The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") and the National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") have recently issued the Circular on Policies Concerning Suspending, Exempting and Adjusting Some Administrative and Institutional Fees (the "Circular"), and the MOF also released the Circular on Reducing the Charging Standard for Some Government Funds at the same time.
The Circular contains major provisions as below. First, from April 1, 2018, the nominal fee will no longer be charged, when a resident obtains his or her identity card for the first time. Second, from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, the supervision fees over institutions in securities and futures industries will not be collected temporarily. Third, from August 1, 2018, the patent registration fee, the fee for printing announcements and the fee for alterations to bibliographic items (alterations in patent agents and entrustment to agents), among patent-related fees (domestic), will be abolished, and the transfer charges, among PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) patent application fees (in the international phase), will be cancelled as well; for applicants that meet required conditions, the period in which the payment of annual patent fees could be reduced is prolonged to ten years, instead of the previous six years, as of the year in which the patent right is granted; as to an application for a patent for invention that satisfies certain requirements, it is allowed to refund half of the substantial examination fee for patent applications, if the applicant voluntarily proposes to withdraw the application before the expiration of the time limit given to rely to the "first notice of opinions on examination" (except for cases where replies have been given).