Cabinet to cut more red tape for approvals, licensing

The State Council, China's cabinet, said on Wednesday that it will further cut administrative approvals and delegate power to lower levels this year in order to promote efficiency and clear obstacles to economic growth.

The move is aimed at eliminating up to 200 administrative approval items this year. Over the past year, the council has cut or adjusted 632 administrative approval items, the State Council said during a news conference in Beijing.

The efforts are being made to spur market dynamics and ensure the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation, said Li Zhangze, spokesman for the Leading Group Office on Reform of the Administrative Approval System of the State Council in Beijing.

Up for adjustment are approval of investment plans by businesses, daily operation of enterprises and scrutiny of the qualifications of enterprises, organizations or individuals.

"The next step is to speed up the process to transfer government functions and relax restrictions on approvals and confirmations of some professional qualifications," Li said.

He said the abolished items cover a wide range of industries, from telecommunications businesses to aviation and coal mining. Other items, such as freight shipped by water and rail, which previously required central government approval, now will only need provincial approval.

These administrative procedures, part of a pledge that Premier Li Keqiang made earlier this year to cut such items by one-third, are meant to streamline the administrative process for investors and business startups, create job opportunities and ensure that full use is made of innovation in the market.

Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council, said it is clear that a better-coordinated and streamlined regulatory approval system already is making investment and business creation easier in emerging industries and the service sector.

The number of newly registered enterprises in the fields of information transmission, software and information technology rose by more than 138 percent year-on-year. At the same time, the number of newly added foreign companies reached 18,605 in the first half of this year, an increase of 9.8 percent after two straight years of decline.

Yang Jie, an official from National Development and Reform Commission, said that measures have been taken to facilitate the process of Chinese companies' overseas investment and that about 92 percent of offshore investment projects have been assisted by the simplified procedures, which cut waiting time and increase transparency.