Ministry of Commerce is the administration in charge of the foreign trade and economic cooperation under the State Council, with major responsibilities of:

1. Formulating and implementing the specific policies and reform plans on foreign trade, economic cooperation and foreign investment; formulating the draft laws and regulations on foreign economy, trade and investment; formulating and enforcing relevant implementation provisions and administrative regulations; conjunctions in between foreign economic and trade laws and regulations and their conjunctions with international treaties and agreements; guidance of reforms in foreign economic and trade enterprises;

2. Formulating and implementing medium- and long-term planning and development strategies on imports and exports; analyzing the international economic and trade situations, and imports and exports status, and making proposals on macro controls over the general balance and structural adjustments; formulating and executing the imports and exports quotas and bidding policies; researches on and promotions of various new trade means (including e-commerce); compiling, sending-down, organizing the implementation of the imports and exports quota plans, formulating and administrating the imports and exports commodity catalogues, confirming and issuing the quotas and licenses; disposing of anti-dumping, countervailing and issues concerning safeguard measures according to laws, supervising and coordinating reacting to anti-dumping; administrating affairs after trademark registration of exports; supervising exports advertisement and publicity.

3. Formulating and enforcing policies and administrable regulations on foreign technological trade, and encouraging the exports of technology and complete equipments; making and implementing policies on state exports controls, issuing export licenses concerning anti-diffusion issues.

4. Analyzing and researching on the foreign investment in China, report to the State Council on relevant developments; micro guidance on foreign investment work of China; formulating and implementing administrative regulations on the foreign investment, jointly making the development strategies and medium- and long-term planning concerning foreign investments; collecting and promulgating the Catalogue for the Guidance of the Foreign Investment Industries; examining and approving the establishment of foreign investment enterprises exceeding the upper limit, involving restricted investment, or involving quota and license management; examining and approving of the contracts and constitutions of large foreign investment projects and their changes; supervising and examining the foreign investment enterprises on the implementation of relevant laws, regulations, contracts and constitutions; guiding and administrating the investment promotion and the imports and exports of the foreign investment enterprises.

5. Administrating relevant foreign aid; making and implementing policies, regulations, systems and plans concerning foreign aid; signing relevant agreements; compiling yearly aid plans and organizing the implementation; supervising the implementation status of the foreign aid projects; administrating the foreign aid funds, special preferential loans, special funds, etc; pushing foreign aid manner reforms;

6. The state’s foreign economic co-operation; formulating and implementing policies and regulations on foreign economic co-operations, guiding and supervising the management on foreign contracted projects, labor service co-operations and designing consultations;

7. Formulating and implementing national (regional) foreign economic and trade policies; organizing bilateral blended (united) committee meetings, negotiating with foreign governments and signing relevant documents; disposing critical issues in national (regional) economic and trade relations; administrating economic and trade activities with countries without diplomatic relations with China; guiding the work of China’s embassies, consulates and economic and commercial counselor’s offices, and contacting foreign official commercial agencies in China;

8. Formulating and implementing multilateral economic and trade policies; participating on behalf of the Chinese government in activities of international economic and trade organizations; negotiating multilateral economic and trade, international service trade, negotiating and signing international economic and trade treaties and agreements; coordinating the stands and opinions of the relevant departments under the State Council in negotiations; negotiating intellectual property issues; mastering the enforcement status of international economic and trade treaties and agreements in China; managing the gratis aid and grants to China; managing the UN business development systems and economic and technological co-operations between relevant international organizations and China; guiding the work of China’s economic and trade agencies in the UN and relevant international organizations;

9. Formulating and implementing the economic and trade policies, medium- and long-term business planning, administrative regulations towards Hong Kong and Macao SARs and Taiwan; negotiating and signing documents with relevant economic and trade administrations of Hong Kong and Macao SARs and Taiwan-authorized non-governmental organizations;

10. Formulating the qualification standards of foreign business rights for various enterprises and international freight forwarders, undertaking the qualification examination prescribed by laws and regulations; formulating administrative provisions and specific policies for development and investment abroad; examining and approving domestic enterprises of investing in enterprises (excluding financial enterprises) abroad and undertaking supervision and administration on them; administrating the approval of foreign standing commercial agencies and agencies from Hong Kong and Macao SARs and Taiwan; guiding and supervising activities like foreign trade fairs, exhibitions, exhibition fairs, investment promotions within China, promulgating and implementing administrative provisions for the above activities going abroad;

11. Participating in researches and making proposals on macro control policies over foreign economic and trade; undertaking the selection of the foreign trade fund projects of the central government and management of risk funds: supervising and administrating the state-owned assets directly owned by the enterprises and institutes home and abroad; directing and administrating the financial and accounting work concerning foreign economy and trade, undertaking foreign economy and trade statistics and information release, providing information service; undertaking the standardization and informationization of the foreign economy and trade;

12. The team construction, personnel appointment and management for China’s economic and commercial counselor’s offices abroad and agencies in international organizations; guiding the imports and exports chambers of commerce, relevant associations and institutions;

13. Other affairs handed over by the State Council.