Tianjin establishes a national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot area

At the beginning of 2016, the State Council issued an approval to agree 12 cities to set up cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas, including Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. The approval requires these cities to implement a development concept that is innovative, harmonious, environmental-friendly, open and sharing. Taking reference from the experience and practices in China (Hangzhou) Cross-border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Area and driven by in-depth reform and expanded opening up, these pilot areas should adopt to the local conditions and highlight local characteristics and advantages to prioritize technological standards, business procedures, supervision models and informatization related to B2B (business to business) mode.

These pilot areas, through pioneering works, are expected to provide repeatable and easily-promoted experience for the national cross-border e-commerce development and to support international trade development through new model.

Tianjin authorities, including Tianjin commission of commerce, port office, customs and entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau, work actively to build platforms for cross-border e-commerce public services, customs supervision and inspection and quarantine supervision. Moreover, testing of these platforms have been finished in Tianjin Free Trade Zone, Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone and the export processing zone of Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area.

The customers in North China could deliver goods from overseas into free trade zones by B2B through bonded import, then make customs declaration in accordance with personal postal article tax, and send them to customers through C2B (customers to business).

Through cross-border e-commerce, the tax paid for overseas goods is 10 to 30 percent less than the tax of common import trade.

In respect of logistics, Tianjin will rely on its advantages of cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot area, free trade zone and as a pilot city of cross-border e-commerce.

By taking the opportunity of planning and construction of the express delivery-specializing logistics parks in Tianjin, it strives to attract large e-commerce and logistics companies to Tianjin, in order to build a development layout featuring domestic trade linking with international trade and online coordinating with offline.

Meanwhile, Tianjin pushes the logistics companies’ transformation and cultivates one to two logistics enterprises to expand international logistics market. It plans to build an international air express processing center (transfer station) in order to increase the express transfer amount and to push the improvement of handling capacity of air cargo.

The cross-border e-commerce development of China (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone’s three areas is different from each other. Tianjin Port Dongjiang Area focuses on sea transportation-highlighted bonded stock mode as Tianjin was approved as a pilot city. The overseas goods are temporarily stored in the area and distributed to domestic customers through e-commerce.

At present, Dongjiang Area has communicated with over 80 well-known e-commerce companies in five categories, such as JD.com and amazon.cn. It plans to develop into the most important cross-border e-commerce port in North China.

Meanwhile, Binhai CBD Area is striving to build a public services platform that integrates customs, tax, foreign exchange, inspection and quarantine, e-commerce, logistics and finance for cross-border e-commerce. The platform went into operation already. The area assembled over 40 cross-border e-commerce companies, including platform-like companies such as Wisepower Transportation & Distribution, companies transformed from traditional trade such as Sinosteel and imported cross-border e-commerce experimental platforms.

The cross-border e-commerce is important for Tianjin Airport Area’s business innovation. To date, Staples’ Chinese headquarter is settled down in this area. The headquarter of Cooper China as well as a second-hand car trading platform with an investment of 20 million US dollars will build an online & offline second-hand car trading platform. Moreover, other 24 domestic and international e-commerce companies and their supporting projects are being discussed.