State Council, General Plan for the China (Hebei) Pilot Free Trade Zone

Issued: August 2, 2019

Main contents: The Hebei Pilot Free Trade Zone proposes to support the engagement in international bulk commodity trading, and engage in the spot trading of bulk commodities such as ores, iron and steel, coal, wood, natural gas, grains and sugar in accordance with laws and regulations based on existing trading venues (Article 5).

The Pilot Free Trade Zone supports the open development of the biopharmaceutical and the life and health industries. It will optimize the quarantine inspection process for special items used for experimentation in global coordinated biopharmaceutical research and development.  In addition, it will establish a green import channel for materials, reagents and equipment used for new pharmaceutical research and development, exempt enterprises from customs clearance forms for pharmaceuticals imported on a one-off basis and implement single examination and approval with reconciliation on an occasion by occasion basis. It will appropriately relax the administration of small quantities of special chemical formulations used for pharmaceutical research and development, and support the establishment of extra stock warehouses in the Pilot Free Trade Zone. It will simplify the exit and air transport procedures for pharmaceutical samples and intermediates of one kilogram or less. The Zone supports the establishment of an imported pharmaceutical port by Shijiazhuang in accordance with laws and regulations, and when the conditions are ripe, the establishment of a port for first imported pharmaceutical and biological products. It will establish a genetic testing technology and application demonstration center, and a public technology platform. It supports the launching of clinical application of gene sequencing technology and the launching of a pilot gene mass spectrometry project for infectious microorganisms, rare diseases, etc. It also supports qualified medical institutions in the Zone in carrying out cutting edge stem cell clinical medical technology research projects in accordance with relevant provisions, and it will establish a green channel for project record filing. It will launch a pilot project on a medical device registrant system and optimize the examination and approval procedure for Class II medical devices. The Zone also supports the launch of pilot cross-regional medical device production projects. It will also establish a pharmaceutical intellectual property rights protection aid sub-center (Article 10).