Two local regulations supervising foreign investment in Beijing were proposed for abolition yesterday by the Beijing municipal government to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

The Beijing Municipal Regulation on Calculation of Foreign Enterprises and the Beijing Municipal Regulation on Dismissing Foreign Enterprises were put forward to the city's top legislative body over conflicts with the nation's World Trade Organization (WTO) responsibilities and other factors.

"According to China's promise to the WTO over a unified legal system, legislation over foreign trade should not be done by the local people's congress," Zhou Jidong, director of the Legal Affairs Office of the Beijing municipal government said yesterday.

He said relevant issues stipulated in the regulation for dismissing foreign enterprises are clearly laid out in the Law on Foreign-capital Enterprises, the Law on Chinese and Foreign Equity Joint Ventures and the Law on Chinese and Foreign Contractual Co-operative Enterprises.

Zhou noted that two administrative licensing items stipulated in the foreign enterprise calculation regulation are against a regulation issued by the State Council and should be abolished.

Meanwhile, two other municipal regulations and 59 stipulations over administrative licensing in another 31 local regulations were also involved in the government's proposal for abolition.

"They are against the Law on Administrative Licensing, which will go into effect on July 1," Zhou explained yesterday.

The other two regulations are the Beijing Municipal Telecommunications Regulation and the Beijing Municipal Administrative Regulation over Road Supervision. The four regulations were all originally adopted by the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

The 59 administrative licensing items prescribed in local legislation, which were proposed by local government officials for abolition, are among 174 items the government has agreed to remove before July 1.

They include employment licensing for migrant workers, safety certifications over house rentals to migrant workers and rules governing the allowing of these rentals.

Taxi drivers and minibus operators are also expected not to need permission to open businesses in the capital, as well as road transportation entrepreneurs from outside of Beijing.

There are a total of 308 items on administrative licensing set forth by local authorities in Beijing.

The local government's proposal will be voted on by members of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress today.

The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress yesterday also reviewed the local method to implement its Water Law for the second time.