By Li Xinping, Wei Zhezhe, People’s Daily
China treats all domestic and foreign enterprises equally, and welcomes companies from around the world to expand trade and investment for mutual benefit and win-win results, said an official from the country’s top economic planner.
Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, made the remarks while elaborating on the country’s first regulation on optimizing business environment at a news conference held by the State Council Information Office on October 23.
What’s special about the regulation? What does it mean for companies in China?
The regulation establishes basic institutional norms in business environment that give equal treatment to domestic and foreign enterprises, and specifies the principles and directions for fostering a stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment.
It generalizes and outlines rules on optimizing business environment. The regulation does not include rules for management of specific industries and fields. Meanwhile, it leaves plenty of room for government departments at different levels to explore suitable measures to improve business environment.
China sees an improving business environment in recent years. It has slashed the number of items subject to administrative approval and lowered the threshold of market access.
Starting this year, the country reduced the items on the negative lists for foreign investment market access in pilot Free Trade Zones and the rest of the country, and rolled out 11 measures to boost opening up of the service industry, manufacturing and mining.
Through simplifying approval procedures, country has improved the efficiency for establishing a business, application and installation for water and electricity facilities and real estate registration by more than 50 percent.
The country has further cut taxes and fees, significantly reducing corporate burden. It has also made marked progress in intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.
In the first half of the year, Chinese courts at all levels concluded more than 150,000 cases related to IPR of first instance, an increase of 80 percent year on year, and more than 2,000 criminal cases concerning IPR of first instance, 23 percent more than the same period last year.
The regulation, which institutionalizes the requirements in building a new system of open economy from all aspects and underscores opening up, provides a legal support for the country to ease market access and better develop an open economy at a higher level.
The country will take efforts to build a market-oriented and international business environment which is based on the rule of law, treat all companies as equals, and actively promote foreign investment, according to the regulation.
The country also pledges to give equal treatment to Chinese and foreign companies in terms of IPR protection and protect trade secrets. It holds zero tolerance on forced technology transfer and will punish any violations through legal channels.
The regulation stipulates that the state shall provide an open market for fair competition and ensure all market entities can make equal use of all factors of production. Meanwhile, it also stipulates that all market entities should abide by prevailing international rules while carrying out economic and trade activities in China.
These rules put a greater emphasis on protecting legitimate rights and interests of foreign companies, Ning pointed out.
He disclosed that the country will unveil a set of policy measures on IPR protection.
China will set up standards on identifying patent, trademark and copyright infringements, strengthen campaign against IPR violations and impose heavy penalties on all types of breaches.
Meanwhile, the country will advance the process of revising the Patent Law, the Copyright Law, the new round of comprehensive revision of the Trademark Law, the revision of the Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law, and the revision of the regulation on the protection of new varieties of plants.
It will also set up a punitive damage system for infringements on intellectual property.
The country will improve services and speed up construction of a patent review system and a trademark registration system. It plans to cut the review period of high-value patents to 17.5 months and shorten the trademark review period to 5 months by the end of the year.
Staff members handle the services in the Center for Rapid Intellectual Rights Protection in Yiwu, east China’s Zhejiang province on November 21, 2018, the day when the center went into operation. The service window for Madrid International Registration of Trademark went into operation on the same day. (Gong Xianming/People’s Daily Online)
Law enforcement officers of the market supervision bureau of Donghai county in east China’s Jiangsu province conduct a trademark registration review at a book store on April 25, 2019. (Zhang Zhengyou/People’s Daily Online)
中国出台首部针对营商环境优化的法规
人民日报记者 李心萍 魏哲哲
“无论内资、外资企业，只要在中国注册，都将一视同仁、同等对待。我们欢迎各国企业扩大对华经贸投资合作，更好实现互利共赢。”在23日国新办举行的政策例行吹风会上，国家发展改革委副主任宁吉喆说。
当日，中国发布首部针对营商环境优化的行政法规《优化营商环境条例》（以下简称《条例》）。《条例》将着力解决哪些问题？在华企业将迎来哪些利好？
近年来，中国营商环境明显改善。
审批材料一减再减，准入门槛不断降低。例如，正进一步缩减2019年版全国和自贸试验区外商投资准入负面清单，将在服务业、制造业、采矿业等领域共推出11项开放措施。企业开办、用水用电报装、不动产登记等事项的办理时间已压缩50%以上。
减税降费增加活力，减负力度不断加大。国际社会普遍关注的知识产权保护上，中国取得长足进步。比如，从执法角度看，今年上半年，全国地方人民法院审结知识产权民事一审案件15万多件，同比上升了80%，审结侵犯知识产权罪一审案件2000多件，同比上升了约23%。
此外，作为优化营商环境的基础性行政法规，《条例》重在确立基本制度规范，明确方向性要求，以概括性、统领性规定为主，不规定流程性内容，不创设具体行业、领域的管理制度。同时，为各地区各部门探索创新优化营商环境的具体措施留出了充分空间。
《条例》把关于全面构建开放型经济体系的要求转化为法规制度，明确进一步扩大对外开放，为扩大外资市场准入、更好发展更高层次的开放型经济提供法治保障。
明确优化营商环境应当坚持市场化、法治化、国际化原则，公平对待内外资企业等各类市场主体，积极促进外商投资。尤其是在知识产权保护方面，对内外资企业一视同仁、同等保护，完善商业秘密保护，绝不允许强制技术转让，发现一起将依法查处一起。
明确建立统一开放、竞争有序的市场体系，依法促进各类生产要素自由流动，保障各类市场主体公平参与市场竞争。明确市场主体应当在国际经贸活动中遵守国际通行规则。“这些制度设计，更加重视对外商投资合法权益的保护。”宁吉喆说。
针对知识产权保护问题，配合《条例》的实施，一系列政策组合拳也将出台：
加快制定完善专利、商标、版权侵权假冒判断、检验鉴定等相关标准；强化整治，深化打击侵犯知识产权违法行为的专项行动，重罚严惩各类侵权违法行为。
从“严”保护，加快修订专利法、著作权法，推进商标法新一轮全面修改和专利法实施细则、植物新品种保护条例修订，建立健全侵权惩罚性赔偿制度，推动知识产权“严保护”。
优化服务，加快专利审查、商标注册智能化系统建设，年底前实现将高价值专利审查周期压至17.5个月、商标注册平均审查周期压至5个月以内的目标。
2018年11月21日，中国义乌（小商品）知识产权快速维权中心揭牌，马德里商标国际注册义乌受理窗口同时投入运行，由此意味着义乌企业在“家门口”即可办理商标国际注册。 龚献明/人民图片
2019年4月25日，江苏省东海县市场监督管理局执法人员正在检查书籍知识产权注册商标。 张正友/人民图片
