The Regulations of Hunan Province on Optimizing the Business Environment came into effect on January 1, 2025.
To facilitate understanding of the regulations by all interested parties, both domestic and international, and to better promote their effective implementation, the bilingual (Chinese-English) text of the regulations is hereby released for reference and study by all sectors of society.
Regulations of Hunan Province on Optimizing the Business Environment
(Adopted at the 13th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th Hunan Provincial People's Congress on November 29, 2024)
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 With a view to improving the quality and efficiency of the services for market entities, strengthening support for factors, securing the legitimate rights and interests of market entities, creating a more fair, transparent, stable, and predictable development environment, stimulating market vitality and social creativity, and promoting the high-quality development of economy, the Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Regulations on Improving the Business Environment issued by the State Council and other laws and administrative regulations, and based on the actual conditions of Hunan Province.
Article 2 To optimize the business environment, it is essential to uphold the principle of unswervingly consolidating and developing the public sector and unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public sector. The business environment shall be optimized by following a market-oriented, law-based and internationalized approach. The work system shall be implemented based on the leadership of the Party committee, the leading role of the government, overall planning and coordination, and participation by all parties. The service concept of making no unnecessary interventions and being responsive to all requests shall be put into practice. The transformation of government functions shall be the focus, with the needs of market entities at the center, and the satisfaction of market entities as the goal. These efforts are made to create a world-class business environment characterized by trade and investment facilitation, efficient administration, standardized administrative services, and well-established legal system.
Article 3 The people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the organizational leadership of the work on optimizing the business environment, clarify the competent departments and development targets for optimizing the business environment; establish a sound working mechanism for optimizing business environment; enhance the organizational structure and personnel allocation for optimizing the business environment; ensure fiscal guarantee; and promptly coordinate and resolve the significant issues in optimizing the business environment. The primary accountability for optimizing the business environment in their respective administrative regions and departments rests with the chief officials of all levels of people's governments and the relevant departments.
The competent departments for optimizing the business environment of the people's governments at or above the county level are responsible for organizing, coordinating, supervising, guiding, investigating, verifying, and ensuring accountability on the work concerning optimizing the business environment. The competent department of the Hunan Provincial People's Government is responsible for assessing the work on optimizing the business environment around the province.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments, supervisory, judicial, and procuratorial organs, people's organizations, and central government units in Hunan shall duly perform business environment optimization duties.
The people's governments at or above the county level shall establish a collaborative working mechanism for optimizing the business environment with supervisory, judicial, and procuratorial organs, people's organizations, and central government units in Hunan, jointly promoting resource sharing, mutual recognition and interoperability, and efficient collaboration.
Federations of industry and commerce at all levels shall serve as a bridge connecting the private sector with the government, conveying the concerns of private enterprises and assisting in the optimization of the business environment.
Article 4 All regions and departments should be encouraged to take active efforts to explore and innovate reform measures to optimize the business environment based on practical conditions and within the framework of the rule of law. Effective reform measures for optimizing the business environment from both inside and outside the province should be promoted.
Article 5 Unified positive, negative, and recommended lists governing interactions between governments and businesses shall be formulated at the provincial level. The lists aim to clearly define acceptable conducts between state public officials and operators of market entities and to foster proactive, considerate, and enthusiastic service delivery to operators of market entities by state public officials.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall streamline regular communication channels between government and business, establish a mechanism for regular and face-to-face consultations with representatives of market entities and help resolve their difficulties and problems according to law.
Article 6 Market entities' autonomy in operation, property rights, and other legitimate rights and interests, along with the personal and property safety of their operators, shall be protected in accordance with the law.
Market entities shall abide by laws and regulations, observe social morality and business ethics, be honest and trustworthy, engage in fair competition, fulfill their statutory obligations, shoulder their social responsibilities, and jointly promote the optimization of the business environment.
Chapter II Market Environment
Article 7 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall fully implement the national unified system of negative list for market access and shall not separately develop a negative list in the nature of market access. The policies and rules which may obstruct unified market construction and fair competition shall be cleared up and abolished. The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall not set up market access barriers, directly or in disguise, through such means of filing, registration, annual inspections, accreditation, certification, branch establishment, requirements for performance in designated administrative regions, payment of tax and social insurance in the region, or the formation of consortiums with local business entities; and shall not set up eligibility, capital, shareholding ratio, staffing, or other requirements beyond those mandated by law in terms of market access. All market entities may enter the fields outside the National Negative List for Market Access equally according to law. Management of investment not covered by the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for the Access of Foreign Investment shall be implemented in accordance with the principle of consistency between domestic and foreign investment.
The environment for market access to new business forms and new sectors shall be optimized. Phased elimination of market access restrictions should be implemented for service sectors not involving national security or social stability where market competition can effectively improve the quality of supply.
Article 8 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall, as per the relevant regulations, simplify the procedures required of business entities to follow from setting up to fulfillment of the general operating conditions. Unless laws or administrative regulations stipulate otherwise, matters concerning operating permits for market entities shall not be considered prerequisites for registration, and registration shall not be required to be conducted in designated regions.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall improve business startup services by implementing a system featuring one-time notification, one window processing, and one-stop online government services (One-stop System in short), while exploring the consolidation of multiple licenses required for market entry in a given industry into a single comprehensive industry license.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall establish a coordination mechanism for services related to the relocation of business entities, simplify the procedures for cross-regional relocation, and shall not place obstacles to cross-regional operations or relocation.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall improve a system for deregistering business entities with simplified procedures, optimize the deregistration process, and set up and improve an integrated online platform at the provincial level for deregistering business entities.
Article 9 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall uphold equal treatment to market entities under all forms of ownership. No discriminatory treatment shall be imposed on market entities in terms of qualification accreditation, tendering and bidding, government procurement, and protection of lawful rights and interests. No restrictions shall be placed on the trading, purchasing, or use of goods and services provided by specific business operators. No examination and approval, prior filing, or other administrative licensing procedures or intermediary services shall be established, unless justified by laws, regulations, or decisions of the State Council. No examination and approval, or filing procedures with the nature of administrative approval, shall be established for business sectors, areas, and operations not included in the negative list for market access. No franchise shall be granted to business operators without fair competition.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall ensure the equal participation of various market entities in government procurement, tendering and bidding, and other public resource trading activities. Potential suppliers or bidders shall not be required to establish local branches; neither shall any performance achievements, awards, etc. from specific regions or industries be used as a condition for earning extra marks, nor shall potential participants be excluded or restricted through any other means. The form of bid security shall not be limited, nor shall specific financial institutions, guarantors, or insurers be designated for issuing letters of guarantee (insurance policies).
Article 10 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments responsible for market supervision and administration shall strengthen enforcement of laws against monopoly and unfair competition in accordance with their statutory duties and powers. Relevant illegal acts shall be promptly investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law.
Business operators with a dominant market position shall not abuse their dominant market position to disrupt the order of fair market competition or harm the lawful rights and interests of other market entities. The provincial people's government and the departments responsible for market supervision and administration shall strengthen supervision of the platform economy and the sharing economy, and establish a sound system and mechanism against monopoly and unfair competition.
Article 11 The financial and pricing authorities of the provincial people's government are responsible for formulating and releasing the catalog of enterprise-related administrative charges. No unit shall arbitrarily establish charging items, raise charging rates, or expand charging scope. Compelling donations and extorting sponsorships shall be prohibited. Market entities shall not be forcibly required to participate in commercial insurance in violation of regulations.
Article 12 The provincial people's government shall regulate policies for attracting investment and strictly prohibit illegal fiscal, tax, land-use, or other preferential policies. Governments at all levels shall comply with relevant policies for attracting investment, refrain from engaging in cost-disregarding cutthroat competition, not violate resource and environmental systems and policy regulations, and avoid incurring illegal debt financing.
The people's governments at all levels may establish their guarantee mechanisms to ensure implementation and services of the investment projects, organizing, coordinating, and supervising relevant departments to jointly promote implementation of the key projects.
Article 13 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall, according to law, take timely measures including subsidies and reductions or exemptions of taxes and fees to help market entities that face widespread difficulty in production and business operations caused by natural disasters, public health emergencies, or other emergencies.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall intensify relief assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and increase support for government procurement. An emergency loan refinancing mechanism for SMEs is encouraged to be set up. Financial institutions are encouraged to arrange direct loan extensions or renewals to eligible SMEs following market-oriented principles. Local people's governments with adequate fiscal capacity are encouraged to allocate SME relief funds and emergency loan refinancing funds.
Article 14 Industry associations and chambers of commerce shall set up and improve standards for industry self-regulation and professional code of ethics to regulate the conduct of their members, and provide their members with services including information consultation, publicity and training, market expansion, and protection of legitimate rights and interests.
Unless laws and regulations stipulate otherwise, industry associations and chambers of commerce shall not force market entities to join or withdraw from such associations or chambers, nor compel them to participate in evaluations, standardization, training, examinations, or similar activities, nor charge fees for such participation.
Chapter III Guarantee of Factors
Article 15 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall ensure the supply of public goods such as municipal infrastructure, transportation, energy, information, public security, public services, and emergency rescue, while enhancing service level and quality.
Article 16 The people's governments at or above the county level shall coordinate the new construction land and the existing construction land, and scientifically develop a supply plan for construction land, giving priority to ensuring the reasonable land use needs of effective investment projects.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments may, according to law, supply industrial land in diversified forms such as long-term leases, lease before granting, combination of lease and granting, and flexible-term granting supply, to meet differentiated land use needs of market entities.
Article 17 The relevant departments of the provincial people's government shall coordinate the building of financing credit service platforms, push forward the integration and unified management of such platforms, establish a cross-departmental and cross-sectoral credit information collection and sharing mechanism, and improve the inclusive financing service system based on credit information in order to improve financing accessibility for market entities.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall enhance the government financing guarantee institution system, improve the financing guarantee risk-sharing compensation mechanism, reduce guarantee fee rates, and increase support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, science and technology-based enterprises, and innovative enterprises. The guarantee fee rate of a government financing guarantee institution shall not exceed the standards set by the State and the province.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall advance intellectual property (IP) pledge financing; improve risk-sharing and compensation mechanisms; facilitate the entry of IP service providers (covering valuation, trading, agency and legal services) into the financial services market; and incentivize banks to establish special credit lines.
Article 18 The competent departments of human resources and social security of the people's governments at or above the county level shall improve the public employment service platform, gather job recruitment information, and provide employers and workers with services including job posting, resume submission, job search and application support, and career counseling; support enterprises in recruiting talents through flexible methods, such as part-time work and consulting, in accordance with the law; and, guide enterprises to build harmonious labor relations and offer training and guidance to relevant enterprises to prevent employment risks and ensure legal handling of labor disputes.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall provide policy support and service guarantee for talents in the following aspects, including residence and household registration, housing purchase and renting, social security and medical insurance, education for their children, employment of their spouses, project incubation, financial support, and recruitment and promotions of professional rank and title. They shall support market entities in introducing foreign talents and facilitate foreign talents' stay, residency, medical care, multi-entry visa applications, and customs clearance.
Article 19 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall improve the system for scientific and technological innovation organization and implementation, improve a guarantee system for the elements of scientific and technological innovation, increase support for scientific and technological innovation in key and emerging areas, build trading platforms for scientific and technological elements, promote the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements, strengthen protection of intellectual property rights, and create a social environment that respects and protects scientific and technological innovation.
Article 20 The provincial people's government and the relevant departments shall establish and refine the working mechanisms for energy development, operation, and price control, establish a system featuring diversified energy supply and complete energy reserves, and explore new models for comprehensive energy management. The trading and supply system for water, electricity, coal, gas, and other resource products should be improved, reducing intermediate links between trading and supply to lower water and energy costs.
Article 21 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall strengthen transport infrastructure construction in such fields as railways, highways, water transport, and aviation, and improve the comprehensive three-dimensional transport system. The development of third-party logistics, specialized logistics, and online freight platforms should be encouraged and supported to optimize transport structures, streamline the logistics network, and reduce logistics costs.
The provincial people's government and the relevant departments shall, taking into consideration the practical conditions of the Hunan section of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake, Xiangjiang River, Zijiang River, Yuanshui River, Lishui River, and other water areas, formulate waterway transportation development plans, and strengthen navigation infrastructure construction and waterway maintenance and dredging, so as to improve waterway transportation capacity.
The competent provincial department of transportation shall, in collaboration with relevant provincial departments of price, finance, and others, establish a differentiated toll charging mechanism for expressways based on vehicle types, time periods, and road sections.
Article 22 The provincial people's government and the relevant departments shall accelerate construction of data infrastructure; cultivate the data factor market; break down data barriers; facilitate development and utilization of public data resources; improve systems for data property ownership identification, market transactions, rights and interests distribution, interests protection, and safety management, among others; and strengthen the supply of high-quality data as a production factor.
Article 23 The operation entities that supply public services such as water, electricity, gas, and communication networks shall, in accordance with the law, disclose to the public the service scopes, standards, charges, procedures, promised processing time limit and other information. They shall implement a joint application system for water, electricity, gas and communication networks, optimize operational procedures, simplify application processes, reduce processing time limit, and enable online handling of all installation applications through a One-stop System.
Within the scope of planned urban construction land, access projects that connect the construction unit's red line of planned construction land to public pipe networks in compliance with standard specifications, shall be invested and constructed by the operation entities that supply public services such as water, electricity, gas, and communication networks or by the people's governments in accordance with regulations, and the construction unit shall not be required to bear the corresponding construction expenses. No market entity shall be coerced into accepting unreasonable terms and conditions through service delays or other tactics. Design units, construction units, and equipment and material suppliers shall not be designated for projects within the red line of planned construction land. No unreasonable charges or cost shifting shall be permitted under any pretext.
Article 24 The provincial people's government and the relevant departments shall accelerate construction of opening-up platforms and international trade channels. These platforms, including the Pilot Zone for In-depth China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation, the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones, and comprehensive bonded zones, will undergo continuous upgrading to enhance international service capabilities.
The development of national logistics hubs and modern circulation strategic fulcrum (supporting) cities will be accelerated, and channels including international air freight service, international land ports, China-Europe freight trains, China-ASEAN freight trains, river-to-sea intermodal transport service, and Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transport service will be streamlined to facilitate international trade.
Chapter IV Government Services
Article 25 Administrative service management departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall collaborate with relevant departments to formulate and make public a catalogue of local government service items and corresponding service guidelines and carry forward non-discriminatory processing of the same item by the same standards. The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall establish a list-management and regular promotion mechanism for key matters in "Efficient Completion of One Matter", deepen the innovation of government service modes, and improve the quality and efficiency of government services.
Supervision over administrative efficiency will be strengthened and the status of administrative efficiency development will be incorporated into the province's scope of evaluation on optimizing the business environment. Where there are provisions in laws, regulations and rules and in relevant State provisions to govern the time limit for government service items, such items shall be settled within the prescribed time limit. The handling authority is encouraged to set a promised processing time limit which is shorter than the prescribed time limit. Where the application items meet the statutory conditions and are not settled within the prescribed time limit and the promised time limit, behaviors leading to administrative fault will be corrected in a timely manner, the relevant authorities and individuals will be held accountable and dealt with in accordance with laws, disciplines, and regulations. Where no time limit is prescribed, the handling authority shall set a processing time limit according to the principles of reasonableness and efficiency.
Article 26 Except for cases involving State secrets, national security, and other special circumstances, the people's governments at or above the county level shall handle government service items in the administrative area at a comprehensive government service center in a unified manner. Vertically-administered central government departments are encouraged to consolidate their administrative service items at local comprehensive government service centers for centralized processing.
Government service centers shall implement integrated one window processing mode; strengthen standardized management and improve service systems such as one-time notification, first-inquired person in charge, and time-limited processing; improve service modes such as appointment, assistance in handling, and agency services; and set up a backstop service window to promptly coordinate and address difficulties and problems during service processing.
Article 27 Administrative service management departments of the provincial people's government shall take the lead in implementing processing of government services on a One-stop System. Departments at all levels shall integrate various government service systems into and connect them with the provincial integrated government service platform to achieve date sharing.
The cross-provincial business support system of the national integrated government service platform will be leveraged to promote one-stop online handling of matters requiring government services in different places.
Article 28 The relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the law, formulate and disclose to the public a list of government service items that accept application without prerequisite for certain materials, and elaborate on the methods of undertaking service commitments and regulatory rules for commitment-based matters. The models of notification and commitment and acceptance of application without prerequisite for certain materials will be promoted in implementing the approval of government service items where risks are controllable, correction costs are minimal, and effective risk prevention is achieved through in-process and post-process oversight.
Article 29 Market entities' electronic licenses, electronic seals, and electronic archives in compliance with provisions have the same legal effect as paper ones, shall be recognized and shared among departments and across regions, and serve as the legal basis or proofs for a market entity to apply for government service items or obtain related qualifications.
Unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations, electronic licenses issued by the people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall be collected in real time and transferred into the electronic license database of the provincial integrated government service platform. When a market entity applies for relevant matters, if the necessary electronic licenses for business handling may be obtained through the electronic license database, the accepting authority shall not refuse to process the application or require the applicant to provide paper licenses, unless the law mandates the return of the original license.
Article 30 The people's governments at or above the county level shall deepen reform of the approval system for engineering construction projects, organize processing of parallel approval, and promote whole-process online approval of engineering construction projects.
With respect to the development zones and new areas set up in accordance with the law, and other regions endowed with proper conditions, regional assessment shall be conducted as per the relevant regulations of the State and the province, and the people's governments of prefecture-level cities and autonomous prefecture shall organize relevant departments to conduct a unified assessment for matters such as assessments of overlaying important mineral resources, environmental impact evaluations, geological hazards assessments, water resources assessments, soil and water conservation plans, water extraction permits, archaeological investigation and exploration of cultural relics, and major project climate feasibility studies. For specific construction projects in the regions, no separate assessments shall be required or assessment requirements will be simplified according to law. The costs of regional assessment shall not be borne by the market entities.
Article 31 Tax authorities and relevant departments shall optimize tax and fee handling process, simplify applications procedures for preferential tax and fee policies, provide a wider range of payment options, and expand contactless payment services.
Article 32 Real property registration agencies shall, in accordance with relevant regulations issued by the State, cooperate with the departments of public security, taxation, finance, housing and urban-rural development, agriculture and rural affairs, civil affairs, forestry, and market regulation, among others, and implement real property registration, transactions, and tax payments in parallel at one window.
The whole process time limit from completion inspection to initial registration and transfer registration of real property of the construction projects shall be shortened. Joint processing of water, electricity, gas, and other property transfer service matters involved in real property transfer registration shall be promoted.
Article 33 The relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with laws, regulations or decisions of the State Council, formulate and disclose to the public lists of intermediary services for administrative examination and approval in their respective industries and sectors. The specifications shall include the name of the intermediary matter, the statutory basis for administrative examination and approval, qualifications, procedures, time limit, and rates of charges for intermediary services for administrative approval, and the specifications shall be subject to lawful dynamic adjustments.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall not make unlisted intermediary services for administrative examination and approval a condition for processing administrative examination and approval. They shall not, in any form, require applicants to entrust an intermediary service agency or provide relevant intermediary service materials for unlisted intermediary services for administrative examination and approval. They shall not use their powers to designate directly or in disguised form intermediary service agencies for applicants.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall simplify procedures of intermediary services for administrative examination and approval. Intermediary services for administrative examination and approval shall be included in the integrated government service platform and a provincial online "intermediary service supermarket". The entire process of intermediary services for administrative examination and approval, such as selection of intermediary service agencies, payment of charges, document submission, and performance evaluation, will be conducted online and open to public supervision.
With respect to intermediary services for administrative examination and approval, the principles of convenience and accessibility shall be adhered to. Intermediary service agencies are encouraged to provide on-site services. The requirement for off-site assessment, off-site drawing review, and similar intermediary services for administrative examination and approval is generally prohibited, except in cases of major projects involving regional layout or projects with exceptionally complex technological aspects. With respect to intermediary services for administrative examination and approval entrusted by the people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments in accordance with the law, fair competition shall be conducted in the selection of intermediary service agencies, and service fees shall be paid.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall, in accordance with the law, strengthen supervision of intermediary service agencies and shall promptly shall promptly investigate and punish instances of false reporting and other acts in violations of laws or regulations by intermediary service agencies. A mechanism for the evaluation of the quality of intermediary services for administrative examination and approval shall be established and the evaluation results shall be disclosed on the integrated government service platform and other platforms.
Article 34 The provincial people's government shall establish a unified provincial platform for releasing enterprise-related policies. Unless laws and regulations stipulate otherwise or State secrets, national security and other circumstances are involved, the people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall classify and sort out all types of enterprise-benefiting policies and remove obsolete policies in a timely manner. Enterprise-related policies shall be disclosed via the unified platform and policy updates shall be proactively and accurately disseminated and explained to enterprises.
Article 35 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall establish a sound working mechanism to ensure that qualified enterprises may directly enjoy beneficial policies without going through the application procedure through information sharing, big data analysis, and other means. Where it is necessary for enterprises to apply for enterprise-benefiting policies, the application procedures shall be simplified and processed fully online to secure a rapid implementation of these policies.
Article 36 The people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen service guarantees for the fulfillment and implementation of projects contracted by foreign-invested enterprises, establish a sound system for communication and consultation and an on-site service mechanism, and coordinate to promptly address operational challenges faced by foreign-invested enterprises.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall support market entities to participate in overseas investment, scientific and technological cooperation, and other activities, establish and improve the mechanism for the prevention of foreign-related economic and trade disputes, and strengthen the identification, early-warning and disposal of external economic risks.
Customs authorities, commercial authorities, foreign exchange management authorities, and other relevant departments shall promote the facilitation of cross-border trade and investment. The "advance declaration and customs clearance" for import and export goods shall be expedited. The customs clearance model of "two-step declaration" for imports, and the model of port operations and logistics organization shall be optimized. Port logistics documents shall go paperless. The handling procedures of foreign exchange services shall be simplified. The whole-process digitalization and the efficiency of cross-border capital circulation shall be enhanced.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall improve the working mechanism for foreign-related legal services, strengthen the construction of foreign-related legal service agencies and the cultivation and recruitment of talents in foreign-related legal services, establish a platform for matching supply and demand in foreign-related legal services, and improve the mechanism for the prevention and resolution of foreign-related trade and economic disputes.
Article 37 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall establish a mechanism for the sharing of public credit information and the mutual recognition of results, and shall collect relevant public credit information as well as the information between the government and the market in a comprehensive, accurate, and timely manner to the provincial public credit information service platform based on relevant provisions issued by the State and the province. Public credit legal and compliance certificates that include information related to market entities and are produced by the provincial public credit information service platform may substitute the legal and compliance certificates issued by relevant departments.
All types of non-government credit information service platforms shall promptly update credit information involving market entities based on the relevant information released by the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and the provincial public credit information service platform. Where there are inconsistencies in the relevant information, no people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall use any information published by non-government credit platforms as a basis to prevent market entities from participating in relevant market activities. Where information published on non-government credit platforms is not updated timely, incomplete, or inaccurate, market entities may submit a complaint to the competent department of social credit work. Where the complaint is verified to be authentic, the competent department of social credit work shall require the non-government credit platforms to make corrections within a prescribed time period.
Chapter V Legal Safeguards
Article 38 When enacting and amending local regulations that are related to the rights and interests of market entities, the people's congresses and their standing committees with local legislative power shall stipulate the rights and obligations of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, and the power and responsibilities of State organs, and establish administrative permits, administrative penalty, administrative compulsory enforcement, and remedy measures in a scientific and reasonable manner.
Article 39 The formulation of regulations, normative documents, and policies involving market entities shall be reviewed for their scientificity, legitimacy, and fair competition, and shall strengthen the assessment of their consistency with macro-policy orientation in order to ensure that all regulations are aligned and coordinated.
The formulation of regulations, normative documents, and policies involving market entities shall solicit opinions from market entities, federations of industry and commerce, and industry associations and chambers of commerce. Where the legislative actions could increase the costs or affect the normal production and operations of market entities, a transition period of no less than one month shall be given to market entities, except the circumstances concerning national security and public interest, or circumstances where delayed implementation upon promulgation shall hinder the effectiveness of the implementation.
Policies involving market entities shall maintain a reasonable level of stability after implementation, and adjustments shall not be made arbitrarily unless necessary. In case an adjustment is necessary, it shall be announced to the public beforehand, and compensation shall be made in accordance with laws and regulations to any market entities whose legitimate rights and interests are impinged on by the policy change.
Article 40 The provincial people's governments, the people's governments of prefecture-level cities and autonomous prefecture, and the relevant departments shall improve the system of benchmarks for administrative discretion and establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for such benchmarks. The people's governments at the county level and the relevant departments may, within their statutory authority, reasonably refine the standards, conditions, types, extent, methods, and time limits of administrative discretion benchmarks formulated by higher administrative authorities.
Administrative authorities shall impose administrative penalties in strict adherence to the provisions of laws, regulations, and rules and the fact of violations. Where the objectives of administrative oversight can be achieved by imposing different types or degrees of administrative penalties in accordance with the law, those causing the least detriment to market entities shall be selected. Income from penalties and confiscations shall not be tied to the interests of law enforcement agencies. Profit-driven law enforcement, selective law enforcement, or excessive law enforcement are strictly prohibited.
In administrative law enforcement, non-mandatory means such as persuasion and enlightenment, exhortation and demonstration, and administrative guidance shall be strengthened. It is encouraged to formulate and disclose to the public, in accordance with the law, a list of violations that are not subject to administrative penalties or that may receive mitigated administrative penalties, as well as a list of violations that are not subject to administrative coercive measures.
The supervisory organs of administrative law enforcement shall strengthen the supervision and inspection of administrative law enforcement activities involving market entities, regularly carry out administrative law enforcement appraisals and assessments, and administrative law enforcement case files evaluation in order to safeguard the order of production and operation and the legitimate rights and interests of market entities in accordance with the law.
Article 41 Administrative authorities shall establish a new type of credit-based regulatory mechanism. For market entities that abide by legal obligations or contractual obligations, the frequency of inspections and the ratio of random checks shall be reasonably reduced during routine supervision.
The system of random selection of the inspection targets, random assignment of law enforcement staff, random inspection status, and timely public disclosure of inspection results and enforcement outcomes and exercising off-site law enforcement shall be implemented. Inspection results and other regulatory information shall be shared and mutually recognized to avoid duplicated law enforcement.
With respect to special industries and key fields directly related to public security and people's lives and health, comprehensive and priority supervision shall be implemented in accordance with the law. The inclusive and prudential supervision shall be practiced over new technologies, new industries, new forms of business, new business modes and others.
Article 42 The competent departments of industries or competent departments as prescribed by laws and regulations shall, in collaboration with relevant departments, implement cross-departmental comprehensive supervision over key areas directly involving the safety of people's lives and property and public security, or having huge potential risks and high social risks, and over matters involving multi-departmental supervision in emerging areas. Where two or more competent administrative departments carry out respective separate law enforcement inspections which can be conducted over the same market entity at the same time, the inspection matters shall be integrated and cross-departmental joint inspections or comprehensive inspections shall be implemented.
Except for random inspections over matters stipulated by laws and regulations that directly involve the safety of people's lives and property in such fields as food and drug safety, safety production, public security, and environmental protection, as well as law enforcement inspections temporarily carried out by the State and the provincial people's government, the number of administrative routine supervision and inspections of the same market entity shall be strictly controlled. If the number of inspections exceeds two in one year, the competent departments shall report to the people's government at the same level for approval.
Article 43 A QR code scanning registration system for enterprise-related law enforcement inspection shall be implemented. Before entering an enterprise to carry out law enforcement inspections, administrative law enforcement staff shall scan the Hunan Business Code for inspection registration, record the process, results and other information of the law enforcement inspections, and actively accept evaluations and supervision of the inspected entities. Where laws and regulations specify that there is no need to give prior notice to carry out law enforcement inspections, administrative law enforcement staff shall complete inspection registration after the inspections are carried out. The number of law enforcement inspections and that of cases handled shall not be linked to assessment and evaluation, and quantified targets shall not be allocated in a hierarchical manner.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall obtain the consent of enterprises before conducting activities such as learning exchanges, visits, study tours, and research investigations in the enterprises.
Article 44 Campaigns such as cleanup operations and special rectification shall be conducted in strict accordance with the law. Except where otherwise provided by laws and regulations or where national security considerations apply, measures requiring market entities operating in relevant industries and fields to suspend production or business shall not be adopted in the relevant region. Where such measures are deemed necessary, the scope and time limit of implementation shall be reasonably defined, and written or public notice shall be given in advance. The people's government at the corresponding level shall hold an executive meeting and submit a written report to the people's government at the higher level for approval prior to implementation.
Where market entities can carry out rectification while continuing production and operation, administrative authorities shall generally not impose administrative penalties such as suspension of production and operations, or shutdown.
Article 45 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall enhance integrity in government affairs and improve a mechanism for the governments to keep promises and fulfill commitments. The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall fulfill their policy commitments made to and various contracts and agreements signed with market entities in accordance with the law. They shall not breach or repudiate their commitments or contracts by reason of administrative division adjustment, government reshuffle, institutional or functional adjustment, or the replacement of a relevant responsible person. If it is necessary to change a policy commitment or contractual provisions in order to protect State interests or social and public interests, such changes shall be carried out in accordance with statutory authority and procedures, and the losses incurred to market entities shall be compensated in accordance with the law.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall deal with longstanding problems left over in a timely and appropriate manner, adhering to the principles of respecting history, seeking truth from facts, and following relevant laws and regulations. They shall not shirk their responsibilities.
Article 46 The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall strengthen the management of the approval process for government-funded projects and government procurement projects, as well as budgetary management of government investment funds. Where project construction and goods and services procurement are not included in the budget or where the sources of funding have not been secured, construction or procurement shall not commence. Market entities shall not be required, in any form, to provide advance financing for construction or to provide services.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall establish and improve a long-lasting sound mechanism for preventing and defusing default on payments to market entities, and shall intensify their efforts to clear the outstanding payments owed to market entities by State organs, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions.
State organs, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions shall make payments to market entities in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contracts. No entity shall refuse or delay payments to market entities on the grounds of personnel changes, the performance of internal payment processes, or waiting for completion acceptance and approval, and final account audits in the absence of an agreement in the contracts. A repayment plan shall be formulated and strictly implemented for historically accumulated, undisputed outstanding payments and those that have been adjudicated by the judiciary without objection. The people's governments at the same or higher levels shall supervise the implementation of the plan.
Article 47 The people's governments and the people's courts at or above the county level shall establish and improve a government-court joint mechanism for managing enterprise bankruptcy proceedings, and coordinate the resolution of such issues as employee settlement, asset disposal, credit rehabilitation, risk mitigation, deregistration procedures, and tax-related matters arising during these proceedings.
The people's governments at or above the county level are encouraged to establish enterprise bankruptcy assistance funds to solve the problem of initiating and advancing bankruptcy proceedings for enterprises that have no property for liquidation or lack start-up funds. They shall explore the establishment of bankruptcy rescue mechanisms such as reorganization identification and pre-reorganization, to help distressed enterprises with development prospects and worthy of rescue in restructuring.
Article 48 Supervisory organs shall strengthen the supervision of relevant authorities and state public officials in promoting the optimization of the business environment, and shall investigate and punish, in accordance with the law, the unlawful exercises of functions and power that harm the business environment. Relevant entities and individuals who make deviations or mistakes and fail to achieve the expected goals while advancing reforms to optimize the business environment may be granted lenient, mitigated, or exempted liability under applicable laws and regulations, provided they have not violated any mandatory legal provisions, have complied with State and provincial reform directives, have followed prescribed decision-making and implementation procedures, have exercised due diligence and responsible conduct, and have neither sought personal gain nor harmed public interests.
Article 49 Courts shall adjudicate cases involving market entities impartially and efficiently in accordance with the law. They shall establish an expedited mechanism for case filing, hearing, and settling as prescribed, and ensure the timely realization of the rights and interests of market entities in the winning lawsuit in accordance with the law. The people's governments at all levels and relevant departments, people's organizations, and enterprises and public institutions shall strengthen cooperation and collaboration with executive organs to jointly promote the execution.
Procuratorial organs shall prosecute criminal acts infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of market entities in accordance with the law. They are responsible for exercising legal supervision over administrative law enforcement, investigation, trial, and execution activities involving market entities, thereby ensuring the protection of their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.
Article 50 Judicial organs shall strengthen and regulate the review and assessment of the necessity for detention in enterprise-related cases. Administrative and judicial organs shall not intervene in economic disputes by administrative or criminal means.
Administrative and judicial organs shall, in accordance with the law, prudently apply mandatory measures such as sealing up, seizing, or freezing. They are prohibited from imposing mandatory measures such as sealing up, seizing, or freezing of the property of market entities or the private property of business operators in violation of statutory authority, requirements, or procedures, and beyond prescribed scopes, amounts, or time limits. Where sealing up, seizing, or freezing is legally necessary, efforts should be made to minimize the impact on the normal production and operation of market entities. When conditions permit, necessary liquidity and operating accounts should be reserved for market entities.
Article 51 The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall adhere to and develop the "Fengqiao Experience" in the new era, optimize the coordinated dispute resolution linkage mechanism, and promote the construction of one-stop multiple disputes resolution mechanisms.
Chapter Ⅵ Supervision, Rewards, and Punishments
Article 52 The mechanism for making complaints about and safeguarding rights on the business environment shall be established and improved. Any entity or individual may make complaints or reports concerning the business environment via the Hunan Business Code, the Hunan Business Environment Optimization Network, 12345 government service hotline, the Private Enterprise Service Center, and the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Service Center. The competent authorities in charge of optimizing the business environment of the people's governments at or above the county level shall improve the mechanism for collecting, processing, responding to, and evaluating appeals from market entities.
The people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments shall set up a smooth channel to accept complaints or reports and give feedback, and establish a mechanism for rapid processing of these complaints or reports. Where a resolution cannot be reached, the circumstances shall be promptly communicated and explained.
Article 53 News media shall strengthen publicity of laws, regulations, and policies and measures aimed at improving the business environment, and give full play to the role of public opinion supervision, thus fostering a favorable public opinion climate to facilitate the business environment optimization.
News media shall objectively, truthfully, and impartially report on the production and operational activities of market entities and their fulfillment of social responsibilities, and shall not exaggerate facts or make false reports. Where the news media produce inaccurate reports, they shall bear the responsibilities of eliminating the adverse impact, restoring reputations, making apologies, and compensating for losses in accordance with the law.
The people's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments shall support the news media's public opinion oversight of the business environment, promptly investigate and address behaviors that impair the business environment as reported by the media, and disclose the results of these investigations to the public.
Article 54 The people's governments at or above the county level shall establish a social supervision system for optimizing the business environment and engage industry associations, chambers of commerce, enterprises and business operators as business environment monitoring stations (posts/officers) to observe, experience, and supervise the business environment. They shall take the lead in establishing a mechanism for random inspections and examination of the business environment, and implement a system of red or yellow card warning, time-limited rectifications, and regular reporting.
The competent departments for optimizing business environment of the people's governments at or above the county level may supervise the optimization of the business environment by the following means:
(1) Conduct regulatory oversight with spot checks, and carry out both overt and covert investigations;
(2) Inquire about the situation from relevant entities and individuals, and collect and retrieve evidence;
(3) Hold regulatory talks with the persons in charge of relevant entities;
(4) Put forward suggestions to competent authorities; and
(5) Other supervision means as stipulated by laws, regulations, and rules.
Article 55 The people's governments at or above the county level shall regularly report to the standing committees of the people's congresses at the same level on the work of optimizing the business environment. The local standing committees of the people's congresses at or above the county level may supervise the implementation of various initiatives related to optimizing the business environment by listening to and deliberating work reports, conducting law enforcement inspections, holding special inquiries, organizing representatives to conduct inspections, and managing the filing and review of normative documents.
Article 56 The competent departments of the provincial people's government for business environment, with reference to the international and national business environment indicator systems, formulate the evaluation and monitoring indicator system of the province. They shall organize prefecture-level cities, autonomous prefecture, counties (county-level cities and districts), industrial parks above the provincial level, and relevant provincial departments to engage in evaluation and monitoring of the business environment. The people's governments at or above the county level shall adjust and improve corresponding policies and measures in a timely manner based on the results of evaluation of the business environment.
Evaluation and monitoring of the business environment shall be carried out by listening to the opinions and suggestions of market entities, deputies to the people's congresses, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference committees, and supervisors of business environment.
Article 57 Where operators in the platform economy or sharing economy abuse their dominant market position and disrupt the order of market competition, the market supervision and regulation administration departments shall order them to cease the illegal acts, confiscate any illegal gains, and impose a fine of no less than 1% and no more than 5% of their sales from the previous year; or if the circumstances are serious, a fine of no less than 5% and no more than 10% of the previous year's sales shall be imposed.
Article 58 The competent departments for social credit of the provincial people's government are responsible for establishing and improving a complaint system for defaults and bad credit, and shall incorporate government defaults and instances of bad credit into the evaluation of the business environment.
For State organs, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions that have breached contract or exhibited bad credit, the competent authorities may take punitive measures such as restricting all kinds of government financial support, limiting the recommendation of various financing projects, restricting the applications for supportive policies, canceling the qualifications for participating in merit-based evaluation, restricting participation in government procurement, and reducing general expenditures and spending on official overseas visits, official vehicles, and official hospitality.
Where public utility enterprises and public institutions, intermediary service agencies, and other market entities illegally conduct public resource trading activities, levy unjustified charges, issue false certificates or reports, manipulate service market prices, violate business norms and professional ethics, and defraud government subsidies to seek illegitimate interests or disrupt market order, the relevant administrative organs shall investigate and punish in accordance with the law. The violations shall be recorded in the credit information notification system and the credit information sharing platform in accordance with relevant national and provincial regulations, and joint punishment will be implemented.
Article 59 State public officials who have made outstanding contributions to the work of optimizing the business environment shall be rewarded in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
Where state public officials violate the provisions of these Regulations or commit any of the following acts, the competent authorities shall order them to make rectifications. Under serious circumstances, the leaders-in-charge held directly responsible and personnel directly responsible shall be penalized in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. They shall not be given any rewards for that year and shall not be eligible for promotions during the period of administrative sanction:
(1) Unlawfully set up differential treatment for market entities in terms of qualification acquisition, bidding and tendering, government procurement, and protection of rights and interests;
(2) Formulate a separate negative list for market access;
(3) Set entry thresholds in the name of filing, registration, annual inspection, affirmation, certification, setting up branches, performance from a specific administrative area, paying taxes and social security in the region, or forming a consortium with local business entities, or in any other name in disguised form;
(4) Link the number of law enforcement inspections and the number of cases handled to assessment and evaluation;
(5) Link penalty and confiscation revenues to the benefits of administrative law enforcement authorities, or carry out profit-driven law enforcement, selective law enforcement, or excessive law enforcement;
(6) Unwarrantably fail to fulfill policy commitments made to market entities in accordance with the law or the different kinds of contracts concluded in accordance with the law;
(7) Unwarrantably default on payments to market entities for goods, engineering construction, services, or other items, or refuse or delay payments to market entities; and
(8) Other acts in violation of the provisions of these Regulations and with bad negative influences.
Chapter Ⅶ Supplementary Provisions
Article 60 These Regulations shall come into effect on January 1, 2025.