China's State Council has issued a comprehensive plan to promote the high-level institutional opening up of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) by aligning it with high-standard international economic and trade rules.

The free trade zone will take the lead in establishing institutional systems and supervision models that align with high-standard economic and trade rules, and move to build itself into a national demonstration zone for institutional opening up.

A total of 80 measures, covering seven areas, were outlined in the plan including initiatives to facilitate trade in goods and services, promote digital trade and enhance intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, among others.

To accelerate the opening up of the service trade in the FTZ, the plan called for efforts to further open up key sectors such as finance and telecommunications, make cross-border investment and financing easier, support multinationals to set up capital management centers in China, and improve the service quality of the telecommunications sector.

Regarding trade in goods, the plan called for improving the import management of special products such as medical devices and wine, and simplifying quarantine procedures on a trial base in the Shanghai FTZ.

High-standard digital trade rules will be implemented in the Shanghai FTZ, according to the plan. The FTZ will explore a mechanism for legal, safe and convenient cross-border data flow, accelerate efforts to empower industries with digital technology and foster new competitiveness in digital trade.

The comprehensive plan also includes measures to strengthen the protection of trademarks and patents, promote reforms in government procurement by aligning it with international rules, support international cooperation in the green sector and improve supervision rules.