be opened up in China, and it is also the area with the fullest market competition and the closest cooperation in the global industrial division of labor. The complete abolition of restrictive measures on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector fully demonstrates China's positive willingness to expand international cooperation and its distinctive attitude of supporting economic globalization. China will rely on its advantage of super-sized market, support exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of manufacturing industry.

Q: This revision has completely canceled the restrictive measures in the field of manufacturing industry, what are the considerations for the future expansion and opening up in the field of service industry?

A: The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee has deployed to reasonably reduce the negative list of foreign investment access, implement measures to fully abolish the restrictions on foreign investment access in the field of manufacturing, and promote the orderly expansion of opening up in the fields of telecommunication, the Internet, education, culture and medical care. After the revision of this negative list, China's manufacturing sector foreign capital access restrictions to achieve “zero”, a high level of opening up to the outside world has made new progress.

The high-quality development of the service industry is closely related to the well-being of people's livelihood, and the expansion of the service industry's opening up to the outside world will help to enhance the diversified supply capacity of the service industry. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), together with relevant departments, will continue to promote the opening up of the service industry, and strive to realize that foreign investment can not only “come in”, but also “develop well”. On the one hand, we will innovate ways to liberalize access to foreign investment in the service industry. So far this year, relevant industry authorities have initiated pilot liberalization work in value-added telecommunications and other areas. Subsequently, the NDRC and the relevant industry authorities will take into account the construction of pilot free trade zones, free trade ports and other platforms, and carry out pilot liberalization work in the relevant fields in a solid manner. On the other hand, we will continue to optimize foreign investment promotion policies. The NDRC is studying the revision of the Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment, and one of the key directions is to continue to increase the entries of the service industry and guide more foreign investment in the service industry.

Q: Please tell us how to ensure the implementation of the 2024 version of the national negative list for foreign investment access? For the newly liberalized areas, how to do a good job of risk prevention and control while liberalizing?

A: The 2024 version of the National Negative List for Foreign Investment Access will come into effect on November 1, 2024. The National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Commerce and other departments and regions, will do a good job in implementing the negative list in strict accordance with the requirements of the Foreign Investment Law and its implementing regulations to ensure that the new liberalization measures are implemented in a timely manner.

In recent years, China's laws and regulations have been gradually improved, and the market supervision mechanism has been continuously improved, laying a good institutional foundation for high-level opening up. For the newly opened areas, China has established a relatively standardized and mature industry regulatory system, and will implement the management in accordance with the principle of consistency between domestic and foreign investment, rather than “letting go, just letting go”. Foreign investors coming to China to invest in projects in the newly opened areas will be required to comply with the relevant laws and regulations, regulatory requirements, and industry standards in the same way as domestic investors. We will expand opening up on the premise of ensuring safety, and realize the benign interaction between high-quality development and high-level safety.

Source: Ministry of Commerce, NDRC official website