The central business district of Beijing Photo: VCG

China's State Council, the country's cabinet, published a series of regulations on Tuesday to promote the development of small businesses and stabilize employment in urban and rural areas, as individual entrepreneurs play an important role in the national economy and social development. 

Individual entrepreneurs play an important role in economic prosperity, increasing employment, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as facilitating the lives of residents, the regulations said.

The regulations stressed the principle of equal access to the market and fair treatment of individual entrepreneurs, noting that their property rights and business autonomy are protected by law.

The country will encourage entrepreneurial investment institutions and social capital to support the development of individual entrepreneurs, as well as urging financial institutions to develop and provide financial products and services suitable for the development of individual entrepreneurs, while expanding the scale and coverage of loans.

The State Council aims to strengthen the guidance, comprehensive coordination and supervision to promote individual businesses and accurately grasp the overall situation of the development of self-employed entrepreneurs.

In addition, the new rules provide comprehensive support for the development of small businesses, rolling out provisions in areas such as finance and taxation, entrepreneurship and employment, digital development and intellectual property protection.

The regulations require relevant departments not to discriminate against individual entrepreneurs when formulating relevant policies, and to avoid charges for individual businesses that violate laws.

The regulations will take effect from November 1, 2022, the State Council said.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said that compared with former regulations, the new ones have been transformed from special regulations on registration and management to comprehensive regulations on promoting development, in a bid to enhance the synergy of administrative regulations, highlight the legislative intent of supporting the development of individual entrepreneurs, and clearly release the strong signal of supporting development.

Due to the impact of the sporadic flare-ups of COVID-19, the country has rolled out a series of policies including reducing rent and increasing credit support to address difficulties faced by individual entrepreneurs.