An increase of 77 pilot measures for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ), are on the cards after the State Council issued a notice to expand in July 2025. The initiative aims to advance high-standard institutional opening-up and alignment with international economic and trade rules. Of these, 34 measures will be extended to other FTZs, and 43 to the national level.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the measures focus on seven areas: trade in services, goods trade, digital trade, intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, government procurement reform, post-border regulatory frameworks and risk management. The rollout includes mechanisms such as digital RMB pilot application scenarios, optimizing the management policy of centralized cross-border fund operations for multinational companies, negative lists for outbound data, and the broader use of electronic trade documents.

The 43 nationwide measures include reforms related to cross-border electronic payments, commercial encryption certification, data security certification systems, the opening up of government data, and digital upgrades to procurement platforms. A total of 36 measures concern areas beyond trade and investment, covering IPR enforcement, labor protection, state-owned enterprise reform and environmental regulation.

Shanghai FTZ has served as a platform for testing regulatory reforms since the measures establishment. From January to May 2025, it recorded a total import and export value of over 900 billion RMB, accounting for more than 26 percent of all Chinese FTZs. Customs authorities also implemented joint mechanisms to streamline procedures. For example, they will endeavor to simplify in-country quarantine measures for fruits that already receive quarantine treatment overseas, reducing clearance time and facilitating market access. In the shipping sector, reforms allow for integrated bonded fuel warehousing, reducing costs for international bunkering operations.

In digital governance, Shanghai has opened over 300 public datasets in sectors such as healthcare and transportation. The city established standards for secure data circulation and usage. In 2024, digital trade in Shanghai reached 109.5 billion USD, 30.1 percent of the national total.

In the financial sector, the Shanghai FTZ is applying the digital RMB in offshore trade scenarios. Certain enterprises have been authorized to open digital RMB wallets and conducted cross-border settlements through mechanisms such as multilateral central bank digital currency bridges and digital RMB bilateral cross-border cooperation.

Going forward, China will closely track the trend of the evolution of international high-standard economic and trade rules, further take the initiative to expand the scope of pilot docking, and pilot a number of institutional innovations that are conducive to the development of new industries and modes around the promotion of trade in services, green trade and digital trade. At the same time, it will focus on system innovation in frontier areas such as AI and science and technology finance to create an ecological model for high-quality development.