BEIJING — China's State Council has recently released a regulation on ensuring timely payments to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will help improve the business environment, officials said.

The central authorities gave high attention to the problem of overdue payments to SMEs, officials with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.

The regulation, made public on July 14, standardizes the contract signing between SMEs and government departments, public institutions, as well as large enterprises, noting that SMEs should not be forced to accept unreasonable terms, the officials said.

The officials noted that the regulation also introduced provisions in terms of payment deadlines, payment information disclosure and complaint handling, stressing that the regulation will help boost the SMEs' confidence in development.

The regulation will go into effect on Sept 1.