ISSUING AUTHORITY:

Ministry of Commerce

DATE OF ISSUANCE:

March 22, 2024

EFFECTIVE DATE:

April 21, 2024

On March 22, 2024, the Ministry of Commerce published the Special Administrative Measures for Cross-Border Trade in Service (Negative List) (2024 version) and the Free Trade Pilot Zone Special Administrative Measures for Cross-Border Trade in Service (Negative List) (2024 version), which shall take effect as of April 21, 2024.

These two lists cover 11 fields. The Special Administrative Measures for Cross-Border Trade in Service (Negative List) consists of 71 measures, and the Free Trade Pilot Zone Special Administrative Measures for Cross-Border Trade in Service (Negative List) consists of 68 measures and provides further liberalization in terms of professional qualifications for natural persons, professional services, finance, culture and other fields in the free trade pilot zones. For example, in respect of financial openness, eligible overseas individuals are permitted to legally apply for opening of securities accounts and futures accounts, and eligible overseas individuals are permitted to apply to engage in securities investment consulting and futures trading consulting. Compared with the Nation List, the Free Trade Pilot Zone List removes the restrictions on overseas individuals taking auctioneer qualification examinations and the restrictions on overseas business entities and individuals engaging in customs declaration business, and specifies that the lawyers from Hong Kong and Macao acting as legal counsels and the law firms in the approved areas that employ foreign lawyers as foreign legal counsels may provide legal services within China.

Reference:

《跨境服务贸易特别管理措施（负面清单）》（2024年版）和《自由贸易试验区跨境服务贸易特别管理措施（负面清单）》（2024年版）