CPPCC member proposes to initiate independent customs operations in Hainan FTP ASAP

During the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Mao Wanchun, CPPCC National Committee member and chairperson of the CPPCC Hainan Committee, raised a suggestion to initiate independent customs operations in Hainan Free Trade Port as soon as possible.

Mao raised the proposal on the basis that initiating independent customs operations is a core task of the early arrangements for the construction of the Hainan FTP, and that it is a complex and systematic project involving many government departments.

According to Mao's proposal, Hainan has conducted preliminary explorations into island-wide independent customs operations and has achieved preliminary results. However, since the task requires an unprecedented set of system designs - with no example to follow - Hainan is now in urgent need of realizing a consensus with central ministries and commissions in areas like port layout, customs supervision, tax system reform, delegation of powers, institutional organization, and risk management.

Mao suggested that port construction should be accelerated. This will involve the design and construction of a batch of new seaports, airports and mail centers which can be designated and built as "second-line ports". He recommended that the relevant departments incorporate the Hainan FTP planning into the national key project list during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), so that Hainan can apply for special funding support from the central government. Mao also called for the establishment of a port information supervision system with credit management as its core.

In addition, Mao proposed that relevant departments can roll out - or authorize Hainan to issue - supporting laws and regulations, speed up the formulation of regulatory plans and implementation rules for independent customs operations as soon as possible, and work out the list of taxable imported commodities and the list of prohibited and restricted import and export goods and articles after the island-wide independent customs operation is launched.

The proposal also suggests that a study on the tax reforms of the Hainan FTP should be initiated as soon as possible.