Efforts intensified to ease business issues

China has revised and abolished more than 10,000 problematic policy documents nationwide this year as it reviews laws and regulations involving the unequal treatment of enterprises, with a focus on grassroots authorities, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Key grassroots issues have also been addressed, including government failures to fulfill obligations, illegal debt raising and the practice of "new officials disowning past obligations".

Launched in March, a special operation led by the ministry to standardize enterprise-related law enforcement has rectified 54,000 prominent cases across the country, assisting enterprises recover 28.92 billion yuan ($4 billion) in economic losses.

To unify law enforcement standards, the Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with departments such as market supervision and firefighting, has urged local governments to introduce more than 330 standardized measures.

In addition, more than 50 million entries on enterprises' abnormal operation lists have been restored, and 3.5 million penalty records removed, in a bid to ease hurdles hindering enterprises' credit restoration and access to financing and bidding opportunities.

Following the operation, arbitrary fines nationwide have dropped by 8.2 percent year-on-year, with stricter oversight imposed on regions registering abnormal hikes in fines. Meanwhile, departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance have advanced long-term supervision of enterprise-related charges, prompting regions and departments to generally establish catalogs of such charges and release them to the public.

Illegal cross-regional and profit-driven law enforcement has also been targeted, with relevant cases screened, irregularities rectified and root causes identified. Cross-provincial jurisdiction systems and collaborative mechanisms have been established following comprehensive case reviews.

In one typical case, a county-level comprehensive law enforcement bureau in Shandong province was found in April 2025 to have illegally penalized an out-of-town seed business.

The bureau fined the company in March for failing to label variety right numbers on corn seeds but failed to transfer jurisdiction to the relevant local agricultural authority as required. The municipal supervision bureau issued a rectification order and transferred the case to disciplinary authorities.

According to the ministry, the operation, coupled with supporting policies, has boosted market vitality. The number of national market entities has seen a net increase of more than 5 million, while newly registered private enterprises rose by 6.8 percent in the first eight months, 18.6 percentage points higher than the growth rate for the entire last year.

Vice-Minister of Justice Hu Weilie said that despite progress, deep-seated problems remain in administrative law enforcement.

Some entities, he said, have failed to strictly implement the "two separate lines for revenue and expenditure" system to tighten oversight of public fund management. Instead, they have set quotas and targets for confiscated income or linked such income to performance assessments.

Others have not fully advanced the reform of administrative law enforcement, leading to recurring issues such as overlapping and redundant enforcement as well as shirking responsibilities. Some have abused discretion in administrative penalties, arbitrarily imposing maximum fines and substituting penalties for proper management, Hu said.

He said these problems have persisted for a long time and stem from deep-rooted causes that include misplaced performance concepts, insufficient professional law enforcement capabilities, weak oversight, and inadequate institutional development. More in-depth research and targeted efforts are needed to address the challenges, he added.

To improve and standardize long-term mechanisms for enterprise-related law enforcement, the ministry will accelerate the introduction of regulations, including measures for the administration of law enforcers and policy documents advancing the rule of law in comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform.

Approval, supervision and law enforcement powers will be more scientifically delineated, and regular training and proficiency tests for law enforcement personnel expanded.

Authorities will also intensify efforts to align administrative law enforcement standards across regions and review laws, regulations and policies that hinder the construction of a unified national market.

The ministry will promote the development of a national unified administrative law enforcement supervision platform to strengthen full-process, real-time and precise oversight of enforcement activities.

yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn