The State Council issued the ＂Implementation Opinions on Supporting Export Products to Domestic Sales＂, and foreign trade enterprises have policy support to explore the domestic market.

The COVID-19 epidemic has brought a serious impact on the global economy, and the external demand has shrunk, and part of China’s foreign trade capacity has turned to the domestic market. Due to the different domestic and foreign trade market environment, foreign trade enterprises face some specific difficulties in expanding the domestic market. To this end, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Supporting Export Products to Domestic Sales" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") on June 22, which clearly pointed out that while encouraging enterprises to expand the international market, they should support marketable export products to open up the domestic market, make efforts to help foreign trade enterprises tide over the difficulties and promote the basic stability of foreign trade.

"Products that sell well abroad may not sell well in the domestic market. Foreign trade enterprises should have a systematic expansion to expand the domestic market. Self-adjustment according to the demand characteristics of the domestic market. " Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with the Economic Daily reporter that in response to such problems, the Opinions clearly need to accurately meet consumer demand. Guide foreign trade enterprises to accurately meet the needs of consumption upgrading in the domestic market, give play to the advantages of quality, research and development, apply technologies such as big data and industrial internet, and develop marketable domestic products through personalized customization and flexible production.

As early as April this year, the Ministry of Commerce proposed to help foreign trade enterprises expand the domestic market while paying close attention to the implementation of a series of measures to stabilize foreign trade. Judging from the situation in April and May, policies and measures such as exporting to domestic sales have played a role in helping foreign trade enterprises tide over the difficulties.

This year’s "Government Work Report" proposes to support enterprises to increase orders, stabilize jobs and ensure employment, increase credit supply, expand the coverage of export credit insurance, reduce import and export compliance costs, and support export products to be sold domestically.

Since then, the the State Council executive meeting held on June 9 deployed support for marketable export commodities to explore the domestic market and help foreign trade enterprises tide over the difficulties.

Through combing, it can be found that the promulgation of the Opinions is highly targeted, which not only takes into account the difficulties faced by foreign trade enterprises in the previous stage, but also lays the foundation for the next step of "stabilizing foreign trade". The "Opinions" also particularly emphasizes that it is necessary to "implement local territorial responsibilities, promote the transfer of export products to domestic sales according to local conditions, and focus on helping foreign trade enterprises and small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises in the supply chain of important industrial chains in the region."

For this "opinion", it is proposed to build a platform for domestic sales. Bai Ming said that foreign trade enterprises are encouraged to connect with e-commerce platforms and set up foreign trade product zones based on various online shopping festivals. Under the premise of meeting the requirements of domestic epidemic prevention and control, guide the main pedestrian streets to organize special activities to transfer export products to domestic sales. Organize large commercial enterprises and foreign trade enterprises around the country to carry out direct purchase orders, and set up special sales areas and counters for foreign trade products. Organize domestic buyers to purchase foreign trade products at China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) and China Processing Trade Products Expo. Through various channels, the government can build some platforms for exporting to domestic sales, so as to help foreign trade enterprises connect with domestic customers more effectively.

At the same time, the "Opinions" put forward that it is necessary to improve the level of facilitation of domestic sales. For processing trade enterprises that meet the requirements and can go through the tax collection procedures for domestic sales in a centralized way, they shall report before the 15th of each month, and adjust to report within 15 days after the end of each quarter at the latest, provided that the validity period of their books (accounts) or the deadline for verification is not exceeded. "This reflects the tax support for foreign trade enterprises to switch to the domestic market." Bai Ming said.

At the same time, the "Opinions" put forward that it is necessary to support export products to enter the domestic market and speed up the market access for domestic sales. Before the end of 2020, if the export products produced according to the standards of export destination countries and the relevant standards and technical indicators meet the requirements of China’s mandatory standards are transferred to domestic sales due to the epidemic situation, enterprises are allowed to make relevant written commitments and sell them through self-compliance statements.

In addition, support enterprises to develop products with the same line, standard and homogeneity, that is, to produce products that can be exported and sold domestically on the same production line according to the same standards and quality requirements, so as to help enterprises reduce costs and realize the transformation of domestic and foreign sales. It is necessary to give play to the role of effective investment. Focus on the needs of new infrastructure, new urbanization and major engineering construction in various places, and organize the docking of a number of qualified export products for domestic sales. Guide foreign trade enterprises to actively complement and strengthen the chain, promote the coordinated innovation of the industrial chain and the adjustment of industrial structure, intensify the upgrading of technology and technology, and participate in the construction of major projects in the industrial and communications industries. (Reporter Feng Qiyu)