More measures ahead to streamline business registration in China

The Chinese government will further streamline registration procedures for private businesses after the October introduction of related measures to encourage entrepreneurship and improve the business environment.

The measures, initially approved in May and put in place from Oct. 1, included merging five business certificates into one license. They have significantly facilitated the operation of private businesses within two weeks of implementation, showed data from the General Administration for Industry and Commerce in a report heard at the State Council's executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Friday.

Registering a new business in China now takes only two to three working days, compared to a previous process of several months involving stacks of printed documents to be submitted to half a dozen departments.

The premier praised the progress, while pointing out that more efforts are needed as starting a business in China still requires too many certificates.

"We should reduce those certificates that are not really required for starting a business, therefore fully releasing the benefits of reforms and the market," Li said.

The premier has continuously stressed that streamlining business registration and scaling back government control would serve another round of opening-up and improve China's global competitiveness.

Measures have been taken since 2015 in China to combine the business license, the organization code certificate and the certificate of taxation registration into a single document, with another two certificates, namely the social insurance registration certificate and the statistics registration certificate, included later.

"Chinese people do not lack the passion and wisdom for innovation and entrepreneurship," Li said. "The key is to properly unleash their potential."

Measures to be introduced to further facilitate business registration in China include encouraging pilot measures to integrate more certificates into the current scheme to be taken in certain cities and regions for assessment before putting them into practice nationwide, and providing an online service covering the whole registration process.

Currently, 22 provinces and regions, including Beijing and Shanghai, have launched such trials.

The Friday meeting also called for greater efforts in on-time and in-time regulation with better information sharing and recognition among government departments.

A total of 488,000 new business licenses have been issued since Oct. 1. An online survey showed more than half of those surveyed gave positive comments on the business registration reform.

Data also showed new business registrations increased from about 12,000 per day in 2015 to 14,600 in the first eight months of 2016, compared to only 6,900 before the changes.

Premier Li also stressed the importance of proper supervision in carrying out the business registration reform, while warning against the disruptive examination of private enterprises.

Despite the fact that China faces mounting downward economic pressure, the employment rate is up. Li said that more than 10 million urban jobs have been created since January.

"This is a remarkable achievement, and the way to ensure employment is to boost market potential and vigor," Li said. Endi