A senior trade official said pending amendments to the nation's
nine-year-old Foreign Trade Law will aim to create a balance
between better protection of domestic enterprise and compliance
with World Trade Organization (
WTO) rules.
The current Foreign Trade Law was enacted in 1994, when the Uruguay
round had not been completed.
"The nation's foreign trade has seen great leaps forward in the
past nine years and the government's style of managing foreign
trade has changed,'' said Zhang Yuqing, director of the Department
of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and
Economic Cooperation, in an exclusive interview with China
Daily.
In
the post-WTO era, the functions of the government have shifted from
managing the specific operation issues of enterprise to ensuring
fair and ordered competition and taking measures to protect
domestic enterprise when they face discrimination or injury in
foreign trade, said Zhang.
The new foreign trade law will fill the gaps of the current
provisions so that domestic enterprise find it easier to protect
their interests and rights, he said.
For example, the new legislation is expected to explain the
implications of trade promotion and specify how to implement the
mechanism. It will clarify what constitutes discrimination against
Chinese exports and what measures can be taken in cases of such
discrimination.
Current legislation only provides some general principles of trade
promotion.
"Under the new law, Chinese enterprise will be able to conduct
investigations, turn to arbitration and even resort to the WTO to
solve any trade barrier or discrimination which goes against WTO
principles,'' he said.
Zhang said the new law would also help the nation's exports and
service trade sectors to open new overseas markets. The
intellectual property rights and some new mechanisms, such as
tariff quotas and State trade, should also be incorporated into the
new law.
Chinese experts on foreign trade say the government should make
full use of WTO rules which reflect national interests, such as
clauses on general exception and security exception, to better
protect domestic enterprises, said a lecturer with the University
of International Business and Economics, who asked to remain
anonymous.
The draft amendment is expected to be submitted to legislators this
year after gaining approval from the State Council, said Zhang.
Under Legislative Procedure Law, the State Council is eligible to
submit draft legislation to the top legislative body.
(China Daily January 13, 2003)