A new policy blueprint aimed at boosting consumption scale and quality has been jointly issued by seven central government bodies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Released on August 31st via the Ministry of Commerce's official website, the document titled "Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Expansion and Upgrading of Commodity Consumption" outlines a clear direction for the coming years. The core objective is to accelerate the application of standards for a range of advanced technology products, specifically naming intelligent connected vehicles, smart home appliances, digital devices, and artificial intelligence (AI) terminals.

At the same time, the plan details ambitious national targets for the next five-year period, referred to as the "15th Five-Year Plan" phase. The overarching goal is to achieve a steady expansion in the scale of commodity consumption alongside a structural upgrade. By the year 2030, the total retail sales of consumer goods are projected to reach an impressive 60 trillion yuan. Furthermore, the policy aims to cultivate several ten-trillion-yuan markets focused on green consumption, intelligent consumption, and health-oriented spending. In addition, it targets sustained growth across major trillion-yuan categories, including automobiles, home appliances, communication equipment, and textiles and apparel, ensuring China maintains its global leadership in these market segments.

Concerning spending on major durable goods, the policy emphasizes a deep push to reform automobile circulation and consumption practices. This includes actively removing unreasonable restrictions currently hampering these areas and innovating vehicle usage management models to expand car consumption across the entire value chain. The document also calls for optimizing vehicle purchase restriction measures in relevant regions to better satisfy residents' demands for car ownership. Beyond the initial purchase, there is a focus on cultivating and strengthening the automotive aftermarket. This includes supporting areas such as vehicle modification, maintenance and repair, motorsport events, and recreational vehicle (RV) camping, alongside the establishment of a system for the recognition and management of classic heritage vehicles.

When it comes to everyday consumer goods, the policy promotes the consumption of high-quality cultural products that are green, intelligent, and feature versatile designs or national trend (guochao) creativity. It also encourages expanding and optimizing sports consumption scenarios to unlock the potential for products related to competitive sports, outdoor activities, and fitness and leisure. Additionally, the plan seeks to expand consumption of 3D printing-related products and boost the market for peripheral merchandise. This involves improving the development mechanism for intellectual property (IP)-based derivatives, enhancing the transformation of cultural creativity, and launching a series of themed products and travel routes. A key component involves continuous improvement of the IP consumption environment, with a specific emphasis on strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights, particularly concerning exterior designs and trademarks.

For specialty goods, the policy places a significant emphasis on research and development of key technologies and core components. It calls for broadening the application of advanced technologies, such as brain-computer fusion and AI, within sectors like age-friendly products and rehabilitation assistive devices. Efforts will be made to increase the promotion of high-quality items listed in the "Catalogue for Promoting Geriatric Products." Furthermore, the policy aims to facilitate the entry of products like exoskeleton robots, electric wheelchairs, and smart mattresses, as well as equipment for health monitoring, incontinence care, patient transfer, and assisted bathing, into the homes of elderly individuals. It also encourages enterprises to precisely cater to the developmental needs of infants and children across different age groups. This includes researching and manufacturing green, intelligent, and safe baby and child supplies, ranging from healthy nutritional food and multifunctional outdoor gear to educational toys and smart monitoring devices.

In the realm of upgraded consumer goods, the policy actively promotes green and low-carbon products such as new energy vehicles, energy-saving home appliances, water-saving fixtures, green building materials, and eco-friendly food products. It also aims to expedite the cultivation of green circulation entities, including green shopping malls and green hotels. Building a green supply chain and improving the certification and labeling system for green products are also key actions. The plan further proposes establishing a national pilot base for AI applications within the consumer sector. This includes improving the R&D mechanism for AI products to launch a series of internationally leading smart consumer goods with high market potential. Specifically, it aims to accelerate the promotion and application of AI-enabled phones and computers, smart wearable devices, intelligent robots, and smart home products. To support this, the construction of "AI + Consumption" clusters, collection stores, and AI application experience centers will be developed as part of the consumer infrastructure.

Finally, the policy underscores the urgent need to expedite the implementation of standards for intelligent connected vehicles, smart home systems, digital products, and AI terminals. This involves accelerating the development of unified standards for smart home interoperability and refining national standards for basic communication protocols and data interfaces of smart terminals. A fast-response mechanism will be established to shorten the revision cycle of key standards, and advance preparations will be made for setting standards on trendy toys and derivatives. To stimulate demand, the policy encourages financial institutions to increase credit and financial support for consumption in areas like automobiles, home appliances, digital products, and smart homes. This will occur under the principles of legal compliance and effective risk control, with the development of a diverse range of financial products to facilitate these purchases.