Hainan Free Trade Port refers to the designation of the entire island of, China, as a special economic development area and free-trade zone. It is the largest special economic zone in the (PRC). It is regarded as a special area for China to comprehensively deepen economic reform and experiment with the highest level of opening-up policies.
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On 10 June 2021, the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the Hainan Free Trade Port Law of the People's Republic of China, which determined to establish and improve the Hainan Free Trade Port customs supervision special zone system with closed-off customs operations on the entire island.
Is Hainan a free trade zone?
China already has 22 free trade zones (FTZs), but Hainan represents a fundamentally different level of openness. Most FTZs are limited to specific urban areas and focus on upgrading local industries. Hainan has transformed an entire island into a unified free trade port, with its own customs, tax and regulatory system.
On 5 January 2024, the inspection area for railway freight trains at Huairou South railway station —the first railway customs clearance project of the Hainan Free Trade Port, built by the China Railway 25th Bureau Group—was completed.
The "Notice on Preferential Corporate Income Tax Policies for Hainan Free Trade Port" proposed that enterprises in encouraged industries registered and operated in Hainan Free Trade Port shall be subject to a reduced corporate income tax rate of 15%.