Investigating the legislation and practice of China's maritime service opening to the outside world can be discussed from two aspects: market access and national treatment.
1, market access
Market access refers to various conditions and restrictions for foreign maritime service enterprises to enter China maritime market. The looser these conditions and restrictions, the higher the degree of liberalization of maritime services. Because maritime services involve many aspects, the degree of liberalization of China's maritime services market access should also be observed from many aspects.
Coastal transport rights. Coastal transport rights are prohibited to foreign shipping companies, which is the practice of many countries. So is our country. Before 1992, foreign shipping companies were prohibited from entering China's coastal and inland waterway transportation markets in principle. For example, the Regulations on Waterway Transportation, which came into effect on June 1 987 65438+1October1,stipulates that foreign businessmen are not allowed to operate China's coastal and inland waterway transportation in any form without the permission of the Ministry of Communications. However, with the improvement of opening to the outside world, policies and laws have become loose. 1992 On July 25th, the Notice of the Ministry of Communications on Printing and Distributing Several Opinions on Deepening Reform, Expanding Opening-up and Accelerating Traffic Development pointed out that it is allowed to moderately develop Sino-foreign joint venture waterway transportation enterprises and engage in coastal and inland river transportation in China. 1,1Article 4 of the Maritime Code, which came into effect in July 1993, clearly stipulates: "Maritime transportation and towage between People's Republic of China (PRC) and China ports shall be operated by ships flying National Flag of the People's Republic of China, unless otherwise stipulated by laws and administrative regulations"; "Without the approval of the transportation authorities in the State Council, foreign ships are not allowed to engage in maritime transportation and towing between People's Republic of China (PRC) Port and China Port." The Regulations on Ship Registration promulgated by 1994 further clearly stipulates that at least 50% of the ships registered in China are owned by China citizens or enterprises, and the crew should be China citizens.
Liner shipping. 1June, 990, the Ministry of Communications issued the Regulations on the Administration of International Liner Shipping, which is applicable to international liner shipping between China's open ports and foreign ports. Foreign shipping companies are allowed to engage in international liner shipping relying on China port, and submit a written application to the Ministry of Communications through their agents in China port. 1992, the relevant documents of the State Council further pointed out that foreign liners or overseas Chinese liners should be attracted to call at mainland ports on the principle of reciprocity for the routes that domestic shipping companies are unable to open or the liner density is not enough. By the end of 1996, the number of ports open to foreign ships in China had reached 8 1, and more than10 ports were approved for international liner shipping, accounting for more than 1200 flights.
Restrictions on establishing shipping companies. According to the Interim Measures for the Administration of International Shipping Companies promulgated by the Ministry of Communications 1990, foreign businessmen can set up Sino-foreign joint venture shipping companies in China. The establishment of Sino-foreign joint venture shipping companies must abide by the relevant provisions of the Sino-foreign Joint Venture Law and its implementing regulations. 1995 65438+On February 22nd, 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Ministry of Communications jointly issued the Notice on Issues Concerning the Establishment of a Wholly Foreign-Owned Shipping Company in China, which made detailed provisions on the application for the establishment of a Wholly Foreign-Owned Shipping Company in China according to the maritime agreement or memorandum of maritime negotiation signed between the China government and foreign governments. In addition, the Notice also stipulates that a wholly-owned shipping company that has been in business for 1 year and has paid up its registered capital can apply for establishing branches in other port cities according to business needs. According to statistics, shipping companies from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have set up 18 wholly foreign-owned shipping companies in China and 45 branches in major coastal cities. Four foreign shipping companies were allowed to set up wholly-owned container transportation service companies in China to carry out logistics service pilot projects, and engaged in seven businesses, including booking space, unpacking, warehousing, issuing cargo receipts, contacting truck companies and signing transportation service contracts.
Auxiliary services. The Regulations on the Administration of International Shipping Agency promulgated by the Ministry of Communications1March 2, 990 is applicable to the agency business of ships sailing internationally. The Ministry of Communications is the national authority in charge of shipping agency business, and the shipping agency company can only be a state-owned enterprise legal person in China. 1992 the Ministry of communications suggested that foreign businessmen should be allowed to set up joint venture shipping agencies in China. In the same year, the State Council pointed out in the relevant documents on the reform of international shipping management that it is necessary to liberalize shipping agents and freight forwarders, allow diversified business operations, encourage competition and improve service quality. All enterprises that meet the business conditions and operate legally (including foreign branches in China that have obtained business licenses) can engage in freight forwarding and shipping agency business upon approval. The official regulation regulating the international maritime freight forwarding industry is the Regulations on the Administration of International Freight Forwarding Industry promulgated by MOFTEC1June 29th, 995, which defines international freight forwarding enterprises as: international freight forwarding industry refers to the industry that accepts the entrustment of consignors and consignors of import and export goods, handles international freight forwarding and related business for consignors in its own name or in its own name, and collects service remuneration. Various conditions for the establishment of an international freight forwarding company and China's qualification as an enterprise legal person are stipulated, but it is not clear whether foreign capital can enter an international freight forwarding company, until the "Regulations on the Examination and Approval of Foreign Investment in International Freight Forwarding Industry" promulgated on September 9 clarified this issue. The "Regulations" clearly stipulates that foreign companies and enterprises may establish foreign-invested international freight forwarding enterprises in China in the form of joint ventures and cooperation, and the proportion of capital contribution of Chinese joint venturers shall not be less than 50%. The Regulations not only clarify the conditions for the establishment of Sino-foreign joint venture international freight forwarding companies, but also clarify their business scope, including warehouse receipts and warehousing. Supervise the unloading of goods, the assembly and unpacking of containers; International express delivery, customs declaration, inspection, inspection and insurance; Prepare documents, deliver freight, settle accounts, deliver miscellaneous fees and so on. As for the establishment of a wholly foreign-owned shipping agency, the Interim Provisions for Guiding the Direction of Foreign Investment and the Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment Industries jointly issued by the State Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation 1995 explicitly prohibit it.
2. National treatment
National treatment refers to the problem that foreign capital enjoys no less treatment than Chinese-funded enterprises in management after entering the domestic shipping market. In essence, it is a continuation of market access in enterprise management. Article 6 of the Notice on Further Reform of International Shipping Management issued by the State Council 1992 requires the Ministry of Communications and other relevant departments to study and formulate specific policies on equal competition among state-owned shipping agents, freight forwarding enterprises and foreign capital, joint venture shipping agents and freight forwarding enterprises as soon as possible, mainly involving the implementation of the principle of national treatment. Generally speaking, the national treatment in maritime service trade involves a wide range, and the typical contents include cargo reservation and cargo priority, port fees, service tax and so on.
Loan reservation and priority of goods. It is one of the most common practices in the world to protect domestic shipping companies by legislating that all or part of import and export goods must be carried by domestic fleets or given priority. So far, there are still more than 50 countries and regions in the world that implement this protection system. But in essence, it is one-sided preferential treatment for ships of its own nationality, which violates the requirements of national treatment and is also a major obstacle to the extent to which foreign carriers can enter a country's market, that is, market access. Before China 1988, the share of domestic import and export materials transported by China Shipping Company was co-ordinated by the government, and the domestic product transportation policy was basically implemented. The bilateral shipping agreements signed with Zaire, Algeria, Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, the United States and other countries contained cargo reservation clauses. However, by 1988, the Supplementary Notice on Reforming China's International Maritime Transport Management issued by the the State Council Port Leading Group stipulated that, starting from 1988, China will cancel the cargo reservation policy, no longer stipulate the share of domestic ships by administrative means, no longer stipulate the proportion of foreign trade import and export goods sent by Chinese ships, and encourage supporters to negotiate transport contracts directly according to normal commercial practices. Since then, in the Letter on Answering Eurocopter's Specific Asking Price in the Uruguay Round of GATT Service Trade Negotiations and the Minutes of Maritime Talks between China and Eurocopter, the China government publicly promised that this aspect would not be included in the newly signed bilateral maritime agreement.
Port services. 1 April 9921China's Ministry of Communications revised the port charging rules. Unified the charging standards for foreign ships and domestic ships, and implemented non-discrimination treatment. In addition, it also provides non-discriminatory port auxiliary services for China and foreign ships, including pilotage, tugboat assistance, fuel and fresh water and food supply, garbage collection, sewage treatment, onshore services, emergency maintenance facilities, anchorage and berth and berth transfer services. Among them, pilotage, garbage collection and sewage treatment are mandatory, and the rest are not mandatory. In other words, foreign ships enjoy complete national treatment not only in terms of port service fees, but also in terms of the use of port facilities.
Taxes. For foreign shipping companies, according to the Measures for Taxation of Shipping Income of Foreign Companies formulated by the Ministry of Finance of People's Republic of China (PRC) and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China 1996124 October, the business tax they undertake is consistent with the requirements of enterprise income tax and national treatment that China can undertake at present. The business tax rate is 3%, which is the same as that of domestic-funded enterprises in China; Enterprise income tax is 5% of its total transportation income as taxable income, and then it is levied according to the tax rate of 33% stipulated by China's foreign-related enterprise income tax law, so its enterprise income tax rate is 1.65%, and the two taxes are calculated according to the comprehensive collection rate of 4.65%. For foreign-invested shipping companies that have obtained legal person status in China. The Income Tax Law for Enterprises with Foreign Investment and Foreign Enterprises stipulates that the highest income tax rate for enterprises with foreign investment is 33%; If foreign-invested enterprises are located in specific areas (coastal cities or special economic zones), the tax rates will be reduced to 24% and 15% respectively. In addition, foreign-funded shipping companies in transportation can also enjoy the tax preference of "two exemptions and three reductions". Compared with Chinese-funded enterprises, these preferential measures are already "super national treatment".
Discussion on the Opening-up of China's Maritime Services under GATS Framework
[Summary] Once China joins the WTO, the entry into force of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) will put pressure on China's service industry to further open to the outside world, and so will maritime services. By analyzing the existing legislation and practice of GATS and China's maritime services opening to the outside world, this paper holds that the pressure of GATS on China's maritime services opening to the outside world is not the existing commitment, but the progress of negotiations, and puts forward some countermeasures that China's maritime services should be prepared for.
[Keywords:] Discussion on the opening of maritime services
First, the legislation and practice of China's maritime service opening to the outside world
Investigating the legislation and practice of China's maritime service opening to the outside world can be discussed from two aspects: market access and national treatment.
1, market access
Market access refers to various conditions and restrictions for foreign maritime service enterprises to enter China maritime market. The looser these conditions and restrictions, the higher the degree of liberalization of maritime services. Because maritime services involve many aspects, the degree of liberalization of China's maritime services market access should also be observed from many aspects.
Coastal transport rights. Coastal transport rights are prohibited to foreign shipping companies, which is the practice of many countries. So is our country. Before 1992, foreign shipping companies were prohibited from entering China's coastal and inland waterway transportation markets in principle. For example, the Regulations on Waterway Transportation, which came into effect on June 1 987 65438+1October1,stipulates that foreign businessmen are not allowed to operate China's coastal and inland waterway transportation in any form without the permission of the Ministry of Communications. However, with the improvement of opening to the outside world, policies and laws have become loose. 1992 On July 25th, the Notice of the Ministry of Communications on Printing and Distributing Several Opinions on Deepening Reform, Expanding Opening-up and Accelerating Traffic Development pointed out that it is allowed to moderately develop Sino-foreign joint venture waterway transportation enterprises and engage in coastal and inland river transportation in China. 1,1Article 4 of the Maritime Code, which came into effect in July 1993, clearly stipulates: "Maritime transportation and towage between People's Republic of China (PRC) and China ports shall be operated by ships flying National Flag of the People's Republic of China, unless otherwise stipulated by laws and administrative regulations"; "Without the approval of the transportation authorities in the State Council, foreign ships are not allowed to engage in maritime transportation and towing between People's Republic of China (PRC) Port and China Port." The Regulations on Ship Registration promulgated by 1994 further clearly stipulates that at least 50% of the ships registered in China are owned by China citizens or enterprises, and the crew should be China citizens.
Liner shipping. 1June, 990, the Ministry of Communications issued the Regulations on the Administration of International Liner Shipping, which is applicable to international liner shipping between China's open ports and foreign ports. Foreign shipping companies are allowed to engage in international liner shipping relying on China port, and submit a written application to the Ministry of Communications through their agents in China port. 1992, the relevant documents of the State Council further pointed out that foreign liners or overseas Chinese liners should be attracted to call at mainland ports on the principle of reciprocity for the routes that domestic shipping companies are unable to open or the liner density is not enough. By the end of 1996, the number of ports open to foreign ships in China had reached 8 1, and more than10 ports were approved for international liner shipping, accounting for more than 1200 flights.
Restrictions on establishing shipping companies. According to the Interim Measures for the Administration of International Shipping Companies promulgated by the Ministry of Communications 1990, foreign businessmen can set up Sino-foreign joint venture shipping companies in China. The establishment of Sino-foreign joint venture shipping companies must abide by the relevant provisions of the Sino-foreign Joint Venture Law and its implementing regulations. 1995 65438+On February 22nd, 2005, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and the Ministry of Communications jointly issued the Notice on Issues Concerning the Establishment of a Wholly Foreign-Owned Shipping Company in China, which made detailed provisions on the application for the establishment of a Wholly Foreign-Owned Shipping Company in China according to the maritime agreement or memorandum of maritime negotiation signed between the China government and foreign governments. In addition, the Notice also stipulates that a wholly-owned shipping company that has been in business for 1 year and has paid up its registered capital can apply for establishing branches in other port cities according to business needs. According to statistics, shipping companies from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have set up 18 wholly foreign-owned shipping companies in China and 45 branches in major coastal cities. Four foreign shipping companies were allowed to set up wholly-owned container transportation service companies in China to carry out logistics service pilot projects, and engaged in seven businesses, including booking space, unpacking, warehousing, issuing cargo receipts, contacting truck companies and signing transportation service contracts.
Auxiliary services. The Regulations on the Administration of International Shipping Agency promulgated by the Ministry of Communications1March 2, 990 is applicable to the agency business of ships sailing internationally. The Ministry of Communications is the national authority in charge of shipping agency business, and the shipping agency company can only be a state-owned enterprise legal person in China. 1992 the Ministry of communications suggested that foreign businessmen should be allowed to set up joint venture shipping agencies in China. In the same year, the State Council pointed out in the relevant documents on the reform of international shipping management that it is necessary to liberalize shipping agents and freight forwarders, allow diversified business operations, encourage competition and improve service quality. All enterprises that meet the business conditions and operate legally (including foreign branches in China that have obtained business licenses) can engage in freight forwarding and shipping agency business upon approval. The official regulation regulating the international maritime freight forwarding industry is the Regulations on the Administration of International Freight Forwarding Industry promulgated by MOFTEC1June 29th, 995, which defines international freight forwarding enterprises as: international freight forwarding industry refers to the industry that accepts the entrustment of consignors and consignors of import and export goods, handles international freight forwarding and related business for consignors in its own name or in its own name, and collects service remuneration. Various conditions for the establishment of an international freight forwarding company and China's qualification as an enterprise legal person are stipulated, but it is not clear whether foreign capital can enter an international freight forwarding company, until the "Regulations on the Examination and Approval of Foreign Investment in International Freight Forwarding Industry" promulgated on September 9 clarified this issue. The "Regulations" clearly stipulates that foreign companies and enterprises may establish foreign-invested international freight forwarding enterprises in China in the form of joint ventures and cooperation, and the proportion of capital contribution of Chinese joint venturers shall not be less than 50%. The Regulations not only clarify the conditions for the establishment of Sino-foreign joint venture international freight forwarding companies, but also clarify their business scope, including warehouse receipts and warehousing. Supervise the unloading of goods, the assembly and unpacking of containers; International express delivery, customs declaration, inspection, inspection and insurance; Prepare documents, deliver freight, settle accounts, deliver miscellaneous fees and so on. As for the establishment of a wholly foreign-owned shipping agency, the Interim Provisions for Guiding the Direction of Foreign Investment and the Catalogue for Guiding Foreign Investment Industries jointly issued by the State Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation 1995 explicitly prohibit it.
2. National treatment
National treatment refers to the problem that foreign capital enjoys no less treatment than Chinese-funded enterprises in management after entering the domestic shipping market. In essence, it is a continuation of market access in enterprise management. Article 6 of the Notice on Further Reform of International Shipping Management issued by the State Council 1992 requires the Ministry of Communications and other relevant departments to study and formulate specific policies on equal competition among state-owned shipping agents, freight forwarding enterprises and foreign capital, joint venture shipping agents and freight forwarding enterprises as soon as possible, mainly involving the implementation of the principle of national treatment. Generally speaking, the national treatment in maritime service trade involves a wide range, and the typical contents include cargo reservation and cargo priority, port fees, service tax and so on.
Loan reservation and priority of goods. It is one of the most common practices in the world to protect domestic shipping companies by legislating that all or part of import and export goods must be carried by domestic fleets or given priority. So far, there are still more than 50 countries and regions in the world that implement this protection system. But in essence, it is one-sided preferential treatment for ships of its own nationality, which violates the requirements of national treatment and is also a major obstacle to the extent to which foreign carriers can enter a country's market, that is, market access. Before China 1988, the share of domestic import and export materials transported by China Shipping Company was co-ordinated by the government, and the domestic product transportation policy was basically implemented. The bilateral shipping agreements signed with Zaire, Algeria, Argentina, Thailand, Brazil, the United States and other countries contained cargo reservation clauses. However, by 1988, the Supplementary Notice on Reforming China's International Maritime Transport Management issued by the the State Council Port Leading Group stipulated that, starting from 1988, China will cancel the cargo reservation policy, no longer stipulate the share of domestic ships by administrative means, no longer stipulate the proportion of foreign trade import and export goods sent by Chinese ships, and encourage supporters to negotiate transport contracts directly according to normal commercial practices. Since then, in the Letter on Answering Eurocopter's Specific Asking Price in the Uruguay Round of GATT Service Trade Negotiations and the Minutes of Maritime Talks between China and Eurocopter, the China government publicly promised that this aspect would not be included in the newly signed bilateral maritime agreement.
Port services. 1 April 9921China's Ministry of Communications revised the port charging rules. Unified the charging standards for foreign ships and domestic ships, and implemented non-discrimination treatment. In addition, it also provides non-discriminatory port auxiliary services for China and foreign ships, including pilotage, tugboat assistance, fuel and fresh water and food supply, garbage collection, sewage treatment, onshore services, emergency maintenance facilities, anchorage and berth and berth transfer services. Among them, pilotage, garbage collection and sewage treatment are mandatory, and the rest are not mandatory. In other words, foreign ships enjoy complete national treatment not only in port service fees, but also in the use of port facilities.
Taxes. For foreign shipping companies, according to the Measures for Taxation of Shipping Income of Foreign Companies formulated by the Ministry of Finance of People's Republic of China (PRC) and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China 1996124 October, the business tax they undertake is consistent with the requirements of enterprise income tax and national treatment that China can undertake at present. The business tax rate is 3%, which is the same as that of domestic-funded enterprises in China; Enterprise income tax is 5% of its total transportation income as taxable income, and then it is levied according to the tax rate of 33% stipulated by China's foreign-related enterprise income tax law, so its enterprise income tax rate is 1.65%, and the two taxes are calculated according to the comprehensive collection rate of 4.65%. For foreign-invested shipping companies that have obtained legal person status in China. The Income Tax Law for Enterprises with Foreign Investment and Foreign Enterprises stipulates that the highest income tax rate for enterprises with foreign investment is 33%; If foreign-invested enterprises are located in specific areas (coastal cities or special economic zones), the tax rates will be reduced to 24% and 15% respectively. In addition, foreign-funded shipping companies in transportation can also enjoy the tax preference of "two exemptions and three reductions". Compared with Chinese-funded enterprises, these preferential measures are already "super national treatment".
Second, the impact of GATS negotiations on the opening up of China's maritime services
Maritime service is a key sector in the Uruguay Round service trade negotiations, but due to the influence of political and technical factors from the beginning, the negotiations failed to achieve a complete success. After the Uruguay Round, maritime negotiations continued until the end of June. 1996. Before the deadline for negotiations, the participants still failed to reach an agreement, so the negotiations were forced to be interrupted and resumed as planned in 2000, but they were temporarily stranded because the "Millennium Round" failed to start.
As a project of service trade, the negotiation of maritime services must naturally take GATS as the purpose and principle of negotiation. The main contents of GATS clauses must be directly or indirectly reflected in maritime negotiations, including not only MFN treatment as general obligations, transparency, more participation of developing countries, economic integration, business practices of monopoly and franchised service providers, emergency safeguard measures, government procurement exceptions and subsidies, but also market access, national treatment and additional commitments as specific commitments and obligations. For example, adhering to the transparency principle of GATS means that the participants in the negotiation of maritime services must overcome the "intangible barriers" that may appear in the process of providing maritime services, publicize the relevant practices, technologies and safety standards for subsidizing and giving preferential treatment to domestic carriers, and promptly inform foreign parties of domestic laws, regulations, administrative orders, signed international agreements on maritime services, new legislation or amendments to the original legislation, so that foreign parties can inform them. The strict implementation of the national treatment clause means that the undertaking party must cancel or expand the protectionist measures in favor of its own fleet to foreign fleets, cancel all discriminatory effects on foreign ships, allow foreign ships to use ports and related facilities, authorize foreign shipping service companies to own and operate ports in their own countries, and reconsider coastal transportation rights. In a word, the purpose of maritime negotiations should be: under the GATS principle and framework, gradually cancel all measures restricting maritime market access, allow foreign countries to freely realize commercial existence in their own countries, give national treatment to foreign maritime service providers, and finally realize the comprehensive liberalization of maritime transportation.
Of course, it should be pointed out that due to the particularity of maritime services, the maritime sector will deviate from some special problems when following the purposes and principles given by GATS as a whole. Take the most-favored-nation treatment clause as the general principle. In view of the fact that foreign exchanges in shipping are mostly realized by signing bilateral agreements between governments, the signatories of such agreements often give the other party some special treatment, such as the distribution of goods shares and reciprocal shipping agreements. Although some agreements also contain MFN clauses, this bilateral MFN treatment is different from GATS multilateral unconditional MFN treatment. In addition, the 40:20:40 cargo distribution principle determined by the action principle of the United Nations Liner Conference tries to give developing countries more participation rights, but it does not meet the requirements of most-favored-nation treatment in GATS. All these may be the reasons why the participants in the maritime service negotiations put forward the most-favored-nation treatment exemption. In addition, government procurement can also be exempted from the most-favored-nation treatment clause of GATS. For the maritime department, it mainly involves the goods reservation clause of government materials. Therefore, the most likely outcome of future maritime negotiations is to reach an agreement to limit the application scope of GATS Rules to international maritime services, such as the Annex of GATS Air Transport Services, which has little impact on the opening up of China's maritime services at present.
However, we must note that the comprehensive liberalization movement initiated by international maritime powers in recent years, including deregulation, decentralized management, privatization and competition, will inevitably put forward higher requirements for the effectiveness of GATS in promoting the liberalization of international maritime services, and the latest maritime policy trends of the European Union and the United States will have a decisive impact on GATS maritime service negotiations. In order to maintain and improve the competitiveness of EU maritime services in the trend of globalization, the EU put forward a new maritime policy called "New Maritime Strategy" in March 1996 on the basis of summarizing the existing maritime policies. Its basic idea is to improve the competitiveness of the EU shipping industry by requiring non-EU member States to improve their safety standards and open their markets. In order to ensure the realization of this concept, we must formulate a set of dual strategies, namely: ① take measures to ensure the safety and fair competition of international open market shipping; (2) Formulating laws to improve the competitiveness of EU's maritime services, and suggesting that the competitiveness of EU's maritime industry should be improved through the global open market policy, especially by formulating international competition rules, that is, adopting global standards. It tends to push liberalization standards to the international level through WTO and other multilateral occasions, which will inevitably have a considerable impact on GATS maritime negotiations and the opening of maritime services in non-EU member States. [1] In addition, the United States was originally a highly protectionist country in the field of international maritime services, and even insisted that maritime services should not be included in GATS negotiations. Its step-by-step tough stance in GATS maritime negotiations is also one of the biggest reasons for the failure of previous negotiations. The promulgation of the Shipping Reform Act of the United States from 65438 to 0997 shows that it will continue to effectively protect its ocean carriers and shipping market, and at the same time will focus on promoting the new shipping policy of relaxing administrative control and promoting market competition. [2] There is no doubt that the change of American maritime policy stance will mean the weakening of the most important obstacle in GATS maritime negotiations, which will promote the overall situation of world shipping's service liberalization. All this means that the process of GATS maritime negotiations will be greatly accelerated, and the compact pace of its liberalization will inevitably require a major breakthrough in the opening of China's maritime services in the near future, which is where GATS puts pressure on China's maritime services to further open up.
Third, the strategy of further opening up China's maritime services under the GATS framework.
Since 1990, China has participated in the Uruguay Round GATS maritime service trade negotiations, put forward reasonable asking prices to the relevant negotiators, in order to eliminate the barriers to maritime service trade, and made necessary commitments to the opening of the maritime service market. In July 199 1 and March 1992, China's Ministry of Communications submitted China's Quotation for Initial Commitments of Maritime Department and MFN Exemption List, and conducted negotiations with 10 countries. Later, in September, 1993 submitted the revised Quotation and the List of Obligations to Apply for MFN Exemption. China mainly emphasizes the principle of reciprocity, and hopes to be exempted when reaching agreements with other countries in terms of market access and national treatment.
The "Preliminary Commitment Quotation Form of the Ministry of Shipping" submitted by China mainly involves international shipping services, shipping auxiliary services and the use of port facilities. China promised that foreign shipping companies can set up shipping companies through joint ventures, open liner routes according to actual needs, and engage in container loading and unloading and warehousing business through joint ventures; Foreign merchant ships can engage in international cargo transportation in ports open to the outside world; According to the international shipping practice and the principle of reciprocity, foreign shipping companies are allowed to set up wholly-owned or joint venture shipping companies in China to handle the receiving, signing and settlement of foreign trade import and export goods in China for their own ships, but they are not allowed to engage in coastal transportation and inland river transportation. China makes no commitment to overseas provision and personnel entry of cargo handling services, warehousing services, customs clearance services, container yard and yard services, shipping agency services, freight forwarding services, etc., but makes an unrestricted commitment to consumption abroad, and promises to enter the China market only with permission and joint venture business, without any restrictions on enjoying national treatment. Specifically, China encourages Sino-foreign joint ventures to build and operate public wharf berths, and allows joint ventures to engage in loading and unloading business, cargo storage, unpacking and related domestic road passenger and cargo transportation; Allow Chinese-foreign joint ventures to lease docks; Allow wholly foreign-owned enterprises to build shippers' wharf and waterway; Foreign investors who invest in the development and operation of plots of land can build and operate special port areas and docks within the scope of plots. China's asking price for other countries mainly includes: gradually canceling the goods reservation measures, allowing China shipping enterprises to engage in normal and reasonable business activities in other countries, and treating China state-owned enterprises and private enterprises equally.
Comparing the existing legislation and practice of China's maritime service opening to the outside world, we can see that China's current commitment is limited and will not have a great impact on its maritime service industry. However, in the next round of GATS maritime negotiations, China will inevitably make corresponding adjustments to the above-mentioned "asking price and commitment" according to the affordability of its own maritime industry and the changes of foreign governments' asking price and commitment. In order to adapt to the impact of the entry into force of GATS Convention on China's shipping market, it is necessary to adjust the current shipping policy and further open it on the basis of GATS framework.
1. Improve international maritime laws and regulations and strengthen law enforcement.
As we all know, the market economy is a legal economy, and an open market economy must operate under a sound legal system. Similarly, the further opening of China's maritime services under the GATS framework must be based on a sound legal system. Although China has formulated and implemented a series of laws and regulations on international maritime services dominated by maritime law, and participated in many international maritime service treaties, it can be said that an international maritime service legal system combining international law with domestic law has been initially established, but in many aspects, it is incompatible with GATS Rules, and problems such as imperfect legislation and lax enforcement are still outstanding.
As far as domestic legislation is concerned, although many laws and regulations with Maritime Law as the core have made detailed provisions on shipping, maritime affairs and maritime business, the legal provisions on shipping, shipping auxiliary services, access and utilization of port facilities in China are still not perfect, which are either low-level legislation or abstract and vague provisions, lacking operability. Provisions on the extremely important aspects of international shipping services, such as liner shipping, shipping agency and loan agency, still remain at the level of departmental regulations. Therefore, China should consider enacting Merchant Shipping Law, Freight Forwarding Law and Shipping Agency Law as soon as possible. In addition, we must also pay attention to the major conflicts in the same aspect of legislation. For example, in the Regulations on the Administration of International Shipping Agency promulgated by the Ministry of Communications in 1990, it is stipulated that the shipping agency business is only allowed to be operated by China state-owned shipping agency companies. In 1992, the State Council pointed out in the relevant documents of international shipping management reform that if the shipping agency market is liberalized, qualified foreign institutions in China can engage in shipping agency business, which involves how to coordinate with the previous laws. In addition, many of them are equally binding as laws and regulations.