City progress to speed up business processes
Beijing officials work to make corporate operations easier by cutting red tape
Beijing will soon release the fourth edition of its business environment reform program to increase the ease of doing business there, said a senior city official at a recent news conference.
The new program, containing 277 regulatory reforms, focuses on removing hidden roadblocks, reforming administrative procedures, strengthening supervision and digitizing government services.
The goal is to build a service-oriented government and create a world-class business environment compatible with high-quality development, said Dai Ying, spokeswoman for the Beijing Development and Reform Commission.
The program is based on more than 1,000 suggestions from parties including businesses, the local people’s congress and political consultative conference, and the city’s resident services hotline 12345, according to Dai.
One of the measures is to increase the use of the notification-commitment system in delivering government services. Businesses can obtain certain permits or government services by making a legally binding promise that the documents they have submitted are authentic and legally recognized.
“We are aiming to cancel the examination and approval procedures for more than 100 services by the end of this year,” Dai said. “Businesses will instead make a legally binding commitment or register relevant information with the authorities.”
She said Beijing will follow examples from countries such as Singapore in reforming tax payment procedures and cross-border trade services.
According to the new program, businesses will be able to file five types of taxes in one sitting. These are corporate income tax (advance payment), urban land use tax, real estate tax, stamp tax and land appreciation tax.
In cross-border trading, it will take Beijing less than 30 hours and 1.1 hours to clear imports and exports through customs, respectively. This is more than 70 percent shorter than that in 2017. The average time to process export tax rebates will be reduced to less than six business days.
Beijing Customs will retain some of the flexible arrangements that have proved effective during the COVID-19 outbreak. For example, company representatives do not need to be physically present when customs officers inspect their goods.
Implementing the key measures of the new program will be a focus for Beijing this year, the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Dai said.
The first three versions of Beijing’s business environment reform program were released in 2018 and 2019. They contain a total of 395 regulatory reforms.
Beijing made notable headway in improving its business climate during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20).
Over the past five years, China has moved from 84th place to 31st on the World Bank’s annual Ease of Doing Business rankings. Beijing is one of the Chinese cities the World Bank gathers its data from.
In November, the State Council selected Beijing as an example of good practice in delegating power, reducing procedural complexities and creating a world-class business environment.
Over the past three-plus years, Beijing has simplified 39 examination and approval procedures related to starting a business, getting construction permits, registering property, accessing electricity, paying taxes and other aspects of running a business. The combined processing time has been cut by 623 days, according to Dai.
In September, the Beijing Federation of Industry and Commerce launched a mechanism to aid public oversight on business-related administrative processes, supervision and law enforcement. Eightyeight representatives of private companies and heads of business associations have been selected to serve as supervisors.
In November, the Beijing government established an advisory committee to advise on ways to make the city more business-friendly. Forty-seven experts and entrepreneurs are currently on the committee.