1. Enforcing national laws, regulations, guidelines and policies concerning domestic and foreign trade and international economic cooperation; monitoring and analyzing the performance of commerce; conducting research and developing municipal development strategy of commerce, carrying out master plans and annual guiding plans, and organizing supervision on the implementation of these plans; conducting research on trends of economic globalization, regional economic cooperation, modern distribution and reform of the distribution system, and putting forward proposals;

2. Pushing for the structural adjustment of distribution industries; guiding reform of distribution enterprises, development of commercial and trade services, as well as community-based commerce; putting forward policies and proposals for promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in commerce and trade; promoting distribution standardization and modern distribution models such as chain stores, franchising and new logistics models; regulating and enforcing policies, measures, standards and rules concerning e-commerce; and encouraging new patterns in distribution industries;

3. Formulating municipal development plans for domestic trade; organizing, guiding and promoting urban and rural markets; guiding the construction of key municipal commercial facility projects; developing programs of bulk commodities retail markets as well as plans of urban commercial networks and systems; building rural market system; and organizing and implementing modern rural distribution network projects;

4. Coordinating to rectify and regulate the market and economic order; carrying out comprehensive administrative enforcement and market supervision for commercial activities; promoting credit building in commerce sectors and giving guidance to sales based on business credit; building public service platforms based on market credibility; working together with other authorities on product quality, measurement standards, good services and price management as well as in crackdown on counterfeit and shoddy products in production and sales;

5. Supervising and administering special distribution industries as well as commodity distribution and catering industries; coordinating relations, exchanges and collaboration on commerce; guiding and administering social organizations such as trade associations and institutes in commerce sectors; supervising and administering industries such as alcohol, auction, pawns, brokerages, labor protection devices, distribution of refined oil products, and disposal of scrapped cars; and administering the trade of second-hand motor vehicles as well as waste recycling in the city;

6. Regulating the markets of major consumer goods and administering the distribution of major factors of production; developing emergency response mechanisms to ensure the supply of daily necessities; conducting surveys and analysis on important information on commerce; issuing forecasts, early warnings and guiding information; and overseeing the management of and regulating the market of important commodities;

7. Administering the city's merchandise exports and imports; promoting the transformation of foreign trade growth model; regulating exports and imports, tender on imports, processing trade, and filing on record and registration of participants in the foreign trade of machinery and electronic products; implementing import and export quotas of important industrial products, raw materials and agricultural products; regulating the business order of foreign trade; facilitating trade; promoting brand-driven exports and the development of export hubs; and guiding trade promotion activities and development of the foreign trade promotion systems.

8. Enforcing policies concerning foreign trade in technology and export and import control, including policies encouraging the export and import of technology as well as complete sets of equipment; promoting standardization in foreign trade; addressing issues related to foreign intellectual property rights within its jurisdiction; and supervising the import of technologies, equipment as well as the export of domestic technologies restricted by the state;

9. Presiding over the drafting of development plans for trade in services; guiding opening-up in trade in services; working with other departments in formulating and implementing policies and measures to promote service outsourcing; helping create platforms for service outsourcing; and accelerating the development of clusters of trade in services and platforms for services outsourcing.

10. Coordinating the city's responses to China's accession to the World Trade Organization during the transitional period; being responsible for antidumping, countervailing, and developing preventive measures and addressing other issues to create a level playing field for international trade; establishing a fair trade early warning mechanism for imports and exports; organizing industry injury investigations; guiding and coordinating responses to industry security inquires; participating in and carrying out anti-monopoly investigations; and carrying out administrative reviews and administrative responses to appeals.

11. Guiding and coordinating municipal efforts in foreign investment, and drafting and implementing policies to encourage foreign investment; approving and submitting to higher authorities for approval, and reviewing and approving the establishment of foreign-invested enterprises and projects and supervising their compliance with applicable laws and regulations; and guiding investment promotion, participating in and organizing major events related to foreign trade and investment promotion, and regulating investment promotion practices.

12. Administering and providing services for foreign-invested enterprises in the city; formulating and implementing related policies; guiding, supervising and investigating foreign enterprises' compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies and contracts; collecting and analyzing data on paid-in foreign capital; guiding, coordinating and administering foreign-invested enterprises in terms of production and operation, and promoting collaboration among Chinese and foreign-invested enterprises; leading government's joint annual inspection of foreign-invested enterprises; and addressing complaints and disputes arising from or in connection with foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises;

13. Promoting the city's foreign economic cooperation and formulating and implementing corresponding policies and measures for this purpose; reviewing, approving and submitting to higher authorities for approval and supervising the city's outbound investment, overseas project contracting, labor service cooperation and overseas employment; overseeing the city's outward foreign assistance projects and taking grants to the city through multilateral and bilateral channels; and improving the municipal promotion and service system for foreign economic cooperation.

14. Implementing economic and trade plans, policies and measures of the central, provincial and Suzhou governments for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HK SAR), the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) and Taiwan; guiding trade with HK SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan; coordinating the administration of investments from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan; and organizing economic exchange and cooperation events with Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan.

15. Implementing multilateral and bilateral (including regional and FTA) economic cooperation as well as trade strategies and policies of the central government, participating in bilateral and regional economic cooperation and trade, and establishing and promoting economic cooperation with counterparts of other countries or regions; being responsible for foreign affairs, liaison and reception related to economic and trade activities; conducting initial reviews and submitting to higher authorities for approval official visits to other countries or regions for economic and trade purposes; issuing visa notification forms to foreign investors coming to China; and liaising with overseas economic cooperation networks.

16. Supporting, coordinating and administering national and provincial economic development zones; working with other departments to address issues relating to port opening-up and operation; and participating in the resolution of issues in special areas supervised by customs;

17. Building and administering economic and trade networks at home and abroad;

18. Working with inspection and quarantine, customs, quality and technical supervision, banking, foreign exchange, export credit insurance and other regulatory authorities to address commerce-related issues; administering the municipal association of foreign-invested enterprises and CCPIT sub-council; and providing guidance chambers of commerce, trade associations and students' organizations and other social organizations.

19. Developing and formulating the development plans and policies related to the ageing and aged care, and drafting relevant implementing measures; carrying out decisions made by Kunshan Ageing and Aged Care Commission and supervising, urging and inspecting the implementation; collecting necessary information concerning the work on ageing and aged care; providing guidance on protection of legitimate rights and interests of the aged.

20. Addressing other responsibilities assigned by the municipal government.