China to simplify auto investment procedures

China will further open up its auto industry by reducing red tape.

According to a regulation issued by China's state planner on Dec 10, projects, including car joint ventures between China and other countries, enterprises producing pure electric passenger cars and auto investments that needed provincial government's approval in the past, will only have to file on record instead of being endorsed by authorities, starting from Jan 10.

The move aims to create a better policy environment for enterprises through deepening reforms to delegate power, streamline administration and optimize government services and to ride a new wave of industrial transformation, said a spokesperson of National Development and Reform Commission, as per a Q&A transcript published on the NDRC's website on Tuesday.

"Prior approval is hard to be consistent with new development in the auto market, where entities are more diversified and integration of various areas becomes evident; meanwhile, the procedure also drags down administrative efficiency and imposes a heavy burden on enterprises."

The regulation also set strict control on adding manufacturing capacity of conventional fuel cars, while pushing healthy and orderly development of new energy and smart vehicles.

Still, it said that stringent rules will apply to investment of pure electric vehicles as well, so as to prevent building factories blindly and redundant construction with low efficiency.