The legislative process of the Private Economy Promotion Law has accelerated, and the law guarantees the equal treatment of private enterprises

At the beginning of this year, the call for legislation on the private economy received a clear response from the legislature and government departments, and the legislative process of the law on the promotion of the private economy is expected to accelerate.

On 8 January, the NPC's Financial and Economic Committee reported that the law on the promotion of the development of the private economy "is indeed necessary." on 9 January, the responsible comrade of the National Development and Reform Commission's Bureau of the Private Economic Development Bureau said that the legislative process of the law on the promotion of the private economy should be accelerated.

Yicai learned from people familiar with the matter that relevant departments have done some preliminary research on private economic legislation, and have also commissioned some experts to do research, but at present, the industry has not yet formed a relatively mature draft.

Transform the decision-making and deployment of the development of private enterprises into legal norms

At present, the law on the promotion of the private economy has not yet been included in the promulgated legislative plan of the Standing Committee of the 14 th National People's Congress, but in recent years, there have been entrepreneurs who have been directly speaking out, calling on the state to introduce special laws to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the private economy.

In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) stated in its reply to relevant suggestions that the NDRC will actively carry out legislative research on equal legal protection for private enterprises, and when conditions are ripe, transform the major decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the development of the private economy into legal norms.

During the two sessions last year, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce submitted the "Proposal on Formulating the Law on the Promotion of the Private Economy" to the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, putting forward nine suggestions including "equal status, fair competition, and protection of rights and interests", and suggested that the legislative process of the "Private Economy Promotion Law" should be launched simultaneously, and it should be introduced as soon as possible when the conditions are ripe, "giving enterprises a full sense of security".

On 8 January, the NPC Financial and Economic Committee reported on the results of the deliberation of the motions submitted by the deputies submitted by the presidium of the first session of the 14 th National People's Congress for deliberation, saying that the 22 legislative items involved in 30 bills, including the Law on the Promotion of the Development of the Private Economy, are indeed necessary for legislation, and suggested that the relevant departments should strengthen research and demonstration, and strive to include them in the NPC Standing Committee's future legislative plan or annual legislative work plan when the conditions are ripe.

The relevant responsible comrades of the Private Economic Development Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission said that the requirements for equal treatment of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises should be put down in terms of system and law. Accelerate the legislative process of the law on the promotion of the private economy, and strive to build a legal and institutional guarantee system to promote the development of the private economy.

In the above-mentioned proposal, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce stated that for private market entities, the rule of law is the best business environment, and the law is the most fundamental guarantee. Ten years of the new era, the Party Central Committee, the State Council issued a series of policy documents to strengthen the protection of property rights, stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit, support the reform and development of private enterprises, and promote the united front work of the private economy in the new era. The advantages of a more mature system have been transformed into governance efficiency, making the rule of law the biggest reassurance for the development of the private economy in the new journey.

The above-mentioned people familiar with the matter told Yicai that although the central government has issued a number of high-level documents to support the development of the private economy, there is still a need for legislation, and the stability, long-term and enforcement of the law are stronger than the policy, and the legislation tends to fix some good policies to support the development of the private economy in the form of law.

The focus is on the equal treatment of private enterprises

During the two sessions of the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce proposed that it is a systematic project to emphasize the protection of rights and interests under the rule of law, promote the steady and far-reaching development of private enterprises, and "fall down" the policy spirit of the Party Central Committee on promoting the development and growth of the private economy, which must rely on a stable and mature legal and institutional system.

At the end of last year, the relevant departments proposed in the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference for private enterprises that promoting the development and growth of private enterprises is one of the key points of the central economic work this year. The most important thing is to improve the socialist rule of law system with Chinese characteristics, safeguard the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law, and break down the institutional obstacles that restrict private enterprises from participating in market competition fairly.

Xu Zelin, a lecturer at the Law School of Anhui University and a part-time researcher at the Competition Law and Policy Research Center of Wuhan University, told the first financial reporter that the difficulty in demonstrating the right of fair competition of market entities is a problem encountered in the current development of the private economy in the mainland. In practice, the phenomenon of local governments interfering in the market and meddling in enterprises often occurs, and the market dominant position of private enterprises has not been fully established. At present, it is necessary and urgent to further build a legal environment that supports the innovative development of the private economy.

The proposal of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce put forward nine suggestions for the legislation of the Law on the Promotion of the Private Economy. First of all, it is necessary to clarify the six basic principles for promoting the private economy, that is, to achieve equal status, common development, fair competition, mutually beneficial cooperation, equal supervision and equal protection compared with enterprises under other ownership systems. Ensure that private enterprises use resource elements equally in accordance with the law, participate in market competition openly, fairly and justly, and are equally protected by law, so as to achieve equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal rules.

The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce also proposed to promote the common development of private enterprises and enterprises under other forms of ownership, prohibit macroeconomic regulation and control departments and market supervision departments from discriminating against private enterprises, and ensure that the development of enterprises depends on the free choice of the market. At the same time, private enterprises are encouraged to compete fairly with enterprises under other forms of ownership. The principle of competition neutrality is stipulated, and the formulation of industrial policies must not violate competition policies and must not discriminate against private enterprises. It is necessary to sanction not only unfair monopoly behavior, but also to crack down on unfair competition.

Xu Zelin said that the government's supervision of private enterprises has not fully met the requirements of the modern economic system of "more services than restrictions", and some departments are both market managers and market participants. In this context, some state-owned enterprises have obtained resources that would otherwise be allocated by the market mechanism, so that some of the inefficient enterprises can be maintained, and the efficient enterprises have lost the opportunity to compete fairly.

People familiar with the matter said that the main demand of enterprises is equal protection, but from the existing legal provisions, there are not many unequal legal provisions, and private enterprises are more problems at the implementation level, and there are actual inequalities in the implementation in some places. After the legislation, because the law is more mandatory and binding, it can improve the problems in implementation to a certain extent.

Yicai also learned from the academic circles that there is still a certain amount of controversy in the theoretical circles about whether to carry out special legislation for the private economy, because the mainland already has a law on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the theoretical circles have different views on how to cut the law on the promotion of private economy from the law on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The National Development and Reform Commission proposes to make all forms of ownership of the economy equally use the factors of production in accordance with the law, participate in market competition fairly, and be equally protected by the law, put an end to selective law enforcement and let enterprises "prove their innocence" type of supervision, so as to create a good and stable expectation for the development of the private economy.

The legislative proposal of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce also proposes to ensure that private enterprises are supervised on an equal footing with enterprises under other forms of ownership. Implement equal and integrated supervision of all types of enterprises, and put an end to selective law enforcement. Abide by the principles of rule of law government, such as subject legality, authority legality, procedural legality, and sufficient evidence, to ensure that outcome justice and procedural justice are organically combined, so as to achieve regulation to promote development.