China to further facilitate business operations of enterprises

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China's top market  regulator vows more efforts in optimizing the business environment and  deepening business system reforms to spur the vitality of market  entities.

To facilitate business operations of enterprises, the country has  been advancing the reform of separating business licenses from  administrative permits to streamline approval procedures in 18 pilot  free trade zones, Yang Hongcan, an official with the State  Administration for Market Regulation, told a press conference Wednesday.

The administration will gradually expand the coverage of the measure throughout the whole country.

In the first half of this year, the daily average number of  newly-launched businesses in China remained at about 20,000 despite the  COVID-19 epidemic, registering a positive result of the business  facilitation, Yang said.

Business start-up services for enterprises will be further optimized. The time needed to start a company will be reduced to four working days or less by the end of this year, according to Yang.

Meanwhile, online services for enterprises shall be enhanced to  utilize new technologies including big data and artificial intelligence  and promote digital certificates.

Location restrictions on business registration applying to micro and  small enterprises and self-employed people will be relaxed, Yang said,  adding that a negative list management system for locations of  individual businesses will be established and improved as soon as  possible. Enditem