The State Council executive meeting on June 14, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, decided to abolish a batch of industrial product permits or delegate the licensing power to lower levels in order to enhance innovation and quality of manufacturing industries.

The move will include three major steps: further reduce production permits, simplify approval procedures for production permits of industrial products, and strengthen in-process and post-process supervision.

Details>>China to cut licensing red tape for industries

Setting up green finance pilot zones

The State Council executive meeting on June 14 also decided to set up green finance pilot zones and promote transformation and upgrading of the green economy.

Related departments are asked to support financial institutions to set up green finance departments or branches, and encourage small loan companies and financial leasing companies to participate in the sector.

According to the meeting, efforts will be made to explore trading markets for emission rights, water rights and energy use rights, build an information sharing platform and environmental violation records, and set up a green credit system.

Preferential policies in finance and tax, and land and human resources will also be released.

Details>>China to cut licensing red tape for industries

Online consultations begin for 2017 college entrance exam

The Ministry of Education released details on the 2017 online consultations for recruitment by universities and colleges.

The consultations, starting from June 22 to 28, will be available on www.yggk.net.

The daily schedule for consultations will be from 9 am to 5 pm.

China to establish credit system in healthcare

The National Health and Family Planning Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Medicine of China jointly released a guideline on strengthening the codes of conduct in the health care system.

The guideline clarified that the healthcare industry should establish a credit system to list institutions and individuals with bad records in medicine purchasing and health services.

Those with poor credit records will be banned from the industry.

VAT to be removed for interest earned on small loans by financial institutes

The Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration jointly released a notice to remove the value-added tax on interest from the small loans of rural households by financial institutes. The implementation period is from Jan 1, 2017, to Dec 31, 2019.

Ninety percent of the income earned by interest from the small loans will be taxed. The same policy will also be applied to premium incomes of insurance companies for planting and livestock industries.

China to strengthen supervision over summer grain purchase

The State Administration of Grain released a notice on June 14 to strengthen regulation on summer grain purchases, which will be carried out soon.

According to the notice, all regions should carry out the supervision in line with local conditions and provincial accountability on food safety.

Inspection on implementation of nutrition plan for rural students

The Education office under the State Council released a circular to carry out inspections on the implementation of the nutrition improvement plan for compulsory schools in rural areas. The results will be released to public.

The inspection will focus on management of food supply, construction of cafeterias, fund management and information publicity in impoverished provinces and counties.