The Ministry of Science and Technology ("MOST") has recently formulated and released the Guidelines on the Construction of National Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zones (the "Guidelines").
The Guidelines state that, by 2025, a number of national agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zones will be built across the whole country, creating a sector featuring innovation, talent and industrial development of a modern agriculture. The Guidelines clearly state that, in principle, people's governments of prefecture-level cities (regions, autonomous prefectures, and leagues) or sub-provincial cities shall be subjects building the said demonstration zones, and they may apply for building national agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zones, on the basis of national agricultural science parks or provincial agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zones. The boundaries in four directions shall be clearly defined for each demonstration zone, and an approval must be obtained from the competent authority of natural resources with the corresponding examination and approval authority, for the use of construction land. According to the Guidelines, the MOST will commission the third-party assessment agency to assess each demonstration zone once every three years. Additionally, efforts will be made to regularly monitor the construction and the development, establish the mechanism to have interviews with construction subjects held responsible for the dissatisfactory quality of the demonstration zones, and practice the dynamic administration whereby demonstration zones could be approved or cancelled.