Court File photo: VCG

China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Tuesday released a six-pronged guideline, with five detailed judicial policies, to promote the development of the private sector, with a focus on protecting the property rights of private enterprises and the lawful interests of entrepreneurs.

Judicial interpretations were formulated to increase penalties for corruption by private enterprises' employees and enhance the legal enforcement of the recovery of stolen property, improve the normalized correction mechanism for wrongful cases, and protect the rights of private economic entities to apply for state compensation in accordance with the law, according to the guideline.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's cabinet, issued guidelines on July 19 that aimed at improving the business environment, enhancing policy support and strengthening legal guarantees, in order to promote the growth of the private economy.

Focusing on the above-mentioned guidelines, government departments and agencies have been rolling out specific policies to support the vital sector, a crucial driving force for the country's economic output.

The SPC stipulated that economic disputes and crimes will be more strictly distinguished, and it will strictly standardize the legal procedures for taking compulsory measures.

The SPC guideline also calls for strengthening the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of parties and persons not involved in a given case, minimizing the adverse impact of judicial activities such as the recovery of stolen properties on the production and operation of private enterprises and other relevant persons not involved in a case, and unblocking channels for persons not involved in a case to express their claims in the criminal recovery procedures.

The SPC also vowed to put more emphasis on cracking down on online rumors and smears violating the rights of private companies, and clamping down on malicious online comments that damage the reputation of businesses and entrepreneurs, so as to create a favorable public media environment for the private economy.

In the past decade, the number of private companies in China grew by 3.7 times to account for 92.4 percent of all businesses, according to an online post on SPC's website, which noted that the high-quality development of private companies is a major foundation of the high-quality development of the Chinese economy.

In the first nine months, courts at all levels nationwide accepted 19,797 bankruptcy cases, concluded 11,517 cases, resolved debts worth 1.08 trillion yuan ($147.98 billion) and helped more than 1,000 companies "come back to life" through reorganization and reconciliation.

In September, China announced the establishment of a bureau specializing in promoting the private economy's development under the country's top economic planner in a significant move to further bolster the private sector.