Policy digest

Measures to improve food safety will be strengthened

The General Office of the State Council has issued a document related to key work on food safety. The document said the authorities will improve legal measures to guarantee food safety, improve standards, prevent pollution caused by agricultural production and strengthen supervision of agricultural production and operations. It also specified measures designed to prevent and control risks to food safety, enhance the formulation of safety systems and promote shared governance, and implement a responsibility system to ensure that food is safe to eat.

Promotion of the digitization of business registration

On April 11, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued a document about the digitization of business registration. It requires the establishment of an online enterprise registration system to cover all businesses before the end of October, and all parts of the registration process must be able to be processed online. The document also stipulated four tasks to promote the digitization of registration, including the establishment of a standard of business registration, accelerating the construction of a service system, improving the management of electronic records, and strengthening the disclosure of information and credit supervision.

Food production zone to be constructed

The State Council has issued a document focusing on the construction of a food production functional zone and a key agricultural production protection zone. The document said the two zones are crucial for ensuring food security and should follow basic principles, such as sustainable development and greater participation by farmers. In addition, the authorities will strengthen policy support for the zones.

Ministries announce rise in basic pension

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance have issued a document about adjustments to the basic pension this year. From Jan 1, the authorities raised pensions for former employees of businesses, government departments and public institutions who were receiving a pension by the end of last year, according to the document. The average monthly pension is now 5.5 percent higher than last year.

Cloud Computing action plan issued

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a three-year action plan for cloud computing. The plan focuses on five major tasks: technological development; industrial development; the promotion of apps; security guarantees; and environmental improvements. It will also expand the scale of cloud computing, and expects the value of the sector to reach 430 billion yuan ($62.5 billion) by 2019. A number of core technologies and cloud computing capacities should meet advanced international levels by the same time.

Banking industry ordered to improve transparency

The China Banking Regulatory Commission has issued a document requiring the banking industry to serve the real economy - the production of goods and provision of services - and ordered commercial banks to comply with the relevant regulatory provisions and improve the transparency of the products and services they offer. The document also requires commercial banks to eradicate behavior that violates the law and regulations, and ensure that financial resources flow into the real economy.

Streamlining administration and delegation of powers

Five ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, have issued a document related to the further streamlining of the administrative process and the delegation of power to the lower levels of higher education. The moves will give colleges and universities greater control over degree authorization reviews, evaluation of professional titles and the distribution of salaries.