SAIC vows to make business environment even better in 2018

The State Administration of Industry and Commerce said it will continue to deepen reform of the country's business administration system this year to further improve the commercial environment.

By lowering the threshold for market access and simplifying registration procedures, entrepreneurship was greatly encouraged. During the past few years, an average of more than 40,000 market entities got registered every day, among which 13,700 were businesses, according to the country's top commercial regulator.

Last year saw even more rapid growth, with daily business registrations reaching 16,600.

Zhang Mao, head of the SAIC, said: "Compared with previous favorable polices to attract investment such as the taxation measures, today a fair business environment is what Chinese entrepreneurs care about."

One of the major tasks for the SAIC is reducing the institutional costs of investment and starting businesses by lowering the thresh-old of market access.

According to statistics released by the World Bank, China's ranking in the environment for doing business has moved up 18 places from 2013 to 78 in 2017 among more than 180 global economies.

A key measure taken by the SAIC is that the number of certificates and permits required for setting up businesses has been greatly reduced.

Since last October, companies need just one license and one code to conduct business.

Pre-approval procedures for business registration have also been reduced. Currently, around 87 percent of 226 pre-approval procedures have been changed to post-approval or canceled.

An electronic registration system has also been launched in all 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, with the capacity to issue electronic business licenses.

In addition, the database of companies' names has been fully opened to the public, and technologies including a mobile app and facial recognition have continued to be introduced to improve the convenience of services.

This year, the SAIC will further reform the market access system, remove unreasonable rules and regulations, and strive to optimize the business environment to inject new vitality into economic development.