China’s cross-border e-tailers scramble to implement new trade rules
Cross-border e-commerce traders say they were left with too little time to act after government list banned some items from sale overnight
Mainland cross-border e-commerce platforms and customs authorities are scrambling to update their systems to cope with what traders say are rushed new restrictions on the goods they sell.
A list announced by the government on Thursday evening designated more than 1,100 items that e-tailers could import from foreign markets.
The list was part of an effort to standardise China’s ballooning cross-border e-commerce sector, often criticised by conventional traders as loosely regulated.
Though most goods sold by the platforms were included on the list, industry insiders say that as the list came into force the next day they were given too little time to get rid of those items that were newly banned.
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Alongside the list, the government introduced a new tax regime imposing duties equivalent to 70 per cent of those on traditional imports.
“There was nothing wrong about the policy itself, but the timing was bad,” said Lin Zhiyong, an Yiwu businessman who has been trading for 20 years, most recently in cross-border e-commerce.