(1) To implement national-level policies, laws and regulations concerning domestic and foreign trade and international economic cooperation, draft relevant local laws and regulations, formulate provincial government rules and regulations; to study the developmental trends of economic globalization, foreign economic cooperation and modern distribution patterns and the reform on distribution system, and give proposals.
(2) To guide the development of commercial and trade services as well as community commerce, put forward policy proposals for promoting the development of the SMEs in commerce and trade areas; to promote distribution standardization and such modern distribution modalities as chain store operation, franchising, logistics and e-commerce.
(3) To make plans for the development of trade within the province; to boost the development of urban and rural markets; to study and put forward policies to guide investment into the construction of market-oriented system; to guide the planning of commodity spot market and urban commercial networks, as well as the construction of commercial system; to promote the construction of rural markets and the distribution system of agricultural products, and organize the implementation of the modern distribution networks in rural areas.
(4) To lead the coordination work for rectifying and standardizing market economy order; to formulate policies for standardizing market operation and distribution order; to promote credit building in commerce sectors, give guidance to sales based on business credit, construct public service platforms based on market credibility, and supervise and administer the special distribution industries according to relevant rules.
(5) To organize the adjustment of market of major consumer goods and regulation of the distribution of major means of production; to institute an emergency management mechanism for the market supply of life necessities, monitor and analyze market activities and commodity supply and demand, study and analyze the commodity information to make forecasts, issue early warnings and provide guiding information; to be responsible for important consumer goods reserve management and market regulation in line with its assignments; to supervise and regulate refined oil distribution in accordance with relevant regulations.
(6) To formulate plans for the development of foreign trade in the province, advance the system construction for the development of foreign trade of Liaoning; to implement the national measures for the regulation of import and export commodities and processing trade, as well as the catalogues of import and export commodities and technologies; to draft policies and measures for facilitating the transformation of foreign trade growth pattern; to draft plans for the import and export of the whole province and organize the implementation; to organize the implementation of import and export quota plan of important industrial products, raw materials and important agricultural products; to work with other departments to coordinate the import and export of bulk commodities; to organize and guide the province’s activities of exploring international market and other trade promotion activities; to formulate and organize the implementation of development plans and relevant policies for the foreign trade and export bases of the province.
(7) To carry out national-level policies concerning foreign trade in technology, export control and the policies encouraging the import and export of technology and complete set of equipment; to push forward the establishment of foreign trade standardization system; to supervise technology introduction, equipment import, export of domestic technologies subject to state export restriction.
(8) To lead the efforts to draft development plans for trade in services of the whole province and carry out relevant work; to formulate and enforce the plans and policies for promoting services export and services outsourcing development; to facilitate the construction of services outsourcing platform.
(9) To deal with the relevant issues concerning the economic and trade relations between Liaoning and other countries (regions); to be responsible for the coordination work of foreign economy and trade; to guide the activities of Liaoning's economic trade organizations in foreign countries, contact the Commercial Counsellor's Offices of China's embassies and consulates in foreign countries and foreign countries' commercial representative offices in China; to be responsible for approving the delegations of staff of the province’s commercial sector going abroad for public affairs in line with its authority.
(10) To organize and coordinate the work pertaining to antidumping, countervailing, safeguard measures and other issues related to fair trade for import and export; to institute a fair trade early warning mechanism for import and export, work with other departments to organize trade remedy investigations and industry injury investigations; to guide and coordinate all efforts in responding to industry security inquires and foreign antidumping, countervailing, and safeguard investigations against the goods exported from Liaoning province; to offer assistance in launching anti-monopoly investigations on the concentration of undertakings, guide Liaoning’s companies’ response to monopoly allegations overseas and carry out bilateral and multilateral exchanges and cooperation on competition policies.
(11) To give general guidance to the province’s efforts in foreign investment; to examine and approve, according to relevant regulations, the establishment and changes thereafter of foreign-invested enterprises; to verify, according to relevant laws, the contracts and statutes of provincial-level projects with foreign investment and their major subsequent changes particularly stipulated in relevant legislations; to supervise and inspect, according to relevant laws, the enforcement of laws, regulations, contracts and statutes by foreign-invested enterprises, and guide the approval process of foreign-invested enterprises; to be in charge of approving the establishment of representative offices of foreign non-enterprise economic organizations in Liaoning. To be responsible for conducting macro-management, inspection and supervision over and giving policy guidance to the economic & technological development zones of all levels across the province, and coordinating relevant works .
(12) To be responsible for the foreign economic cooperation efforts of Liaoning province; to formulate and implement policies on foreign economic cooperation; to guide and monitor overseas project contracting and labor service cooperation in accordance with laws; to take the lead in protecting the rights and interests of Chinese citizens providing labor services or taking up jobs overseas; to work out administrative measure and specific policies guiding the province’s outward investment, approve the province’s companies to invest in and set up overseas establishments (excluding financial companies) and make registration in accordance with laws. To be in charge of the province’s efforts in providing and receiving aids/grants to and from foreign countries and regions.
(13) To guide the work of port customs in Liaoning Province, formulate and organize to implement the ports development plan of the province, organize and implement the work of “simplifying customs clearance procedures” across the province, and offer guidance in managing the areas under the special supervision of customs in the province.
(14) To undertake the daily responsibilities of the leading group of the province for cooperative development of North Korea's Hwanggumpyong Island and Wihwa Island economic zones and the leading group of the province for combating smuggling.
(15) To undertake other assignments entrusted by the provincial government.