The policy will take effect next month in some pilot ports on the eastern and southern coast, Wang Xinpei, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, told a press briefing yesterday.

The regulation was jointly published by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs.

Small-scale trade, initiated in 1993, is the only type in the form of direct shipping between the two sides across the Taiwan Straits. It is supplementary to trade exchanges and plays an active role in communications between the two sides.

Small-scale trade constitutes a tiny part of cross-Straits trade, though no official figures are available.

Under the new policy, restrictions will be lifted on the tonnage of ships from Taiwan - now set at 100 tons - and the value of a single deal - now less than $100,000, Wang said.

The first batch of pilot ports includes:

Shenjiamen in Zhoushan and Shipu in Ningbo, both in Zhejiang Province;

Mawei in Fuzhou and Shijinggang in Quanzhou, both in Fujian Province; and

Huizhou in Guangdong Province.

Wang said the commercial departments in Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces and some designated cities will be allowed to approve the business scope of mainland companies that conduct small-scale trade with Taiwan.

Previously, these businesses could get approval only from commercial departments authorized by the Ministry of Commerce.

Trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan stood at $66.17 billion in the first seven months of this year, up 12.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Ministry of Commerce statistics.

 中央计划放宽中国本土和台湾小规模贸易的限制，加强台湾海峡经济贸易。
      商务部发言人王新培在昨天的新闻发布会上说，这一政策将于下个月在东部和南部一些地区试点。
      商务部和海关总署将联合颁布法规。
      小额贸易自1993年发起，是台湾海峡两岸直接航运的唯一形式，是两岸贸易交流的补充，在两岸的沟通方面起了扮演了积极的角色。尽管没有官方提供的数字，小额贸易是海峡两岸贸易的组成的一小部分.
      王说，根据新政策，取消原有的台湾轮船吨位限制，现设定为100吨，一次买卖价值不超过于10万美圆。
      第一批试点包括：
      浙江省舟山神家门和宁波石铺
      福建省福州马尾和泉州石经港；广东惠州
      王说，福建，浙江，广东省的商业部门和一些指定城市将允许批准中国公司与台湾进行小额贸易。
      以前，这些交易只能通过商业部授权下属商业部门才能获得批准。
      据商业部数据统计，今年前7个月，中国公司与台湾贸易达到661.7亿美圆，比去年上涨了12.6%.