Simpler procedures, law on environmental protection insurance

Ministries have responded to a series of media and public inquiries about policies in the last week.

The State Administration for Industry & Commerce and the State Administration of Taxation explained their recent move to combine business license and tax registration forms into one, which will be introduced first to four pioneer provinces and municipalities.

The two administrations said that private business is an essential part of China's economy, adding that simplifying administrative procedures and making them more convenient has long been an aim of the State Council. Since they combined the licenses for enterprises and agricultural cooperatives in October last year, the State Council accelerated reform for small businesses. The move will not only make administrative procedures more convenient for small businesses, but also enhance the sharing of their data among government departments.

Leading officials from the education and finance ministries responded to media questions about a recent move to make students from poor families exempt from paying tuition fees for high school education.

High school education is not compulsory, but with the popularization of college education, high school learning has gained importance. As China promotes an innovation-driven economy, it is important to grant more young people the opportunity to attend high school to raise the population's education level.

The move also enables student subsidies to cover students at all levels of education, from kindergarten to postgraduate studies. Leading officials of the two ministries said they will further improve the system to provide more aid to high school students in need.

They also promised that students in both public and private high schools will receive subsidies, adding that 440 million yuan ($65.86 million) has been allocated for such aid.

China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, issued a document on the building of a "green" financial system, of which a key component is the plan to draft a law on compulsory environmental protection insurance.

An official at the China Insurance Regulatory Commission responded to inquiries about the insurance. According to the official, the commission will first introduce the insurance experimentally in certain industries with high environmental risks, and encourage insurance companies to develop relevant services that suit the market.

Last year alone, domestic enterprises signed more than 14,000 mandatory environmental insurance contracts, with total risk guarantees exceeding 24.4 billion yuan.

An official in charge of food safety at the State Council responded to inquiries about their move to evaluate food safety levels at provincial-level governments. He said such governments will be rated A, B or C according to their performance, adding that the leading officials of those rated C will not be allowed to receive any honors for that year.

In addition, the provincial-level governments that food safety inspections find to be below set standards must submit their proposals for improvements within one month of an inspection.

zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn