Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Fair Competition and Maintaining Regular Order in the Market
Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Fair Competition and Maintaining Regular Order in the Market
Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Fair Competition and Maintaining Regular Order in the Market
Guo Fa [2014] No.20
June 4, 2014
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and all ministries and commissions of and all institutions directly under the State Council,
In accordance with the spirits of the Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and the requirements of the State Council for institutional reforms and functional transformation, for the purposes of improving the regulation system, promoting fair competition and maintaining regular order in the market, the following opinions are hereby brought forward.
Article 1 General Requirements
1. Guiding ideology
Be guided by the Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of "Three Represents", and the scientific outlook on development; deeply learn and understand the spirits of the 18th CPC National Congress and the second and third plenary sessions thereof; carry out and implement the decisions and arrangement of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council; center on the decisive role of market in the resource allocation and allow the government to play a better role; focus on solving issues such as the defective market system, and excessive intervention and poor regulation of the government; insist on emphasis on both relaxing restriction and regulation, carry out "easy access and strict regulation" and inspire the liveliness of market entities; equally protect the lawful rights and interests of all market entities, safeguard the market order with fair competition and promote the sustainable and healthy development of the economic society.
2 Fundamental principles.
Simplification of administrative procedures and delegation of powers to lower levels. Allow the market to fully play its decisive role in resource allocation; delegate the powers in place; lower the requirements for market access and promote the employment and business establishments. Market entities can do anything that is not prohibited by law; and the governmental departments cannot do anything that is not authorized by law.
Regulation in accordance with the law. Allow the government to play a better role; insist on exercising the regulating function over the market with law-based thinking and methods; enhance interim and ex post regulation; promote the systems, standards and procedures for market regulation and construct a law-based market environment.
Fairness and transparency. All market entities have equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules; the standards, procedures and results of government regulation are open so as to protect the rights to know, to participate and to supervise of the market entities and the social public.
Integration of powers and responsibilities. Divide the market regulating responsibilities of all levels of governments and their departments in a scientific way; governmental departments must do whatever is specified by law. Establish and improve the regulation system to put into effect the act standardizing responsibilities of the market entities, the market regulating responsibilities of the departments and leadership responsibilities of the territorial governments.
Shared governance by the society. Fully play the standardizing role of laws and regulations, the self-disciplinary role of industrial organizations, the supervising role of the social public and their opinions; realize shared governance by the society and promote the self-restraint and faithful operations of the market entities.
3. Overall targets
Set foot on promoting autonomous operation and fair competition of enterprises, free selection and independent consumption of consumers and the free flow and equal exchange of commodities and elements; construct a unified, open, faithful, and law-abiding modern market system with orderly competition and powerful regulation; accelerate the formation of a fair, impartial, transparent and efficient market regulation pattern with well-defined powers and responsibilities and legal system safeguard; construct a market regulation system with a relatively mature framework and finalized regime by 2020.
Article 2 Liberalize Market Access
Any investment, operating, civil and commercial acts of market entities out of free will shall not be restricted by the government provided that such acts do not involve in any field prohibited by laws and regulations, or damage the interests of any third party, the social public interests or national security.
4. Reform the market access system. Formulate the negative list of market access; the State Council sets out the industries, fields and business prohibited or restricted for investment or operation in the form of list, and for those that are not included in the list, all the market entities can access equally in accordance with the law; where local governments need to make specific adjustment, the provincial government shall report to the State Council for approval. (Led by the National Development and Reform Commission (hereinafter referred to as "NDRC") and the Ministry of Commerce) Reform the industrial and commercial registration system; promote the facilitation of industrial and commercial registration system; greatly reduce pre-approval, and change "certificate comes before license" into "license comes before certificate". (Led by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (hereinafter referred to as "SAIC") and the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform (hereinafter referred to as "SCOPSR")) Simplify procedures, reduce the time limits and encourage exploring and implementing a registration system that combines the business license, organizational code certificate and the tax registration certificate into one. (Led by the local people's governments at or above county level) Improve the access standards for markets such as energy, land and water conservation, environment, technology and safety. Explore to establish a management mode of pre-establishment national treatment combined with the negative list for foreign investments. (Led by NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce)
5. Vigorously reduce the administrative examination and approval items. The approval of investment, approval of production and operating activities, the licensing and recognition of qualifications, the appraising through comparison and commendation for reaching the standards and the evaluation shall be created in strict accordance with the Administrative Licensing Law and the procedures specified by the State Council; any creation in violation of procedures specified shall all be cancelled. (Led by SCOPSR, the Legislative Affairs Office and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security) Loosen up the prices for competitive links. (Led by NDRC) The provincial people's government shall create interim administrative licensing to strict extent of danger control, allocation of limited public resources and provision of special reputation, identity and certification, and subject to statuary procedures. (To be respectively in the charge of the provincial people's governments) Paid intermediate services such as technical review, evaluation, verification and consultancy of the pre-conditional links of current administrative licensing shall be overall cleared up, and those that can be cancelled shall be cancelled as soon as possible; where it is indeed required to be reserved, standardize the time limit and charging and disclose them to the public. (To be respectively in the charge of SCOPSR, NDRC and the Ministry of Finance) Construct and improve the administrative affair center and online hall to centralize the handling of the administrative examination and approval; provide "one-stop" service featuring one window to the external for one department and one level of local government so as to reduce the procedures and improve the efficiency. (To be respectively in the charge of the local people's governments at or above county level)
6. Covert approval is prohibited. It is prohibited to create administrative licensing, add conditions and procedures for administrative licensing in violation of the law; it is prohibited to create administrative licensing in the form of filing, registration, annual verification, manufacture under supervision, determination, certification, approval, designations, numbering and exchange of certificates or in the name of non-administrative licensing in a covert way; it is prohibited to charge fees in a covert way or set charging items in violation of the law for administrative examination and approval; it is prohibited to convert the items subject to administrative examination and approval to those of intermediary services; and approval in a covert way or paid services are prohibited; it is prohibited to recover or take back items with the power of administrative examination and approval cancelled or decentralized in the name of enhancing interim and ex post regulation (To be respectively in the charge of SCOPSR, NDRC, the Ministry of Finance, and the Legislative Affairs Office based on their respective division of responsibilities)
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