Policy digest

Sharing economy gets a boost to serve people

A State Council executive meeting, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on June 21, approved a guideline to further boost the healthy development of the sharing economy as well as entrepreneurship and innovation to enhance people's lives.

Local governments and industries are to be encouraged to explore new ways of developing such an economy, which is beneficial to achieving more reasonable resource allocations, deplete outdated production capacities and cultivate new economic drivers.

According to the meeting, market access will be lowered in this field with greater policy transparency and better protection of legitimate rights for platform enterprises, resource providers and consumers.

The meeting targeted the creation of an environment that boosts sustained innovation and entrepreneurship. To achieve that goal, favorable employment and entrepreneurship policies will be implemented by governments of various levels nationwide.

Meanwhile, new industrial standards and self-discipline covenants will be forged to build a joint regulatory mechanism by the government, enterprises and consumers, which will strengthen checkups of new businesses and services.

Any behavior that illegally discloses personal information will be cracked down and severely punished according to laws, so as to keep the development of the sharing economy on the right track.

Startup and innovation bases designated

The general office of the State Council released a guideline on June 21 establishing 92 new demonstration bases nationwide to promote entrepreneurship and business startups, including 21 famous enterprises.

The bases encompass 45 districts, including Beijing's Shunyi district, and 26 universities and research institutes, such as Peking University.

The guideline said a number of innovation brands have been established since the first batch of demonstration bases was launched and these have become a vital way to promote economic transformation and innovation-driven development.

The new bases will get enhanced support to boost integrated development of small and medium-sized enterprises, increase employment opportunities and shore up the transformation from old economic drivers to new ones, the document said.

A number of supportive policies will be promulgated to cover key areas of innovation and business startups, in addition to efforts to streamline administration and prioritize the business environment and protect intellectual property rights, the document said.

Meanwhile, efforts will be made to promote integration and transformation in technological research. Migrant workers will be encouraged to set up their own businesses in their hometowns while overseas returnees will also get support to start new enterprises in China, the guideline added.

New rules on Statistics Law to take effect

An order of the State Council, signed by Premier Li Keqiang, announced that a new implementation regulation on the Statistics Law will take effect on Aug 1. The detailed regulation on this law, which was announced and put in effect in 1987, will be abolished in the meantime.

The new regulation requires statistical surveys to meet the demand of national macroeconomic decision-making with effective and high-quality data, but should reduce burdens for the surveyed entities.