Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), stated at a State Council press conference that the Central Institutional Organization Commission has recently officially approved the establishment of the Private Economy Development Bureau within the NDRC.

Cong Liang, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission. Photo by Chao News reporter Liu Chenyin

Main responsibilities of the Private Economy Development Bureau: track, understand, analyze and assess the development status of the private economy; coordinate and organize the drafting of policies and measures to promote private economy development; draft policies to promote the development of private investment. Establish a regular communication and exchange mechanism with private enterprises, coordinate the resolution of major issues in private economy development, and coordinate support for enhancing the international competitiveness of the private economy.

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Carry out comprehensive nationwide inspections on reducing enterprise burdens and promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises

◆ Vigorously implement policies. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will carry out comprehensive nationwide inspections on reducing enterprise burdens and promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, urging the effective implementation of enterprise-benefiting policies.

◆ Improve the service system. Build a nationwide integrated public service platform for small, medium and micro enterprises, forming a service model of direct access to policies, direct handling of demands, and direct delivery of services. Cultivate approximately 100 new characteristic industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises.

◆ Hold activities such as the Sino-German SME Exchange and Cooperation Conference and the 12th APEC SME Technology Exchange and Exhibition to help small, medium and micro enterprises explore international markets.

◆ Carry out in-depth third-party assessments of the development environment for small, medium and micro enterprises, and continuously optimize their development environment.

◆ Organize and carry out special actions to clear overdue payments owed to enterprises, alleviating the financial pressure on small, medium and micro enterprises.

Editor's note:

On July 5, 2020, the State Council promulgated Decree No. 728, the Regulations on Ensuring Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, effective from September 1, 2020.

◆ When government organs and public institutions procure goods, works, and services from small and medium-sized enterprises, payment shall be made within 30 days from the date of delivery of the goods, works, or services; where the contract provides otherwise, the payment period shall not exceed 60 days.

◆ Where government organs, public institutions, and large enterprises delay payment to small and medium-sized enterprises, they shall pay overdue interest. Where the parties have agreed on the interest rate for overdue interest, the agreed rate shall not be lower than the one-year Loan Prime Rate at the time the contract was concluded; where no agreement has been made, overdue interest shall be paid at a daily rate of 0.05%.

To implement the Regulations on Ensuring Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, on December 30, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Interim Measures for Handling Complaints Concerning Ensuring Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, effective from the date of issuance.

In addition, the State Council's Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment was officially promulgated in 2019, effective from January 1, 2020.

◆ Article 31: Local people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall honor policy commitments lawfully made to market entities and various contracts lawfully concluded, and shall not breach or repudiate contracts on grounds such as adjustments to administrative divisions, government transitions, institutional or functional adjustments, or replacement of relevant responsible persons. ...

◆ Article 32: State organs and public institutions shall not breach contracts or delay payment of accounts for goods, works, services, etc. owed to market entities, and large enterprises shall not use their dominant position to delay payments owed to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Formulate and issue five supporting anti-monopoly regulations, including the Provisions on Prohibiting the Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude or Restrict Competition

◆ Fully implement the fair competition policy system. Earnestly implement the newly revised Anti-Monopoly Law, and formulate and issue five supporting anti-monopoly regulations, including the Provisions on Prohibiting the Abuse of Administrative Power to Exclude or Restrict Competition. Focus on fields such as engineering construction, public utilities, and government procurement, and carry out in-depth law enforcement. Deeply implement the fair competition review system.

◆ Strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition supervision and enforcement. Organize and carry out special anti-monopoly enforcement actions in areas related to people's livelihood, and concentrate on investigating and handling a number of major typical monopoly cases. Implement the classified and tiered market review system and strengthen merger control review. Deploy and carry out the "Guardian" special enforcement action against unfair competition.

Editor's note:

On April 10, 2022, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Accelerating the Building of a Unified National Market, proposing to accelerate the building of a unified national market and break down local monopolies.

◆ Enterprises shall not be required to register or establish branches in a specific location.

In July 2023, four departments—the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Commerce—jointly issued the Notice on Carrying Out the Cleanup of Policies and Measures That Hinder the Unified Market and Fair Competition.

◆ Local enterprises shall not be required to establish branches (subsidiaries), and out-of-town operators shall not be excluded or restricted from participating in local bidding and tendering or government procurement.

Unblock private investment channels and promote the development of private investment

◆ In terms of optimizing financing support for private investment projects, give full play to the investment-loan linkage mechanism established with 7 banks including China Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and China CITIC Bank, and have pushed the first batch of 715 private investment projects to relevant banks, requesting relevant financial institutions to independently select eligible projects and provide financial support in accordance with market-oriented and law-based principles.

◆ In terms of recommending projects to private capital, promote all localities to sort out and submit three lists of projects intended for recommendation to private capital: a list of major projects, a list of industrial projects, and a list of franchise projects. As of September 2, localities had reported more than 3,500 projects, with total investment exceeding 3.7 trillion yuan. At the same time, establish a platform for recommending projects to private capital, and publicly recommend these projects to society within this week. Private enterprises are welcome to participate actively.

In July, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy, and released authoritative Q&A on the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development and Growth of the Private Economy.

The document requires that government organs, public institutions, and large enterprises shall not refuse or delay payment to small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households, and shall not set access barriers by requiring the establishment of branches, among other provisions, which are closely related to the construction industry.