Li.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
China's State Council announced a new set of measures that will further cut red tape and reduce the cost in terms of time and money of transacting business with the country's government bureaucracy.
According to Xinhua, China, in a bid to boost business creation, innovation and employment, will streamline central government's current system for processing and securing administrative approvals. It will either abolish or delegate 58 administrative approvals to governments at lower levels, and will give universities more power to decide how to run higher education and conduct research.
Of the 58 items requiring government review and approval affected by the streamlining, 45 concerned businesses and investment while 12 were related to finance.
China's central government will also loosen its control on approvals and confirmation of some professional qualifications, leaving assessment to industrial associations and societies.
The anti-red tape measures were announced in a statement issued following Wednesday's executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.
By streamlining the processes involved in securing administrative approvals, the government said that it will be making investment and business creation easier in such particular fields as electronics waste recycling, repairing agricultural equipment and agent services for overseas education.
Since he took office last year, the premier has made cutting red tape a top policy priority. Back in March, Li told Chinese lawmakers that more than 200 items requiring review and approval of the State Council will be canceled or delegated to lower-level governments this year.
Aside from cutting red tape on certain transactions, the State Council's meeting also took up matters pertaining to the safe, green development of the petrochemical industry. It also reviewed a draft amendment to the Advertising Law, particularly the sections pertaining to improving management of advertising about drugs and health foods and proposing harsher punishment for false advertising. The draft will be submitted to the legislative body after further revisions have been made and approved by the Council.
In related news, the State Council earlier announced a series of similar moves aimed at eliminating red tape and speeding approvals on construction projects, manufacturing operations and retail trade, according to a report by Nasdaq.
As gathered by Nasdaq, a statement from the State Council dated Oct. 23 but posted on the government website Monday disclosed that China's central government has delegated to provincial authorities the power to extend approvals on a wide range of projects and business activities, including permits to build bonded factories and major highways, and on final inspections of some hydro-power projects.
The process for obtaining rebates on the wine consumption tax has also been shortened as some approvals have reportedly been ordered eliminated.
