Shandong advances in creating law-based business environment

East China's Shandong province has made creating a law-based business environment one of its top priorities, and ramped up its effort to support enterprises with civilized law enforcement.

Enhancing institutional support

Aimed at clearing the way for the healthy growth of market entities of all types, Shandong issued a series of regulations on issues including talent cultivation, social credit management, business environment improvement and the construction of its pilot free trade zone, laying a solid institutional foundation for the development of a business-friendly environment.

It also overhauled its legislative system, resulting in 25 local regulations and rules of the provincial government being revised and 18 repealed.

In addition, the province's judicial department has developed draft rules, which have been adopted by the provincial legislature, on delegating more administrative power to the authorities of its pilot free trade zone and the Qingdao-based regional economic and trade demonstration zone jointly built by China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Improving government services

To streamline government services, Shandong has taken a range of measures including providing one-stop service, rolling out the notification and commitment system, and adopting differentiated supervision of enterprise based on their credit risk levels.

It has also accelerated the building of an online provincial public credit information platform on which up to 1.65 billion pieces of information about 10.5 million market entities across the province are now available.

In October 2020, Shandong named its first demonstration regions and projects for building a law-based government, a key step towards creating a business environment under the rule of law.

Regulating law enforcement and judicial acts

As part of its effort to regulate law enforcement and judicial acts, Shandong has improved its complaint handling mechanism for enterprises, effectively safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.

Cities across the province also took concrete steps to this end such as banning unlawful law enforcement acts that disturb enterprises' normal operation, consolidating various legal services for the convenience of the public, and cracking down on crimes that harm enterprises' interests.