BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China will keep integrating business certifications and licenses into one consolidated business license, which is to further reduce institutional costs for market entities and stimulate market vitality as part of the country's business registration reform.
The decision was made at a State Council executive meeting on Wednesday which approved a guideline on its implementation.
With this policy in action, different certificates related to business registration will be sorted out and merged into one business license, making enterprises ready for operations once they obtain the license with no further delay.
As a significant measure to boost the supply-side structural reform and administrative reforms, the integration of certificates will further transform governmental functions and unleash benefits enabled by reforms, the guideline said.
The document required integration, simplification and abolition of certificates as much as possible with a handful of exceptions involving safety and security concerns. Any of enterprise-related certificates and licenses with no statuary foundations or set without due legal procedures will be canceled.
The guideline aimed to boost inter-departmental sharing of basic and credit information of enterprises. Repetition in submitting identical registration information will be avoided. Integration of the Internet with governmental services will be further boosted to improve efficiency for approvals.
Supervision will be strengthened to oversee registration and post-registration procedures with clearly-defined departmental responsibilities, while a new supervisory mechanism will be established centering on corporate credits.
The document also encouraged local governments to explore new ways in the integration process and boost assessment and rankings for local business facilitation in accordance with international benchmarks for business environment.
On Oct. 1, 2015, China merged the business license, the organizational code certificate and the tax registration certificate into one.
One year later, the country further encompassed the social insurance registration certificate and the statistical registration certificate into the business license, a move that has significantly reduced institutional costs.
A State Council executive meeting on Oct. 14, 2016 decided that more enterprises-related certificates will be integrated with the business license to facilitate business startups, boost social creativity and boost employment.
Further actions have been undertaken since to accelerate the process.
More than 3.59 million new market entities were registered in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 19.5 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. Among them were 1.26 million new enterprises, up by 18 percent.
Wednesday's meeting also decided to change five business registrations from pre-setup approvals into post-setup approvals.
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