China Approves New Edition of Negative List for Foreign Investment Access and Supports High-quality Development of Innovative SMEs

On August 19, 2024, the executive meeting of the State Council reviewed and approved the Special Administrative Measures for Foreign Investment Access (Negative List) (2024 Edition) (the “Measures”) and discussed policy measures to support the high-quality development of small and medium enterprises that use specialized and sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products (Innovative SMEs).

The meeting pointed out the need to strengthen services trade liberalization and facilitation, implement negative lists for cross-border service trade across the board, and promote opening up of services sector through pilot comprehensive demonstration projects. It highlights the importance of relaxing restrictions on foreign investment further by completely abolishing entry barriers in the manufacturing sector, while accelerating the opening up of sectors such as telecommunication, education and medical services. It also calls for improving the policies for foreign investment attraction by adapting to the new trends, unveiling more practical measures to improve business environment, and strengthening policy coordination in areas of taxation, finance, science and technology, industry and human resources.