Recently, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China ("CPC") and the General Office of the State Council have issued the Guiding Opinions on Making Examination and Approval Services More Convenient for the Public (the "Opinions").
The Opinions outline eight major tasks, including "extensively promoting the centralized processing of examination and approval items" and "rolling out innovative modes to offer examination and approval services for the convenience of the general public and enterprises". Further, the Opinions state that, at least 80 percent of examination and approval items may be handled and processed online in cities, counties and development zones, where conditions permit, unless specifically stipulated in laws and regulations. Where items have been already handled and processed in service halls, departments shall not require enterprises and the general public to go through the corresponding formalities again online. Moreover, the Opinions call for concentrating efforts on major items in key areas which involve heavy workload and are greatly concerned by enterprises and folks, such as real estate registration, market access, enterprise investment, construction projects, and livelihood affairs, adding that standardized operation rules and the guide to business handling shall be prepared on an item-by-item basis and departments shall inform applicants of relevant requirements on a one-time basis and enable them to handle relevant affairs by submitting only one application form. Furthermore, the Opinions clearly state that ways will be explored to scrap the examination and approval regime for enterprises' investment projects which fall into investment categories encouraged by the State, and that the country will operate the commitment-based record-filing regime for technological transformation projects which do not require additional supply of land.