Out-Law News 1 min. read

China raises limit for overseas online shopping transactions


China has raised its overseas online transaction limit from $10,000 to $50,000 to boost e-commerce, the state-run Xinhua News Agency has reported.

According to Xinhua, China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) said the initiative is part of a pilot programme “to allow cross-border foreign exchange payment services to facilitate overseas e-commerce transactions”.

Safe said payment companies will be allowed to open more foreign exchange accounts, but they must first be registered and transaction details retained for five years “so Safe can perform regular checks”.

The trade volume in China's cross-border e-commerce pilot cities exceeded three billion renminbi (CNY) ($489 million) by the end of 2014, according to the figures from the General Administration of Customs reported by Xinhua.

Xinhua said the Ministry of Commerce has projected that the country’s trade volume will grow to CNY 6.5 trillion ($1tn) in 2016, with an average annual growth of more than 30%.

According to a report published in January 2014 by professional services firm KPMG (6-page / 512 KB PDF), “the speed at which the Chinese e-commerce industry has grown, and the way in which it is affecting businesses and consumers, has come as a surprise to many”.

“In 2000, China had yet to develop any e-commerce applications, and had only 2.1m total internet users,” KPMG said. Payment systems and physical delivery mechanisms to facilitate the development of e-commerce transactions were well-developed in other markets, but were simply lacking in China. Fast forward to the end of 2013, with Chinese internet users quickly approaching 600m and e-commerce revenue growth (from 2009-2012) topping 70% compounded annually, China is on pace to pass the US and become the largest e-commerce market in the world.”

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