Located in central East Lake High-tech Development Zone, Wuhan East Lake Free Trade Zone is a special customs supervision area functioning as a bonded logistics area and an export processing zone. It has a planned area of five square kilometers, 1.82 square kilometers of which went into operation in 2013. 

[Photo/wehdz.gov.cn]

Proposed by the State Council, the free trade zone will build nine key platforms for bonded processing and manufacturing, international biomedicine, cross-border business services, bulk commodity trading, bonded stock exhibition, comprehensive services in foreign trade, international examination and maintenance, cross-border financial services and researches and design of bonded zones, respectively.

The zone will strengthen its role as a domestic and international hub of openness, innovation and ecology.

People can enjoy a series of services, including duty-free imports of equipment, bonded goods, tax rebates, and VAT and consumption tax-free transactions done within the territory. 

It is free from the import and export quota license system, the bonded warehousing storage period, the bank deposit account system for processing enterprises, and foreign exchange offset procedures for imports and exports so taxes and transactions can be settled in a foreign currency or RMB.

With the expansion of industries and foreign trade, the Wuhan East Lake Free Trade Zone continues its rapid development. From January to October 2024, the zone's total imports and exports surpassed 60 billion yuan ($8.35 billion), a growth rate of 114 percent year-on-year. It is the only one among the top 34 comprehensive bonded zones in the country to achieve triple-digit growth.

Since 2024, the free trade zone has focused on attracting investment, organizing various investment promotion activities centered around optical communication, foreign trade supply chains, lasers, and cross-border e-commerce. Throughout the year, 17 projects worth over 100 million yuan each were completed, with new investments exceeding 30 billion yuan.

In the future, the free trade zone will accelerate its transformation and development, striving to facilitate the flow of people, goods, and capital between OVC, Wuhan, and the world, thereby moving OVC closer to its goal of becoming a "World Optics Valley".

The Wuhan East Lake Free Trade Zone is:

the first comprehensive bonded zone in the National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone;

the first comprehensive bonded zone in Central China to carry out bonded exhibitions and trade;

first pilot reform and innovative comprehensive free trade zone in Hubei Province;

first comprehensive bonded zone included in provincial legislative protection;

first comprehensive bonded area in Hubei to realize tax rebates for water and electricity;

first comprehensive free trade zone in Hubei to provide comprehensive foreign trade services;

Hubei's first comprehensive bonded zone to launch cross-border e-commerce public service platforms;

first comprehensive bonded zone in the Wuhan Customs area to achieve seven days a week, 24-hour customs clearances of goods.