25 Cross-Border Trade Facilitation Measures Rolled Out Nationwide

On January 15, reporters learned from the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) that from April to September 2025, the agency, together with the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and 18 other department and agencies, conducted a focused initiative on cross-border trade facilitation in 25 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing. The initiative achieved positive results and yielded a number of effective practices. To further unlock policy-driven benefits, enhance the quality and efficiency of foreign trade, and support a solid start to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, relevant departments have decided to replicate and promote 25 mature policy measures nationwide.

For instance, to promote efficient, seamless cross-border logistics, the measures strengthen coordination between corridors and modes of transportation, facilitating cooperation between major maritime routes such as the "Silk Road Maritime" corridor and cross-border land transport channels including the China-Europe Railway Express and the new western land-sea corridor, advancing integrated convergence of different modes of cross-border transportation and enhancing logistics corridor development. To support emerging business formats and models, the measures establish mutual recognition of commercial electronic authentication and digital signatures across borders, enabling cross-platform and cross-regional authentication interoperability with trusted enterprises abroad and facilitating cross-border trade operations. To enhance benefits for enterprises and convenience for the public, the measures support expedited cross-border transport of agricultural products and establish additional "green channels" at ports for rapid customs clearance of agricultural commodities.

Xie Fang, Deputy Director and Level I Bureau Rank Official of the General Office (National Office of Port Administration) at GACC, stated that since 2018, the GACC, in coordination with relevant departments, has organized annual initiatives to promote cross-border trade facilitation, cumulatively introducing 115 facilitation measures through 2024. "In 2025, in response to the latest changes in the international trading environment and in keeping with enterprises' demands for import and export, we have benchmarked against international best practices and rolled out 29 additional facilitation measures. Through joint efforts between central and local governments and between government and enterprises, we are providing strong support for achieving stable volumes and improved quality in foreign trade," Xie said.

The steady advancement of cross-border trade facilitation would not be possible without coordinated efforts among regulatory authorities at all levels.

"With strong support from the GACC and other agencies, Guangzhou has served as a pilot city for seven consecutive years, conducting the initiatives on cross-border trade facilitation and introducing nearly 200 reform measures, with continuous improvements in port business environment," said Wei Min, Head of the Port Management Office of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipal. He added that in 2025, Guangzhou leveraged the "9+N" on-site command center mechanism at Baiyun Airport port of entry, working with customs, the CAAC Central and Southern Regional Administration, China Southern Airlines, the airport, and relevant enterprises, to tailor measures and implement targeted policies, using "targeted reforms" to significantly enhance facilitation at the aviation port of entry and drive the city's total import-export trade to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan, up 10.4 percent year-on-year.

According to Ye Miao, Director of the Administration Committee of Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone, in the field of export control oversight, Ningbo has innovatively developed the "Yongzhi" AI document review agent, completing intelligent review application for all export customs declarations, achieving a 30 percent improvement in customs clearance efficiency while maintaining effective controls. Meanwhile, Ningbo has taken the lead in applying AI technology to customs inspection and examination, compressing average intelligent image recognition time to 12 seconds and reducing inspection time to as little as 4 minutes. The city has also installed high-speed image recognition and automated sampling robots at import ports for iron ore and copper concentrate, reducing average customs clearance time by more than 15 hours. "Going forward, Ningbo will leverage its greatest asset—the port—to deepen smart customs and smart port development," Ye said.

Chang Hui, Level II Bureau Rank Official at the Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, stated that cross-border e-commerce is currently the fastest-growing, most promising, and most impactful new business format in foreign trade. The Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant departments to strengthen overall coordination, enhance collaboration between central and local governments, and ensure implementation of various initiatives to promote healthy and sustained innovation in cross-border e-commerce. This year's priorities include advancing comprehensive pilot zone construction, guiding each pilot zone to conduct initiatives on standardized development of cross-border e-commerce and industrial cluster empowerment, elevating enterprise compliance and operational standards, and actively leveraging cross-border e-commerce to drive local industrial development.

Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of People's Daily Overseas Edition. The People's Daily Overseas Edition version shall prevail.