Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission released the Regulations for Optimization of Business Environment (Draft for Comments) (hereinafter the “Draft”) for public consultation. According to the Draft, the State Government guarantees that market entities of all types of ownership may equally obtain production factors including human resources, capital, land use rights and natural resources in accordance with the law, and participate in fair market competition.

According to the Draft, various areas and departments shall guarantee market entities of all types of ownership and in all areas are fairly treated in terms of government funding, land supply, tax benefits, cost reduction, qualification permits, standard setting, project declaration and title assessment in accordance with the law. Abuse of administrative power to eliminate and limit competition shall be prohibited. Bidding & tendering and government procurement shall be open, transparent, fair and just, and shall equally treat market entities of all types of ownership and in all areas. Restricting or eliminating market entities by unreasonable conditions shall be prohibited.

The Draft makes clear that the State Government strengthens IP protection, strictly punishes illegal acts of IP infringement in accordance with the law, pushes forward the establishment of the system of punitive damages for IP infringement, and fully protects the legitimate rights and interests of IP rights owners. Financial institutions shall provide identical loan interest rates and loan conditions for market entities of all types of ownership under equal application conditions, and shall not set discriminatory loan approval requirements for market entities of different types of ownership.

The Draft incorporates 7 chapters with a total of 68 articles, detailed by General Provisions, Market Entities, Market Environment, Government Services, Supervision and Law Enforcement, Legal System Guarantee and Supplementary Provisions,.

Source: gov.cn