The General Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CBIRC") has recently issued the Implementation Plan on Initiating the Pilot Program for the Full-coverage Reform of "Decoupling Business Licenses from Operation Permits" in Pilot Free Trade Zones (for Trial Implementation) (the "Plan").
The Plan reads that starting December 1, 2019, all enterprise-related business items subject to operation permits in banking and insurance sectors will be administered by list for all free trade zones (FTZs), including Shanghai FTZ and Guangdong FTZ, and the examination and approval services will be optimized to improve the quality and efficiency of such services; also, in-process and ex-post regulation will be innovated and strengthened to divert more administrative resources from examination and approval beforehand to more rigorous in-process and ex-post regulation, so as to enhance regulatory efficiency. Specifically, for 26 enterprise-related business items subject to operation permits issued by the CBIRC after examination and another two items implemented locally under the CBIRC's guidance, several reform initiatives, such as delegating the examination and approval power, shortening the list of documents required for examination and approval, and streamlining the examination and approval process, will be adopted from the date when the Circular of the State Council on Launching the Pilot Program for the Full-coverage Reform of "Decoupling Business Licenses from Operation Permits" in Pilot Free Trade Zones takes effect, for newly-accepted applications for administrative approval, for the purpose of optimizing the entry services, enhancing the efficiency of the examination and approval process and reducing the costs in this regard.