Enterprises asked to report statistics independently

China's statistical authority said Tuesday that institutions and individuals should not hinder enterprises from reporting statistics independently.

It is the right and obligation of businesses to submit true and accurate information to the country's statistical authorities, Ma Jiantang, chief of the National Bureau of Statistics, said in a written statement on the agency's website.

No institutions or individuals are allowed to ask businesses to provide fraudulent information or manipulate data, according to the statement.

Ma warned that institutions or individuals involved in the falsification of data will be dealt with severely.

The statement comes after the country decided to use a unified system to collect industrial, retail sales and investment data from Feb 18 in order to improve the accuracy of key economic indicators.

A total of 700,000 industrial, service and real estate companies, which contribute to about 80 percent of the country's gross domestic product, will submit statistical sheets, which include production, income and spending statements, straight to the National Data Center or approved provincial data centers via the Internet. They will bypass reporting to local governments.

The new data collection system will lighten the burden on companies, ensure that the bureau obtains original, true and complete data in a timely manner, and provide a scientific basis for the country's macro control and economic management, the statement said.

Ma also vowed efforts to improve statistics collection and reporting at a meeting held Tuesday, at which he reported on the bureau's work to deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Ma said the GDP totaled from local GDP figures exceeded the bureau's by about 10 percent last year, because of technical problems such as double counting and using different raw data when data were processed at different levels.

The new data collection system will "help solve the issue to a certain extent," he said, adding that the gap will be narrowed if the government gets data directly from enterprises.