To implement the policies that "encourage high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation" and advance the reform of "combining power delegation with regulation & optimizing services", as required by the 19th CPC National Congress and the State Council respectively, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) released the Circular on Further Promoting Cross-border Trade and Investment Facilitation (Huifa No. 28 [2019], "Circular") in accordance with the spirit of the executive meeting of the State Council held on October 23, 2019. According to the Circular, the foreign exchange administration reform for cross-border trade and investment will be deepened with procedures simplified to facilitate foreign exchange processing by banks and enterprises and to provide tangible support for the growth of the real economy.
The Circular contains 12 initiatives that support trade and investment facilitation. For cross-border trade, first, expanding piloting for the facilitation of foreign exchange receipts and payments under trade to further benefit enterprises with integrity. Second, simplifying procedures for micro and small cross-border ecommerce players to handle receipts and payments under trade. Third, optimizing reporting of foreign exchange under trade in goods. Fourth, simplifying procedures to recognize export revenues and allowing enterprises to open an account pending verification at their discretion. Fifth, facilitating directory registration of branches or sub-branches for foreign exchange receipts and payments under trade in goods. Sixth, allowing engineering contractors to centralize the management of offshore funds.
For cross-border investment and financing, first, allowing non-investment-oriented foreign investors to invest in equities with their capital in China in compliance with laws. Second, expanding piloting for the facilitation of receipts and payments under the capital account to facilitate domestic payments with foreign exchange receipts under the capital account and RMB funds obtained through foreign exchange settlement. Third, facilitating foreign exchange settlement for the consideration obtained from share transfers by domestic institutions to foreign investors and allowing foreign investors to use the margins for investment contribution and payments after hitting the bid. Fourth, empowering banks to handle write-offs of companies' external debt and piloting the cancellation of transaction-by-transaction registration of corporate external debt. Fifth, removing the limits on the number of foreign exchange accounts opened under the capital account. Sixth, piloting cross-border transfers for banks' non-performing assets and trade finance.
Next, the SAFE will continue to follow the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to advance the financial supply-side structural reform, deepen the foreign exchange reform, and open financial and foreign exchange markets wider to the outside world with further pragmatism and scrutiny, in a bid to effectively serve the real economy.
