As stipulated by Chinese law, delivery services for letters and articles with characteristics of mails shall be performed by domestic post offices, an official of State Postal Bureau Thursday reiterated, foreign-involved services are excluded.
The official said that it is specifically defined in article 8 of Postal Law of the People's Republic of China which took effect in January 1, 1987 that mail delivery business shall be exclusively domestically run.
It is regulated in the No.122 Notice published by the former China Post & Telecommunication Department in 1996 that: mails include letters and postcards. Letters refer to those carriers which transit information by using sealed envelopes such as letters, documents, bills and invoices, certificates, notices and securities. Postcards refer to transit information by using naked cards. Articles with characteristics of mails include books, newspapers, magazines and printed matter, audiovisual products and PC information media with correspondence contents shall be marked out as "Internal".
The official also indicated that operations and management of postal business are listed as items excluding foreign involvement by "Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries" which was approved by the State Council in 1997. As sources say, there also have been no items concerning the opening of postal market in China's WTO entry talks so far.
China EMS has established business connection with over 200 countries and regions across the world and has opened business in more than 2,000 cities in China.
(People’s Daily April 23, 2001)
