What does Shanghai Free Trade Zone mean?

There are two types of free trade zones. One is a generalized free trade zone, that is, two or more countries or regions sign a free trade agreement (FT-Agreement), further open their markets to each other on the basis of the most-favored-nation treatment of the WTO, remove tariff and non-tariff barriers for most goods in stages, improve market access conditions for service industries, and realize trade and investment liberalization, thus forming a "big FT-Area" that promotes the free flow of production factors such as goods, services, capital, technology and personnel.

The China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Area actively promoted by China in recent years is a generalized free trade area.

The other is a free trade zone in a narrow sense. The International Customs Council defined it in the Kyoto Convention signed in 1973: "It refers to a part of a country's territory, and any goods imported in this part of the territory are considered to be outside the customs territory in terms of import duties and other taxes, and are exempted from the usual customs supervision system."

Shanghai Free Trade Zone is a free trade zone in a narrow sense.