To thoroughly implement the relevant decisions and arrangements made by the central and provincial governments regarding the promotion of high-quality development in cross-border e-commerce, to further advance the construction of the China (Nantong) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone (hereinafter referred to as the “Pilot Zone”), to enhance the level of cross-border e-commerce development in Nantong, and to foster new momentum for foreign trade development,In accordance with the spirit of the “Notice of the General Office of the Provincial Government on Forwarding the Action Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Cross-Border E-Commerce in Jiangsu Province (2023–2025) Issued by the Provincial Department of Commerce and Other Departments” (Su Zheng Ban Fa [2023] No. 39), and in light of the actual conditions of our city, this plan is hereby formulated.
I. General Requirements
Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, earnestly carry out the important speeches and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding Jiangsu’s work, adhere to the new development philosophy, seize opportunities in the digital economy, leverage Nantong’s industrial and resource endowments, innovatively build the Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, promote the high-quality development of cross-border e-commerce, foster new momentum for foreign trade development, and provide strong support for Nantong to achieve high-level opening-up.
II. Development Goals
We aim to achieve significant breakthroughs in the city’s cross-border e-commerce sector—including transaction volume, ecosystem development, benchmark establishment, and talent support—within three years, with cross-border e-commerce import and export volumes maintaining an average annual growth rate of over 30%.By the end of 2026, the annual import and export value of cross-border e-commerce will exceed 10 billion yuan. The city will establish 8 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks (clusters), cultivate 10 specialized cross-border e-commerce industrial belts, and foster 2,000 cross-border e-commerce enterprises—including 10 industry-leading enterprises with annual revenues exceeding 100 million yuan. Additionally, the city will prioritize the development of 15 public overseas warehouses and 10 cross-border e-commerce brands with significant international influence.Comprehensively optimize and upgrade all elements of Nantong’s cross-border e-commerce industry belt, including development, comprehensive services, and innovation-driven initiatives, to establish the most optimal cross-border e-commerce industrial ecosystem serving the Yangtze River Delta region.
III. Main Tasks
(1) Implement the Market Entity Cultivation Project
1. Intensify the recruitment and cultivation of cross-border e-commerce enterprises. Incorporate the recruitment of cross-border e-commerce enterprises into the city’s overall investment promotion efforts, establish a database of key target enterprises, and organize specialized investment promotion events for the sector.Strive to attract internationally influential cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, TikTok, and Temu to establish operations and set up offices in Nantong, and attract more cross-border e-commerce sellers and various service providers to settle in Nantong. Intensify efforts to incubate and nurture small, medium, and micro enterprises; by the end of 2026, cultivate 2,000 cross-border e-commerce enterprises. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce; People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts); Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
2. Establish Cross-Border E-Commerce Benchmarks. Support enterprises with the capability to integrate industrial and supply chain services in building vertical cross-border e-commerce platforms to empower the digital transformation of industries.Support foreign trade enterprises and cross-border e-commerce sellers already engaged in cross-border e-commerce to expand and strengthen their operations, creating a demonstrative and leading effect. Provide policy support to enterprises with significant development achievements and strong driving effects, and encourage eligible cross-border e-commerce enterprises to apply for National High-Tech Enterprise status. By the end of 2026, cultivate 10 industry-leading cross-border e-commerce enterprises with annual revenue exceeding 100 million yuan. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), and Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
3. Guide the Transformation of Traditional Foreign Trade Enterprises. Guide traditional foreign trade enterprises to utilize cross-border e-commerce to expand into international markets and encourage manufacturing enterprises to engage in cross-border e-commerce operations. Encourage eligible enterprises to establish their own independent cross-border e-commerce websites, innovate foreign trade marketing models, and provide support for website development costs.Prioritize recommending cross-border e-commerce enterprises with significant achievements to apply for designation as national or provincial-level e-commerce demonstration enterprises and digital commerce enterprises. By the end of 2026, cultivate 30 enterprise-owned websites with notable sales performance. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), and Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
4. Improve the cross-border e-commerce service ecosystem. Strengthen the comprehensive online service platform for cross-border e-commerce, enhance functions such as data statistics, information inquiry, and institutional coordination, and focus on building an online shared platform for the Nantong cross-border e-commerce ecosystem. Encourage institutions involved in payment settlement, logistics and customs clearance, e-commerce operations, marketing and promotion, compliance, and talent training to establish operations in Nantong, further integrate cross-border e-commerce service resources, and promote the localization of the service chain.Provide relevant policy support for industrial cluster activities, summits and forums, investment promotion events, innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and incubation and training programs that have a significant impact on enhancing the city’s cross-border e-commerce development. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks, Nantong E-Port Co., Ltd.]
(2) Implement the Platform Construction Project
5. Enhance the Aggregation Level of Industrial Parks. Further refine the tiered cultivation mechanism for provincial-level cross-border e-commerce industrial parks and municipal-level cross-border e-commerce clusters, and support the Nantong Foreign Trade Center in establishing a model cross-border e-commerce cluster. Increase investment in land, capital, talent, and other resource elements, and provide policy support to industrial parks and clusters with complete supporting facilities, significant aggregation effects, and strong示范 and leading roles.Promote the integration and coordination of industrial parks with resources such as express logistics, industrial clusters, and overseas warehouses to amplify synergistic effects and improve operational quality. By the end of 2026, establish 8 cross-border e-commerce industrial parks and attract 800 cross-border e-commerce enterprises. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
6. Accelerate the construction of public overseas warehouses. Adhering to the principle of government guidance and market-driven development, public overseas warehouses will be established in key trade hub countries and regions to build a one-stop overseas terminal service system covering product display, last-mile delivery, returns, and after-sales services. Overseas Chinese businesspeople will be encouraged to participate in overseas warehouse construction, and policy support will be provided to those upgraded to provincial-level public overseas warehouses.Encourage cross-border e-commerce enterprises to utilize overseas warehouses to expand into overseas markets, and improve policy support for enterprise warehouse usage. By the end of 2026, prioritize the development of 15 public overseas warehouses. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), and Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
7. Create flagship cross-border e-commerce exhibitions. Support the successful hosting of the Nantong Cross-Border E-Commerce Product Selection Expo, further improve the quality of the event, and enhance its effectiveness, cultivating it into a nationally renowned and provincially leading professional cross-border e-commerce exhibition. Provide subsidies for venue rental and booth fees for participating enterprises.Strengthen exchanges with international economic and trade organizations, overseas business associations, and other industry bodies. Support cross-border e-commerce enterprises in actively participating in domestic and international exhibitions and specialized cross-border e-commerce events, and integrate online and offline channels to expand into international markets. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), and Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
(3) Implement the Business Model Integration Project
8. Develop Cross-Border E-Commerce Industrial Clusters. Leverage Nantong’s industrial strengths to create distinctive “one zone, one product” industrial clusters. Strengthen coordination with key cross-border e-commerce platforms and service providers to establish cooperative platforms that facilitate the “going global” of these industrial clusters. Support the construction of Nantong’s cross-border e-commerce product selection centers, improve product display and transaction matching functions, and collaborate with cross-border e-commerce platforms to establish “online dedicated zones” for industrial clusters, thereby driving the export of more distinctive and competitive products.Support the development of overseas product selection centers, optimize one-stop services including on-site display, trade clearance, logistics, and local warehousing and distribution, and help Nantong’s source factories efficiently reach overseas buyers. By the end of 2026, cultivate 10 distinctive cross-border e-commerce industrial belts and focus on fostering 10 cross-border e-commerce brands with significant international influence. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts), and Management Committees of all directly affiliated industrial parks]
9. Deepen the synergistic development model of “Cross-border E-commerce + Market Procurement.” Leveraging Nantong’s specialized industrial clusters, encourage small, medium, and micro export enterprises across the city to conduct invoice-free export operations through the market procurement trade model, and provide them with one-stop tax-free export services including customs declaration and clearance, foreign exchange receipt and settlement, tax-exemption declaration, and trade financing. Actively explore the integration of market procurement trade pilot policies with those of the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone to assist more small, medium, and micro cross-border e-commerce enterprises in exporting compliantly and efficiently.(Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce; People’s Governments of Haimen District and Tongzhou District; Management Committee of Jiangsu Nantong International Home Textile Industrial Park)
10. Promote the upgrading of cross-border e-commerce import consumption. Focusing on the role of consumption as a driver, we will leverage key commercial districts and open ports to aggregate enterprises in the consumer goods import supply chain and create diverse, internationalized consumption scenarios. We will support the integration of Nantong’s “Four Major Commercial Districts” and “Two Major Clusters” with key areas such as the Nantong Xingdong International Airport Airport Industrial Park, the Nantong Comprehensive Bonded Zone, and the Rugao and Hai’an Bonded Logistics Centers (Type B).(Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Nantong Customs; People’s Governments of Chongchuan District, Tongzhou District, Rugao City, and Hai’an City; Nantong Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee)
(IV) Implement the Trade Facilitation Enhancement Project
11. Optimize customs clearance measures. Explore regulatory innovations for cross-border e-commerce export forward warehouses, and study ways to improve functions such as consolidation, sorting, and inspection of export goods in these warehouses. Further leverage the role of the cross-border e-commerce retail import return center warehouse in the Nantong Comprehensive Bonded Zone.Effectively implement relevant tax policies for cross-border e-commerce retail exports and optimize the tax refund process for cross-border e-commerce exports from overseas warehouses. Implement more convenient methods for the assessed collection of corporate income tax for retail export enterprises in the Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, and trial the assessed collection of corporate income tax for enterprises meeting the specified conditions. Actively apply for designation as an International Mail Exchange Office and an International Express Mail Supervision Center, and improve the international logistics service system. (Responsible Units: Nantong Customs, Municipal Taxation Bureau, Municipal Postal Administration)
12. Innovate foreign exchange management services. Enhance the ability of cross-border e-commerce enterprises to manage exchange rate risks, and support such enterprises in offsetting overseas storage, logistics, and tax expenses incurred for exported goods against export proceeds. Support qualified non-bank payment institutions and banks in providing efficient current account foreign exchange conversion and related fund collection and payment services to cross-border e-commerce market entities based on electronic transaction information.Support domestic international courier companies, logistics enterprises, and cross-border e-commerce platform operators in advancing payments for overseas warehousing, logistics, and tax expenses related to cross-border e-commerce, and further promote the facilitation of cross-border trade settlement. (Responsible entity: People’s Bank of China Nantong Branch)
13. Strengthen financial and insurance services. Enhance cooperation among government, banks, and enterprises. Encourage financial institutions, under the premise of controllable risks, to utilize information on e-commerce supply chain logistics and capital flows to develop innovative financial products tailored to cross-border e-commerce enterprises, thereby alleviating their financing difficulties. Support the introduction of new insurance products for cross-border e-commerce exports and expand the coverage of policy-based export credit insurance for cross-border e-commerce operations to help enterprises mitigate export risks. (Responsible Units: People’s Bank of China Nantong Branch, Sinosure Nantong Business Department)
(V) Implement the Development Environment Optimization Project
14. Strengthen the development of the cross-border e-commerce talent pool. Improve the four-party talent cultivation system involving the government, universities, enterprises, and associations; deepen the integration of industry and education as well as school-enterprise cooperation; launch preparatory training courses on cross-border e-commerce in schools; and support the organization of cross-border e-commerce talent competitions and job fairs to cultivate a group of hands-on professionals for enterprises.Increase efforts to attract outstanding talent and provide special subsidies to eligible high-level professionals. Municipal and county-level governments will accelerate the development of the cross-border e-commerce cadre team, allocate funds to organize specialized training and study tours, and systematically enhance the capacity of government officials to promote the development of new foreign trade models. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce; People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts); Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
15. Leverage the role of industry organizations. Support the development of industry organizations such as the E-commerce Special Committee of the Nantong International Chamber of Commerce and the Nantong Cross-border E-commerce Chamber of Commerce, enabling them to serve as bridges between the government and enterprises and to actively participate in and host various activities such as training sessions, forums, and seminars. Actively collaborate with industry associations in regions with developed cross-border e-commerce sectors, such as Shenzhen and Hangzhou, as well as Nantong’s overseas chambers of commerce, to regularly organize cross-regional resource matching activities. (Responsible Unit: Municipal Bureau of Commerce)
16. Enhance Compliance Capabilities. Strengthen supervision of product quality and safety, urge cross-border e-commerce enterprises to fulfill their primary responsibilities, and organize spot checks on imported product quality. Strengthen intellectual property and brand protection in the cross-border e-commerce sector, and enhance enterprises’ capabilities in integrity building and trade risk early warning. (Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Municipal Market Regulation Bureau)
IV. Organizational Guarantees
(1) Strengthen Organizational Leadership. Further leverage the role of the Municipal Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone Leading Group, improve the coordinated working mechanism between the municipal and county levels, strengthen policy guidance and interdepartmental coordination, promptly address difficulties and issues arising in the development of new business models such as cross-border e-commerce, and continuously refine, adjust, and improve relevant policies to generate replicable and scalable best practices.[Responsible Units: Member units of the Municipal Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone Leading Group; People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts); Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
(2) Reinforce Primary Responsibility. Establish and improve the assessment and evaluation mechanism for the Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, emphasizing benchmarking to identify gaps and strengthening exploration and innovation. Promptly develop a set of best practices and exemplary models in areas such as business scale, overseas warehouse construction, and entity cultivation. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce; People’s Governments of all counties (cities, districts); Management Committees of all municipal-level industrial parks]
(3) Increase Policy Support. Optimize support policies for special funds, strengthen performance evaluation of support funds, and enhance the precision and effectiveness of financial support. Encourage localities to introduce supporting policies tailored to local conditions to enhance policy synergy. Regularly organize policy promotion and guidance activities to expand the coverage of various business-friendly policies. [Responsible Units: Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Municipal Bureau of Finance]
