Premier Li Keqiang pressed for optimized regulatory work while presiding over a symposium during an inspection tour of the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The administration is a key department supervising millions of market entities, boosting the socialist market-led economy and optimizing its regulation mechanism in the market, the Premier said.

Under the market-oriented economy, the Premier added, innovation in regulation is in order. The regulatory authority should carry out its work in accordance with specific and well-organized categories instead of sticking with an all-purpose solution for various problems.

The regulatory authority should continue with streamlining administration and delegating powers, and bring the vigor of the market into full play through innovative regulation modes, the Premier said.

Fair and equal business market

According to a recent circular issued by the State Council, an array of administrations and commissions were integrated into the State Administration for Market Regulation as an institution directly affiliated to the State Council.

The newly established administration recently publicized a plan to expand administrative reform. Referring to the plan, the Premier praised prior reform measures taken by the administration’s predecessors, highlighting the all-inclusive business license and oversight model by randomly selected inspectors. This helped unleash a massive increase in employment and underpin China’s economic development, the Premier said.

Against the backdrop of complicated domestic and international situations, the State Administration for Market Regulation should proceed with the commercial system reform and ease market access. Meanwhile, more support should be offered to micro and small businesses — the backbone of job creation forces — in a bid to sharpen enterprises’ competitiveness and boost employment, the Premier said.

Multiple departments’ duties should be further integrated via the reform, in order to upgrade the State Administration of Market Regulation into a comprehensive department. The Premier pressed the administration to usher in a level-playing field for all market entities.

Rigorous case-by-case regulation mode

While inspecting the office of supervision and random checking for product quality and safety, the Premier fully affirmed the routine spot-checking work. The regulatory authority should hold fast to the oversight model of randomly selected inspectors, in a bid to deter producers and business operators from breaking the law.

Justified regulation and vitality of the market complement each other, the Premier said.

Innovation should be carried out under the principle of inclusiveness and prudence. Inclusiveness in this context means benevolence toward new business types. And prudence covers two aspects: The regulation authority should have a thorough observance of the emerging business types at the outset, and a clear line of security should be drawn in the sand to deter any business types from illegal activities, such as extortion, counterfeiting, and violation of copyrights, Premier Li said.

In addition, the new National Intellectual Property Administration, which directly reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation, should strengthen the protection of intellectual property and crack down on illegal activities, in order to benefit enterprises in safeguarding their legal rights.

A range of duties of other related departments have been transferred to the State Administration for Market Regulation, such as price supervision and examination as well as law-enforcement of anti-monopoly of the National Development and Reform Commission and centralized law enforcement of anti-monopoly for business operators of the Ministry of Commerce.

Referring to the new duties, Premier Li urged the administration to wipe out any monopolistic conduct that may hinder the market to come into full play.

Improving quality of products and services

At the supervision and random checking office, the Premier inquired about the qualification rate of products, and said that further efforts should be made to pave the way for middle and high end industries and high-quality services.

At the symposium, Premier Li pressed for fulfillment of a string of regulatory duties, with emphasis on carrying forward the entrepreneurship and craftsmanship spirit, raising enterprises’ awareness of the significance of quality, improving the construction of infrastructure, and expanding the regulatory platform, in a bid to advance the quality of products and build up brands through fair regulation.

Additionally, regulation in food and medicine safety should stay particularly stringent in order to safeguard public health, the Premier said. High technology should be integrated with routine methods to guarantee a strict all-around regulatory system and press food producers and pharmaceutical enterprises to fulfill their responsibilities.

The Premier said that the State Administration for Market Regulation should apply itself to fulfill its responsibilities, stay informed about appeals from the public and market entities, and bring out the vitality of the market, in a bid to enable China’s economic development to retain its long-lasting vigor and substantial momentum.