In October 2021, Beijing became one of the first batch of pilot cities for business environment innovation. Now, the detailed plan has been finalized and the Plan of Beijing Municipality for Implementing the Pilot Innovation in Business Environment was released. According to the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Plan proposes the introduction of 115 initiatives to meet national requirements and implement Beijing's original reform measures. It aims to complete most of the reform tasks by the end of May to ensure that the national tasks are fully fulfilled in Beijing in the shortest possible time.
Reform in Ten Key Areas
The 115 initiatives focus on ten areas, including market access, bidding, review and approval of construction projects, real estate registration, digital economy, intellectual property, investment and trade, regulation and enforcement, digital government service and exit of market players. According to the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, "Beijing will launch several leading, valuable, ground-breaking and extensive reform initiatives in ten areas, strive for replicable and scalable success in reform, and create a new engine of innovation pilot to drive the business environment reform of the city."
The hidden barriers that enterprises are concerned about will be the priority of this reform. Beijing will remove all kinds of unreasonable restrictions and provide "integrated online government service" while working on bidding, bid opening, bid evaluation, bid announcement, contract signing, performance acceptance, payment, and other processes in housing, city administration, transportation, water affairs, gardening, survey and design and other areas. Beijing will also facilitate the process for enterprises in the six pilot cities to participate in bidding in various areas. Only one set of CA certificates is needed for authentication and login.
The Plan innovates in regulatory concepts, mechanisms and measures, making the regulation of the whole chain and every field more precise, intensified, and standardized. Regulation is more inclusive and prudent, especially for new industries. The Plan develops moderately advanced management policies in intelligent connected vehicles, artificial intelligence, hydrogen fuel and other emerging areas. It strives to make the traditional regulatory rules adapt to the new industries and new forms of business. The Plan not only ensures the quality and safety of enterprise development but also leaves enough room for enterprises to grow.
Simplify 33 Procedures of Review and Approval
Processing time and application materials were reduced by 70%. Previously, ten sectors including pharmacies and clinics in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area have experienced the "one integrated license" reform, which makes it much easier for enterprises to do business.
The license reform will also benefit chain businesses. The Plan will further focus on reducing the procedures, application materials and the time in the licensing process, which will greatly facilitate market access and business operation. The city will make it more convenient for chain stores to open new businesses. The reform of "one business license with multiple addresses" is being rolled out among supermarkets (convenience stores), medical equipment wholesalers, etc. In other words, when an enterprise has a new business project in the same branch, if relevant operational requirements are met, application for the same administrative license is no longer needed. Instead, all they need to start operation is to add the address of the new branch to the previous license.
Haidian District will also pilot a standardized operating location database, which will help enterprises fill in the address for registration in the standardized format. The address will be automatically checked against the negative list. If an enterprise commits to the authenticity and validity of the operating site, it can apply for a business license or change the registration information without submitting materials as proof of residence ownership.
"The Plan promotes innovation from three aspects, namely customs clearance system, dispute resolution mechanism, and transportation methods, to create an open, transparent and efficient environment for investment and trade." According to the competent authority, Beijing will create a fast customs clearance mode. In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, customs officers will supervise the packing and loading of cargo and no more procedures will be required when the cargo is leaving the port. The pilot scope will be expanded, making it smoother and faster for exporters from Beijing to go through customs clearance at the ports of Tianjin and Hebei.
Statistics show that the Plan streamlined 33 procedures of review and approval and simplified 29 application materials. A total of 18 systems have been set up or upgraded, which significantly improved the convenience for business.
Real Estate Information Verified Online
Online registration of real estate, which is closely related to people's housing, will be more widely applied.
According to the Plan, Beijing will realize the visualized query of real estate-related information. Anyone who passes identity verification can query the natural status of real estate, rights limitations, cadastral map and other information on a digital map. This will provide a safe and convenient channel for enterprises to find housing for starting up a business or expanding production. Beijing will carry out online verification of real estate registration information and promote the information sharing of national household registration, legal documents, lawyer identity, and other real estate registration information to further reduce the required materials and the number of errands.
In addition, Beijing will introduce electronic licenses and permits, electronic signatures, and online ID cards in use cases such as customs declaration, bank loans, project applications, bidding and government procurement. Therefore, all the information will be digitized and shared so that people don't have to run errands in person. Beijing will simplify the application materials as much as possible so that enterprises only need one license for business permit application, tax payment, social security, medical care, among other matters.
According to the competent authority, while building itself into a national pilot city for business environment innovation, Beijing will seize the opportunity to establish a mechanism to synergize the pilot work of business environment innovation and ensure the implementation of reform in various areas. It will also provide strong support to accelerate the integration of the new development paradigm, modernize the governance system and governance capacity, and achieve high-quality development of the capital.
(Reporter: Cao Zheng)
