The government should overhaul all kinds of certificates and relieve the public and enterprises of unnecessary certifications, Premier Li Keqiang said at the State Council executive meeting on June 6.

A decision was made at the meeting to abolish unnecessary certificates across all areas.

Premier Li made a detailed roadmap for the task, which will involve abolishing unnecessary administrative certificates set up based on regulations issued by State Council departments; canceling certificates that can be replaced by lawful licenses, written notification of commitments or government checks by amending the laws; and canceling unnecessary local certificates by the end of the year.

In March, Premier Li stated in the Government Work Report and subsequent news conference that all certificates needed by the public and enterprises to get things done should be overhauled, and all those without a legal basis should be canceled.

Premier Li said once he was told that a neighborhood committee was required by government departments to issue hundreds of certificates, but none were valid due to the nature of the committee as a community-level self-governance organization.

The reason was the evasion of responsibility by some government departments and public agencies, he said.

Canceling certificates means that it will be easier for people and enterprises to get things done, and what the government needs to do is verification, he added.

Premier Li also said at the meeting that all departments should enhance the social credit system and information sharing while overhauling certificates.

Departments should abolish unnecessary certificates from now on and promote information sharing for verification, the Premier said.