China slashes administrative approval items
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Chinese authorities will reduce the number of items subjected for the central government's administrative approval by ten percent to perfect the country's socialist market economy and fight rampant corruption.
According to a statement sent to Xinhua Wednesday from the State Council's administrative examination and approval system reform office, the State Council would remove 113 administrative approval items while delegating approval power for 71 items to government departments at lower levels.
More than half of the administrative approval items have been rescinded or adjusted since the country initiated its administrative examination and approval system reform in 2001, the statement read.
Earlier reports said the reform was aimed at cleaning up China's over-regulated administrative approval system, which had led to unnecessary government intervention in small businesses.
The lack of transparency and inadequate supervision of administrative authority had also resulted in many corruption cases.
In a typical case, the Zhengzhou city government of Henan Province set up a "steamed bread office" in the late 1990s which required the registration of every person in the city who wanted to make and sell steamed bread, and charged them with "advertisement fees" of 1,000 yuan each without central government approval.
While acknowledging that noticeable progress had been made since 2001, Wednesday's statement admitted that, currently, the number of administrative approval items was still more than needed.
It said the State Council's administrative examination and approval system reform office would, in the future, strengthen supervision to make sure that cancellation of the items was carried through, conduct relevant studies, and further deepen the administrative examination and approval system reforms.
