The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) is pioneering the way for the new engine of mass entrepreneurship and innovation to boost our economy, Premier Li Keqiang said during an inspection tour of China’s chief body responsible for business registration and market supervision on March 20.

In his first fact-finding visit after the two sessions, the country’s biggest annual political event where he pledged further reform to streamline administration and delegate power, the Premier emphasized the importance of delegating power while maintaining well-regulated management.

At the Enterprise Registration Bureau of the SAIC, the Premier asked officials what is the toughest task they faced concerning business reform?

When he was told that it was coordinating the information for three key documents, the business license, the certificate of organization codes and the taxation registration certificate, he immediately ordered that the three certificates required for registration be merged into just one comprehensive certificate within the year.

The SAIC needs to speed up this reform, the Premier said, and you will have the State Council’s full support in overcoming any obstacle to do this.

This means that the process has been curbed and it will take only three to five days for a business to get registered. Previously, the registration process involved time-consuming and costly trips to the SAIC, the State Administration of Taxation, and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

If people need to go department after department, it will not only increase the cost, but also reduce their enthusiasm for innovation and entrepreneurship, the Premier said.

The Premier said that streamlining administration and delegating power do not mean that the government will give a free rein to everything. The government will enforce regulations with well-regulated management.

Our job is to create a favorable environment for the new economic driving engines, Li said.

On learning that about 10,500 new enterprises were being registered every day, up from under 7,000 before the business system reform kicked off in March 2014, the Premier said it was not an easy achievement and the government should figure out new methods to make sure these enterprises survive and perform better.

The Premier said delegating power while ensuring well-regulated management is necessary as it ensures the fittest will survive.