In September 2022, eight government departments in Guangzhou jointly promulgated the “Guidelines for Guangzhou Cross-border E-commerce Compliance (for Trial Implementation)” (hereinafter “the Guidelines”, 广州市跨境电商行业合规指引（试行）).
This is the first Guidelines jointly issued by multiple government departments in China on cross-border e-commerce compliance. In China, two cities with the most cross-border e-commerce business operators are Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong Province.
The Guidelines classifies market players in the cross-border e-commerce sector into five categories, namely the cross-border e-commerce platforms, cross-border e-commerce enterprises, logistics enterprises, payment enterprises and other cross-border e-commerce business operators.
It provides targeted guidance to different market players from both positive and negative perspectives.
The Guidelines requires cross-border e-commerce business operators to establish an effective compliance management system to prevent compliance risks, and to establish and improve compliance management process through the identification, analysis and evaluation of compliance risks. Only then can they response to and control risks effectively.
Cover Photo by Bide Cui on Unsplash