On the morning of October 28, the General Administration of Market Regulation held a regular press conference for the first quarter of 2024. The following is the transcript of the press conference:
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Yu Jun, Spokesperson of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Director of the Press and Publicity Department: Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good morning! Welcome to the General Administration of Market Regulation’s regular press Conference for the first quarter of 2024. The theme of this conference is: to comprehensively summarize the effectiveness of the policy measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition, and accelerate the construction of the national unified large market.
The report of the Party’s 20th National Congress clearly calls for the construction of a national unified large market. The Central Economic Work Conference held in December last year also stressed the need to speed up the construction of a unified large market across the country and strive to eliminate all forms of local protection and market segmentation. In order to implement the requirements of the overall work plan for building a unified national large market deployment, since June 2023, the State Administration of Market Regulation, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments, has organized the cleanup of policies and measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition. In the process of centralized cleaning for a period of 6 months, all regions and departments accelerated the cleaning work in accordance with the requirements of the work, and achieved positive results. In order to facilitate everyone to understand the relevant work, today we invite Mr. Zhou Zhigao, Director of the Competition Coordination Department of the General Administration of Market Regulation, Ms. Zhao Chunlei, Deputy Director of the Competition Coordination Department, and Mr. Wang Renfei, Deputy Director of the Restructuring Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, to attend the press conference and answer questions from reporters.
Now, let me first give you a brief introduction to the relevant work.
In order to implement the relevant requirements of the overall work plan and recent measures for building a unified national large market deployment, and break local protection and administrative monopolies, with the consent of The State Council, on June 28, 2023, The State Administration of Market Regulation and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the Notice on Cleaning up Policies and Measures that impede the Unified Market and Fair Competition, deploying all regions and departments to centrally clean up policies and measures formulated before December 31, 2022 and currently effective. At present, the tasks of centralized cleanup have been completed, and the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, relevant ministries and commissions under The State Council and agencies directly under The State Council have all reported the cleanup status of their regions and departments.
In the six-month centralized cleanup process, the General Administration of Market Supervision strengthened unified guidance, urged all regions to promote the cleanup work as a whole, and left no dead corners, and successively went to Beijing, Xinjiang and other six provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) to carry out special research on the implementation of the cleanup work, and went to Anhui, Jilin and other four provinces to carry out field inspections. Issued four issues of the “Prompt Letter on Doing a good job in the centralized cleanup of policies and measures that hinder the Unified Market and fair competition” to emphasize the cleanup priorities, time nodes and work requirements. The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments of The State Council have increased efforts to clean up the work, and have done a good job of implementing the responsibility of cleaning up the system at various levels, and have done a good job of investigating and sorting out the relevant policies and measures of the department and revising and abolishing them. The people’s governments of all regions attach great importance to it, and the relevant responsible comrades give instructions to implement the work requirements by holding special meetings, including key work and important documents, strengthening the guidance of performance assessment, and strengthening the publicity and training of “key minorities”, so as to promote the smooth development of the clean-up work and achieve practical results.
In accordance with the requirements of their work, all regions and departments have accelerated the cleaning up of policies and measures that impede the unified market and fair competition, and positive results have been achieved. On the whole, all regions and departments sorted out 690,448 policies and measures related to the economic activities of main entities, cleared up 4,218 policies and measures that hindered the national unified large market and fair competition, effectively broke a number of administrative monopoly blockages, and effectively stopped local protection and market segmentation. It has also improved the long-term mechanism for preventing improper market intervention, strengthened the conscious thinking and action of all localities to maintain fair market competition order, and effectively promoted the construction of a unified large market across the country.
That is the general situation I have presented.
Next, let’s go to the reporter’s question session. Please inform your news organization before asking questions.
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China Media Group: I just gave you an overview of the overall situation since the implementation of the review of policies and measures that impede the unified market and fair competition. Can you give us more details on the results achieved?
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Zhou Zhigao, Director of the Competition Coordination Department of the State Administration of Market Regulation: Thank you for your question. Since the start of the clean-up work, the General Administration of Market Supervision has resolutely implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and The State Council, strengthened unified guidance and consolidated responsibilities at various levels, promoted the smooth development of the clean-up work and achieved practical results, effectively promoted the construction of a unified large market across the country, and created a fair competition market environment for all types of business entities.
First, we will effectively remove a number of administrative monopolies and promote a smoother circulation of the national economy. According to the results of policy measures, among the four major categories of problems, 1,917, or 45.44%, involved impeding market access and exit; 568 cases, or 13.47%, involved impeding the free movement of goods and factors; 1462 cases involving improper influence on production and operation costs, accounting for 34.67%; 121 cases of improper influence on production and business, accounting for 2.87%; 150 cases adjusted due to other circumstances such as expiration of documents. Through this cleanup, a number of business entities have corrected behaviors such as restricting the migration of enterprises, setting barriers to entry, and seeking self-circulation, so as to promote the efficient and smooth flow of the domestic market and expand the scale.
Second, we will strengthen the implementation of the fair competition review system to prevent and control local protection and market segmentation more effectively. Close integration of policy and measure cleanup and strengthening of the implementation of the fair competition review system, while cleaning up the stock of policies and measures, urge policy making organs to strictly implement the fair competition review system to prevent the emergence of new problems. In 2023, market supervision departments across the country will jointly review 9,119 policies and measures, send 1,155 rectification proposals, and all regions and departments will revise or repeal 17,600 policies and measures that violate the fair competition review system, effectively standardize administrative actions, and promote the creation of a market-oriented and internationalized first-class business environment.
Third, speed up the improvement of fair competition laws and regulations, and make the long-term mechanism for preventing improper market intervention more sound. The policies and measures cleared out this time involve different types of documents, of which specific policies and measures such as regulations, normative documents and “one issue, one discussion” account for 0.55%, 50.55% and 48.9%, respectively, and the hidden behavior is increasing. All regions have earnestly summarized their experience and practices, and issued 25 relevant local regulations, normative documents and working rules in areas prone to frequent problems, such as Liaoning Province’s Regulations on Promoting Fair Competition in the Market and Chongqing Municipality’s Measures for the Implementation of the Chongqing Fair Competition Review System, so as to continuously improve the pertinance and effectiveness of fair competition policies.
Fourth, we will earnestly enhance the consciousness of all parties in thinking and action, and make concerted efforts to build a unified large market across the country more concentrated. The problem finding rate of this cleaning work was 0.61%, an increase of 0.05 percentage points compared with the cleaning work in 2019; Among the revised or abolished policies and measures, 0.38% were formulated by departments of The State Council, 6.02% at the provincial level, 44.93% at the prefecture-level, and 48.67% at the district and county level. Government departments at all levels, especially city and county government departments, have further deepened their understanding of the importance and urgency of accelerating the construction of a national unified large market, clarified their work requirements, enhanced their work initiative, and more consciously achieved a national chess game.
These are some of the main results of the cleanup. Thank you.
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Xinhua News Agency: Just now you have introduced some positive results of the clean-up work. In addition, may I ask what other problems hindering the unified market and fair competition should be paid attention to?
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Zhao Chunlei, Deputy Director of the Competition Coordination Department of the General Administration of Market Regulation: Thank you for your question. This cleaning up work has effectively broken a number of administrative monopolies that restrict economic circulation, and promoted the efficient and smooth expansion of the national economy. However, judging from the situation, there are still some deep-seated problems that need to be further addressed.
First, the legal level of the fair competition review system is low, and the supporting system is not perfect. The current fair competition review work system is mainly based on the “Rules for the Implementation of the Fair Competition Review system” and other normative documents and general documents, the overall legal level is not high, and the normative guidance for the implementation of review requirements by policy-making organs at all levels is not strong enough; The supporting system to effectively guarantee the quality and efficiency of fair competition review and prevent the introduction of policies and measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition needs to be improved, and the rigid constraints and positive incentives to strengthen the basic position of competition policy are insufficient.
Second, there are more hidden ways of local protection and market segmentation, and it is more difficult to find and correct related behaviors. The review found that problems in areas such as impeding market access and exit and affecting production and operation costs increased by 10.02 and 16.01 percentage points respectively compared with the previous review, and problems in areas involving impeding the free flow of goods and factors were still more prominent. The manifestations of problems are mostly recessive, various “soil thresholds” and “local policies” are frequent, and other policy measures such as normative documents and “one issue one discussion” account for the vast majority, and problems such as “clearing and introducing” and “bypassing” fair competition reviews still exist.
Third, the understanding that competition policy is development policy is still wrong, and the awareness of fair competition needs to be further deepened. Among the revised and abolished policies and measures, the city and county levels account for a relatively high proportion, and the implementation of the fair competition review system still has the phenomenon of “upper heat”, “middle temperature” and “lower cold” to a certain extent, especially the improper intervention in the market by government departments at the city and county levels needs to be further standardized. Limited by short-term development and local interests, some local governments have not fully and accurately grasped the relationship between the national unified market and the development of local competition.
In the next step, the General Administration of Market Supervision will take a variety of measures to promote the solution of the above problems. Thank you very much.
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Guangming Daily: In view of the problems that hinder the unified market and fair competition found in this cleanup work, may I ask what work the State Administration of Market Regulation plans to carry out in the next step to solve these problems, so as to promote the construction of a national unified big market?
Zhou Zhigao, Director of the Competition Coordination Department of the State Administration of Market Regulation: Thank you for your question. Around the current round of cleanup work found problems, the General Administration of Market supervision in-depth analysis of the causes, deepen the understanding of the regularity of relevant problems, and formulate targeted work plans.
First, we will speed up the improvement of laws, regulations and systems for the review of fair competition. Actively cooperate with relevant departments to speed up the legislative process, promote the introduction of the Regulations on Fair Competition Review as soon as possible, and improve the legal status and binding force of the fair competition review system. We will study and revise the Rules for the Implementation of the Fair Competition Review System, formulate the Working Rules for Fair Competition Review and Spot Checks, the Working Rules for the Handling of Fair Competition Review Reports, and the Working Rules for the Abuse of Administrative Power to exclude and restrict Competition law enforcement Administrative Suggestions, and constantly strengthen rigid constraints. We will organize third-party evaluations of the implementation of the fair competition review system in key areas, study and refine rules for fair competition review, and provide more targeted norms of conduct for policy-making bodies at all levels.
Second, continuously strengthen the implementation of fair competition review responsibilities of all regions and departments. Coordinate the use of institutional tools such as “three letters and one letter” to ensure that policy measures should be reviewed. We will establish a sound mechanism for random inspection of policies and measures, strengthen supervision and random inspection and urge rectification of policies and measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition at the national level, and increase public disclosure of documents with typical problems found. In accordance with the principle of “who formulates, who cleans up”, all localities and departments are guided to continuously carry out dynamic cleaning up of policies and measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition, and resolutely correct the problem of “cleaning up and introducing at the same time”. The relevant task requirements of the national unified large market will be included in the special supervision content, and the people’s governments of various regions and their departments will carry out fair competition review and supervision, and promote the implementation of various work requirements.
The third is to deploy and carry out special actions to rectify prominent problems in local protection and market segmentation and maintain fair competition market order. Focusing on the prominent problems reflected by the people and business entities that hinder the independent migration of enterprises, restrict the free flow of commodity elements between regions, and set hidden barriers to market access, we will highlight the focus of rectification, adhere to the problem-oriented, further increase regulatory law enforcement efforts, and respond to the concerns of business entities in a timely manner. At the same time, we will increase the public exposure of cases, strengthen administrative suggestions and law enforcement interviews, and vigorously correct improper market interference, so as to create a broad space for development and a fair competition stage for business entities.
Fourth, we will enhance local governments’ awareness of fair competition and their ability to implement policies. We will promote the inclusion of the implementation of the fair competition review system in assessment and evaluation systems such as building a law-based government, and strengthen positive incentives for review work. Actively promote Party schools at all levels (administrative schools) to list fair competition policy and legal system as compulsory courses, hold a series of publicity activities such as China Fair Competition Policy Publicity Week and Fair competition policy “into organs, into Party schools, and into enterprises”, and widely gather the consensus of the whole society on fair competition. We will give full play to the role of the Anti-Monopoly and Unfair Competition Commission Office of The State Council, strengthen information sharing, strengthen coordination between industrial policies and competition policies, and build synergy in governance of fair competition.
I would like to introduce the relevant measures to this end, thank you.
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Voice of China Radio and Television Group: What is the progress and effectiveness of the overall work to accelerate the development of a unified large market across the country? What are your considerations for the next step in promoting the implementation of relevant work?
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Wang Renfei, Deputy Director of the Restructuring Department of the National Development and Reform Commission: Accelerating the construction of a national unified large market is a major deployment made by the Party Central Committee from an overall and strategic height. In March 2022, the “Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and The State Council on Accelerating the Construction of a National Unified Large Market” was issued and implemented. In May last year, the executive meeting of The State Council studied and implemented the overall work plan and recent measures for building a unified national large market deployment. All aspects earnestly implement, and the key work of building a national unified large market is being vigorously and effectively pushed forward, which is summarized as “five unified and one standard.”
To be specific, first, strengthen the unification of basic market systems and rules, and accelerate the establishment of systems for property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit. Second, we will promote high-standard connectivity of market facilities and further optimize modern circulation networks, market information exchange channels and trading platforms. Third, we need to create a unified market for factors of production and resources and facilitate the smooth flow of factors of production such as land, labor, capital, technology and data. Fourth, we will promote a high level of unity in the markets for goods and services and improve systems for quality and standards. Fifth, promote fair and unified market regulation to ensure fair competition.
“One norm” is to regulate improper market competition and market intervention behavior. We have mainly done the following work: First, we have focused on sorting out policies and measures that hinder the unified market and fair competition. This is also the subject of today’s press conference. Just now, the comrade from the General Administration for Market Regulation has made a systematic and comprehensive introduction. The second is to resolutely abolish local protection and market segmentation, and focus on special rectification in areas with prominent problems, so as to solve a number of practical problems for business entities. The third is the establishment of improper intervention in the construction of a national unified large market behavior rectification and typical case interview notification system.
In general, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and The State Council on Accelerating the Construction of a National Unified Large Market have been issued and implemented for two years

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