Ministry of Commerce

Rebate review: The framework of the plan to reduce export rebates has been fixed and details are being worked out, according to an official.

Officials from the Finance, Commerce Ministries and the State Administration of Taxation admit that the rebate would be cut and the amount is to be shouldered by central and local governments.

Sources say the export rebate rate would be slashed by 4 per cent.

Exporters said reducing the rebate could weaken exports.

However, the move is expected to reduce trade disputes and cut China's fiscal expenditure.

State Council

Housing measures: The State Council, is to publish a circular on the policy on real estate development, indicating that "healthy development" is still the absolute principle.

However, some fine-tuning is being undertaken on issues such as reducing the scope of potential buyers of economically affordable houses, and stimulating purchases of commercial housing.

According to the document, the central government is to encourage the expansion of ordinary commercial housing, and it will also deepen reforms on the trading of some company or state-owned houses.

The new policy also indicates that local governments, instead of the Ministry of Construction and the State Administration of Land Resources, will oversee real estate development.

State Administration of Safe Production Supervision

Safety check: In the wake of many explosions in Hebei and Fujian, causing the deaths of many innocents, all factories making firecrackers have been ordered to halt production.

The State Administration of Safe Production Supervision said all factories must stop production immediately, check their safety procedures and the implementation of those measures. Factories will not be allowed to start production until the end of September.

The ministry will investigate safety measures, or the lack of them.

Factories that fail inspections will lose their licenses or even face closure, according to an official.

Ministry of Labour and Social Security

Dispute resolution: A tripartite negotiation mechanism, designed to solve disputes between workers and enterprises, has been launched by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, All-China Federation of Trade Union, China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Director Association.

The governmental labour watchdog, union federation and enterprises association agreed to establish the mechanism in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, according to Wang Jindong, vice minister of labour and social security.

Wang said that the negotiation mechanism, popular in the United States, has proved to be practical in China, after a pilot run in Wuhan and Xiamen.

According to the ministry, disputes between enterprises and workers have increased by 30 to 40 per cent in recent years.

China Meteorological Administration

Eyes in the sky: China will launch three small meteorological satellites in the next two years to set up a more accurate environmental supervision and weather forecasting system, said Wang Yuqing, vice-director of the China Meteorological Administration, at a meeting held last week in Beijing.

According to Wang, the three small satellites, two equipped with optical cameras and one with radar, plus the country's 2,223 monitoring stations on the ground will form a three-dimensional and all-weather network.

It will enhance monitoring of deserts, oceans and mountainous areas, Wang said.

The satellites can provide real-time data, which could improve weather forecasting and environmental supervision, according to Wang.

Ministry of Public Security

Hunting criminals: China will enhance co-operation with other countries to investigate economic crimes.

Addressing a conference last week, Vice-Minister of Public Security, Bai Jingfu called on foreign governments to extradite Chinese criminals to face trial.

Bai said economic crimes had increased sharply in recent years. Some criminals, he said, fled China to evade justice.

Since there are no extradition agreements with all foreign governments, law enforcement agencies face difficulties.

Bai said foreign governments should extradite Chinese criminals in the interests of justice.

Ministry of Information Industry

Domain name clean-up: A nationwide campaign is being launched to regulate the domain names of Internet content providers, according to a circular released by the ministry.

All providers of domain name registration services (including overseas domain names such as dotcom and dotnet) are required to register with the ministry.

Service providers who have been disqualified, unregistered firms, and those whose services exceed the scope of business are being told to mend their ways and register within 45 working days.

Failure to register before the deadline will lead to severe punishment.

Telecommunication carriers will be ordered to cut Internet connections to those breaking the law.

Domain name registration providers are also being ordered to scrap illegal domain names and submit registration documents for approval.

Ministry of Education

Officials accountable: The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued a notice over incidents of rape in schools.

In future, school heads would be held responsible or even be dismissed if teachers are found to have committed such crimes.

Those who fail to report incidents to the police, will also be punished or dismissed.

The three departments also suggested that education bureax and schools at all levels establish a school crime reporting system, through which families of students and communities can enhance supervision of schools.

Moreover, schools and parents are being urged to help students learn more about the law, sex, and self-defence.

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