Recently, Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau released the Implementation Plan of Beijing Municipality for Further Opening up Service Sector and Facilitating Foreign Investment (hereinafter referred to as the Plan), which outlines that Beijing will intensify efforts to facilitate foreign investment and better meet the needs of foreign investors, aiming to make the city take the lead in China to open up sectors such as data, healthcare, and human resources, and facilitate fund flow of foreign-funded enterprises. The Plan also aims to make the residence of foreign employees easier, thereby improving their work and living conditions.

According to the Plan, Beijing will establish green channels for qualified foreign-invested companies to enable cross-border data flow. Starting from pharmaceutical companies, Beijing will also expedite the outbound transfer of data by foreign-funded pharmaceutical and healthcare companies in compliance of the relevant regulations, pioneering the establishment of green channels for the aforementioned companies to apply for outbound data transfer.

To make the medical and healthcare sectors more open, Beijing will support qualified foreign doctors, and doctors from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and the Taiwan region to set up clinics in Beijing. Qualified medical institutions are supported to conduct clinical trials, including experiments involving stem cells, while international cooperation on research and developments of stem cells and genes is also encouraged. Additionally, the management services of human genetic resources provided by Hong Kong and Macao companies located in Beijing will be facilitated. Following the relevant national strategic plans, several qualified foreign-invested enterprises in the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone will be selected to carry out piloting programs for the further opening-up in fields such as the development and application of gene diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The Plan also encourages the cooperation in the field of human resources. With the release of the Catalogue of Overseas Professional Qualifications Recognized by Beijing (Version 4.0), Beijing aims to promote mutual recognition and sharing among the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Stay and residence policies for foreign employees will be optimized. Specifically, senior executives of foreign-funded companies intending to set up branches or subsidiaries in Beijing will be issued visas or residence permits valid for up to two years, with their accompanying spouses and family members eligible for the same duration of stay. Beijing will also actively promote the use of the Foreign Permanent Resident ID Cards in terms of public transportation, financial services, medical insurance, internet payments, etc.

(Sources: Beijing Daily, The Beijing News)