Research On The Legal System Of China's Free Trade Port Area

June 22, 2005, when the State Council officially agreed to establish China's first Free Trade Port Area - Shanghai Yangshan Free Trade Port Area, marks the prelude for China to the establishment of Free Trade Port Areas. Within a few years, it has already established 13 Free Trade Port Areas and the layout has also been gradually clear. At present, a lot of ports are also still applying to become a Free Trade Port Area. So China has entered a period of rapid construction of the Free Trade Port Areas.However, compared to the great growth of China's Free Trade Port Area, its legislative work is seriously lagging behind. So far, China has not yet promulgated a special law in the central level. The reason is not difficult to find and man can be sure that the lack of research on the legal system of China's Free Trade Port Area has been a key factor, which resulted to the situation of China's"establishing before legislating". In fact, the lack of laws and regulations, in particular in a higher level, has already brought a lot of obstacles to the healthy and orderly development of our Free Trade Port Areas.Above is the very purpose of this paper. The whole paper is about 3.6000 words and contains three parts except the preface.The first part is an overview of the Free Trade Port Area, including the definition of the Free Trade Port Area, its background, functional orientation and basic characteristics. In my opinion, Free Trade Port Area is not only the further continuation of China's"Zone-Port Interaction"policy, but also a vital step for China to open up further, develop regional economics and build international Free Trade Zone, which has learnt from the experience of the establishment of China's Bonded-Area, Bonded Logistics Park, Bonded Logistics Center and international Free Trade Zone. Therefore, in the end of this part, China's Bonded Area and the international Free Trade Zone are compared with Free Trade Port Area in the aspects of their function, policy, regulation, location, etc.The second part is one of the most important parts of this paper. First the current legal system is detailed introduced. Although the legal system of China's Free Trade Port Area is not complete, still it has its system and structure, which includes the "Customs Law of the People's Republic of China ",administrative regulations, departmental rule and regulations, local legislation and the internal normative documents of our Customs. The analysis of the aforementioned laws and regulations focused on the nature, functions, policies and regulatory system of the Free Trade Port Area. Considering the actual operation of China's Free Trade Port Area, the second section of this part deals with the lack of the legal system of China's Free Trade Port Areas and finds out the following three shortcomings: lack of special legislation at the central level, incomplete of the relevant laws and regulations and uncertain of its management. All of these analyses formed a firm base for the further research of part three of this paper.In the third part of this paper, based on the legislative experience of other countries and regions in the building of Free Trade Zones, the author has made some propositions to the improvement of the laws and regulations of China's Free Trade Port Areas: To formulate a central Free Trade Port Area Law by NPC: " Free Trade Port Area Law of the People's Republic of China", which can be followed by the formulating of the"Free Trade Port Area Regulation"in the legislating process; to set up an administrative board as a specialized institute under the State Council; to develop relevant laws and regulations by relevant ministries, local governments and corresponding management committees of the Free Trade Port Areas. Besides, the author has also designed the legislative principles and specific contents of the"Free Trade Port Area Regulation"in this part.I firmly believe that, as long as more and more people begin to research the Free Trade Port Area or to be concerned about it, China's Free Trade Port Area will be able to develop steadily and orderly, thus lead to the realization of the building of an international shipping center and a Free Trade Zone.