China issues new rules on government approval of investment projects
June 13, 2014--The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) promulgated the Measures on Administration of Investment Projects Examined and Approved by the Government on 26 May. Under these new measures, the approval authorities must seek the views of members of the public through appropriate means on investment projects that may have a major impact on public interest and may implement a system of expert appraisal on projects of especially great importance. These measures will come into force on 14 June 2014.
The Measures specify that the government should mainly examine in accordance with relevant laws and regulations project application reports submitted by enterprises from angles such as safeguard of economic security, rational exploitation and utilisation of resources, protection of ecological environment, optimisation of key layouts, protection of public interest and prevention of monopoly and make their decision on whether or not to approve these projects on this basis. Efforts will also be made to strengthen supervision and management.
Enterprises are free to decide on matters relating to the market prospects, economic benefits, sources of funds and technical protocols of products and have to bear their own risks. The approval authorities may not intervene in the investment autonomy of enterprises.
An NDRC official in charge of investment explained that NDRC promulgated these measures in accordance with the Law of the PRC on Administrative Permission and the Decision of the State Council on Reform of Investment System to further deepen the reform of the investment system, regulate government approval of projects of investment by enterprises and bring about convenient and efficient services and effective management.
The Measures list the main points that each project application report should include. NDRC has compiled and published universal texts of project application reports, samples of application reports for major trades and archival formats for project approval.
The Measures also require the project approval authorities to draw up and make public their Service Guidelines and list the documents and supporting materials required, the methods of acceptance of application, the conditions of examination, the processing procedures and deadlines and other details to increase the transparency of their work and provide guidance and service to units applying for approval of investment projects.