China will facilitate the inter-provincial handling of frequently processed administrative services, totaling 132 items, with 58 realized by the end of this year and another 74 by the end of next year.

The decision came at the State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Sept 17.

“Providing inter-provincial access to high-demand government services closely related to the development of businesses and people’s lives is a crucial move in deepening administrative reform and improving the business environment,” Premier Li said. “It is conducive to building a unified national market where various kinds of factors flow freely.”

He stressed furthering the administrative reform to streamline administration, delegate powers and improve services in pursuit of a more enabling environment to benefit businesses and people.

“The one-stop online service models launched in many cities are very popular among the public, and some have been hailed as the most popular reform for several consecutive years,” the Premier said. “It should be noted that those models do not mean introducing new service items or adding new administrative licenses. Instead, they are just moving market-based reform measures and public services from offline to online.”

The shift to online government services should be realized with urgency, the Premier said, calling for efforts to make trans-provincial government services available for 58 items by the end of this year and another 74 by the end of next year, while ensuring that such services are also offered within each province.

The 58 items include market entity registration, pension plan portability, verification of professional qualification certificates and notarization of diplomas and driver licenses; the 74 items involve industrial production licensing, record-filing for settlement of medical bills, social security card applications and household registration relocation.

Premier Li also urged related departments to accelerate moves to offer the services in areas like registering the birth of babies, and submitting applications, making payments as well as searching for information regarding social insurance.

The need for a small number of people for on-site access to these government services will also be fully met, and data security and personal privacy should be protected, he said.

“Online government services are public services meant to raise administrative efficiency, reduce rent-seeking space, and bring more convenience to the people and market entities.”

No extra fees are allowed in delivering online government services, and those who do not use smartphones are also entitled to public services, he added.

The meeting also decided on measures to improve services for people and enterprises to get electricity.

According to people in charge, the time needed for electricity approval and installation has been greatly reduced in recent years. Statistics from the World Bank showed that China's index of “getting electricity” climbed up to the 12th spot in 2019, from 98th in 2017, taking the lead for two consecutive years.

The meeting decided that services will be promoted for residents and small, micro enterprises to apply for installation of electricity via internet, and no longer wait for approvals, at no extra cost. By the end of this year, application for electricity installation will be handled online nationwide, and time for residents and small, micro enterprises to get low-voltage electricity access will be reduced to five and 25 working days, respectively.

These services will cover all residents and low-voltage electricity users by the end of 2022, and non-residential users will only need 15 working days to finish the process. The measures are expected to save up to 130 billion yuan for small, micro enterprises.