China - January 08, 2025 China issues guideline for building unified national market (Voice_over) China's top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, has released a testing guideline for building a unified national market. The guideline aims to encourage all localities and government departments to accelerate their integration into this unified national market and actively support its development. The guideline outlines directional and framework-based guidance, along with phased work requirements, to help regions and departments accelerate their integration, improve high-standard market infrastructure connectivity, build a unified market for factors and resources, advance the high-standard integration of goods and services markets, enhance fair and unified regulation, and curb unfair market competition and improper intervention. (Sound_bite) Wang Shancheng, Director-General, Department of Comprehensive System Reform, National Development and Reform Commission: "The Guideline outlines required actions, prohibitions, and encouraged behaviors for local governments. Prohibitions, considered 'red lines', include local protectionism, regional barriers, unfair market access, and undermining fairness in bidding, tendering, and government procurement processes. To address persistent issues like market fragmentation, efforts have focused on rectifying problems in local markets such as irregularities in the human resources market and counterfeit goods." (Sound_bite) Li Weizheng, Deputy Director-General, Department of Market System Development, Ministry of Commerce of China: "The unified national market is not a closed or isolated system but a fully open market oriented toward the global stage. As of now, the nationwide negative list for foreign investment access has been reduced to 29 items. China will ensure national treatment for foreign-invested enterprises, improve mechanisms for handling foreign investment complaints, and guarantee fair competition, enabling foreign companies to enter, stay, and thrive in the market." [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]