Get Involved: Seeking Views on the Market Access Negative List

Over the last couple of weeks, the CBBC has been working closely with our members to identify their priorities with regard to market access and trade policy looking into 2021.

Through discussions with the members of our newly launched Government Affairs Working Groups in Beijing and Shanghai, the Government Affairs and Trade Policy teams in Beijing are monitoring the policy areas where the British business community plans to advocate actively over the course of 2021 and those that it will cover with a watching brief.

As we bid farewell to 2020 and welcome the New Year, the CBBC is now seeking input from its members on the Market Access Negative List.

Published earlier this month by the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the 2020 Market Access Negative List not only outlines sectors that are off-limits to both Chinese and foreign businesses, but also highlights areas that require a licence to operate. The sectors not listed are open for investment to all and require no approval, unless they appear on China’s Foreign Investment Negative List, which sets out areas off-limits to foreign investors.

With the 2020 list reducing the number of restricted sectors from 131 to 123, initial feedback has been that the British business community is finding new opportunities to grow the scope of their business in China. Furthermore, with regard to business sentiment, companies have also been quick to point out that there are now 62% fewer sectors blocked to foreign business than in 2016.

The CBBC is seeking members’ input on:

• China’s market access reforms and opening, market access barriers and what UK plc and HMG could do to address them;

• Whether new provisions in the Market Access Negative List covering oil and gas production and exploration further open the market in a meaningful way;

• How businesses can get involved in carrying out carbon emissions assessments in China.

We will use these inputs to support our discussions with the British and Chinese governments, as well as to inform our own policy work and reporting. Please contact Joseph Cash (joseph.cash@cbbc.org.cn) for further information and to discuss how your business would like its input to be used.

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The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) is the UK’s national business network promoting trade and investment with China. Since 1954 we have acted as the independent voice of business, located at the heart of the action, engaging across both countries in every sector and region. We support our members and partners by delivering the advice, analysis and access which they need in order to seize the China opportunity. Our diverse membership includes leading UK companies and universities, many of the UK’s most dynamic SMEs, and an ever increasing number of Chinese companies exporting to and investing in the UK.

英中贸易协会（CBBC）是英国促进对华贸易和投资的国家级商业贸易网络。自1954年以来，我们一直作为独立的商业声音，处在行动的核心位置参与两国在每个行业和地区的合作。为了协助我们的会员与合作伙伴更好地抓住中国的商业机遇，英中贸易协会不遗余力地为其提供所需的商业建议、解析与渠道。我们的会员包括众多英国领先的公司与知名大学、英国最具活力的中小企业，以及越来越多向英国出口和在英国投资的中国企业等。