A bird's-eye view of Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province [Photo/WeChat account: zgntrb]

China's Ministry of Commerce, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, General Administration of Customs, State Taxation Administration, and State Administration for Market Regulation co-issued a statement on Jan 17, approving cross-border e-commerce retail import pilot zones in 50 cities, including Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province.

According to the statement, the 50 cities and Hainan province should carry out bonded online import businesses in accordance with a policy on cross-border e-commerce purchases, which took effect in 37 domestic cities on Jan 1, 2019.

The local governments are required to fulfill their duties to ensure all works be pushed forward smoothly, as well as to give timely feedback to relevant departments.

Over the past year, the policy has been strictly implemented, which has standardized the business behavior of cross-border e-commerce firms, strengthened the risk control and quality of goods, as well as protected the rights of consumers, the statement noted.

According to official statistics, China's cross-border e-commerce retail imports were valued at 91.81 billion yuan ($13.39 billion) in 2019, an increase of 16.9 percent year on year.

The expanding list of pilot zones is designed to improve the existing policy, the statement said. To date, the pilot zones have been approved in 86 cities and regions, along with Hainan province, covering 31 provincial-level regions.

Nantong was one of the first 14 coastal cities to promote the economic opening-up in China. It qualified to become a national logistics hub in late 2018 and was approved as a national cross-border e-commerce pilot zone on Dec 24, 2019.