August 15, 2007 - In order to improve foreign exchange administration in closed areas and bonded sites under customs supervision (hereinafter referred to as bonded areas under customs supervision) and facilitate trade and investment made by enterprises within such areas, the SAFE recently announced the "Measures for  Foreign Exchange Administration in Bonded Areas under Customs Supervision" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures").
In recent years, bonded regions, export-processing zones, bonded logistics parks, bonded logistics centers, bonded ports, integrated bonded areas, cross-border industrial parks, and other different types of bonded areas under customs supervision have been developing rapidly, playing a positive role in promoting regional economic development and the development of high-tech and high value-added products trade. To meet the demands to further expand and transform the functions of the bonded areas under customs supervision, the SAFE formulated and promulgated the "Measures" to integrate the existing foreign exchange management policies applicable to different bonded supervision areas and to adjust the policies that lag behind the development of the bonded supervision areas. The main contents of the "Measures" are as follows: First is to continue to maintain the advantages of foreign exchange management policies in the regions. Local enterprises engaged in trading goods abroad do not have to go through the procedures for verification. Local enterprises and domestic enterprises outside the regions can use RMB or foreign currencies for valuation and settlement in transactions. Second is to integrate some of the internal and external policies, further facilitating the opening of current foreign currency accounts, retaining the current foreign exchange income, the purchases and sales of foreign exchange, investment under the capital accounts, and external guarantees, as well as the reporting system for the balance of payments statistics and implementing the same policy with that outside the bonded areas under customs supervision. Third is to fit in with the transaction manners of local enterprises and the new features of the logistics development and to simplify the material verification requirements, so the payment of foreign exchange whose logistics and capital flow do not correspond to each other can be directly handled in the banks.
The announcement and implementation of the "Measures," are suitable to the current economic situation for structural adjustment, satisfy the operational and innovation needs of enterprises, and will further facilitate the operation of enterprises in these areas, thus promoting the development of the bonded areas under customs supervision. Meanwhile, they will contribute to effective supervision.
The "Measures" shall become effective on October 1.