Chongqing- Chongqing will carry out a pilot import of biomedical research and development (R&D) supplies throughout the region within two years from the announcement of the recently released program.

As the only comprehensive pilot to further open up the service industry in central and western China, Chongqing opened up in 9 fields, including sci-tech and medical care, in recent years. The city has adhered to the industrial demand-oriented and problem-oriented, constantly reformed the supervision mode, and focused on building an inland pilot zone to develop the modern service industry.

The pilot program establishes a "pilot list" system for importing R&D supplies for biomedical enterprises and publishes the eligible pilot enterprises, including R&D institutions, and imported R&D supplies through the list. The list will be dynamically adjusted every six months.

This pilot focuses on the innovation and practice of multi-departmental collaborative innovation supervision and service modes, improving the level of facilitation of import, and realizing the import of supplies under the "pilot list" without applying for the notice of customs clearance for imported drugs.

Import Facilitation

According to the person in charge of YaoPharma Co., Ltd., it is necessary to import various items to meet the needs of drug R&D during the clinical trial process of biomedical R&D and have in-depth cooperation with large global multinational pharmaceutical enterprises.

He continued that the released pilot program has facilitated import, shortened the delivery period of imported R&D supplies, and enabled the advancement of R&D projects, which gave enterprises more confidence in the global R&D layout.

Biomedicine remains a growth point for Chongqing's import and export, and supporting its R&D and innovation accelerates the pharmaceutical industry.

According to the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Commerce,  in April last year, the State Council, China's cabinet, approved cities, including Chongqing, to launch a comprehensive pilot program to expand and open up the service industry. It's proposed to moderately relax the management of small-dose special chemical preparations used for pharmaceutical R&D. 

The pilot program not only promotes the implementation of comprehensive pilot projects for the expansion and opening-up of the service industry but also attracts investment and expands the scale of the biopharmaceutical industry in Chongqing. Additionally, Chongqing Customs will also optimize regulatory measures and speed up the import customs clearance of R&D supplies.

Further opening-up of the service industry

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the comprehensive pilot program for expanding the opening-up of the service industry aims to accelerate the growth of the modern service sector and create new advantages in international cooperation and competition.

An official said the local government would be urged to serve major national strategies and carry out differentiated explorations under the premise of secured risk control to create replicable practices in developing a modern industrial system and a higher-level open economy.

He added that China aims to open its service sector in a well-regulated manner, launch more comprehensive trials related to its opening-up, and formulate a negative list for cross-border trade in services.

(Zhu Qinzhou, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)