A worker rushes to fill orders at a factory in an industrial park in Nanchong, Southwest China's Sichuan Province on January 16, 2024. The province has built financing platforms and promoted scientific and technological innovations for private firms, in a bid to optimize the business environment of the private economy and boost the high-quality development of the local economy. Photo: VCG

The draft law on private sector promotion will be submitted for preliminary reading. Key measures, including ensuring fair competition and protecting enterprises' rights and interests, will be codified into legal norms, a national legislation body said on Thursday.

"Enacting a law on promoting the private economy and ensuring equal treatment and protection in accordance with the law will maximize the market's role in resource allocation while enhancing the government's function," Wang Xiang, a spokesperson for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), said on Thursday during a press conference. 

The Legislative Affairs Commission is responsible for drafting the NPCSC's legislative plans.

Crucial measures to enhance the development of the private economy in multiple areas, such as ensuring fair competition, improving the investment and financing environment, supporting scientific and technological innovation, focusing on normative guidance, optimizing service guarantee, and strengthening rights and interests protection, are set to be enshrined in legal norms, Wang stressed.

"The private sector promotion law aims to further optimize the environment for the development of the private economy, which has a far-reaching significance for the high-quality development," said Wang.

In addition to the private sector promotion law, a number of high-profile draft laws and amendments will also be submitted for preliminary reading, including amendments to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, draft of value-added tax law, amendments to the Fisheries Law, and draft of hazardous chemicals safety law, according to Wang.

The draft laws and amendments will be deliberated at the 13th session of the 14th NPCSC, which will be held in Beijing from December 21 to 25.

"The draft amendment to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law intends to strengthen the supervision of platform operators using data and algorithms to implement unfair competition on the internet, and enhance the governance of commercial bribery," said Wang.

The purpose of strengthening algorithm supervision is to prevent the occurrence of unfair competition on the internet, and to establish a complaint and reporting mechanism to address such practices of using data and algorithms for unfair competition, Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for the Information and Communication Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"By strengthening the governance of commercial bribery, the revised draft law aims to address improper behaviors and uphold market fairness and transparency. The biggest difficulty in the law enforcement of commercial bribery is to define the scope of behavior, and the amended law enhances the precision and effectiveness of law enforcement," said Pan.

In addition to legislation, China also has pledged to further enhance law enforcement to improve the business environment.

A special initiative will be launched in 2025 to regulate business-related law enforcement, with the aim to improve the business environment, boost market confidence and stabilize expectations, according to a study session held by the State Council on Monday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Under the new arrangements for the private economy conveyed by the Central Economic Work Conference, measures will be implemented to standardize business-related law enforcement to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises and entrepreneurs, an official from the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said on Monday.

Global Times