Administrative charges suspended

Some administrative fees, including those for first identification cards, will be suspended or abolished, said a joint notice by the Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission.

The notice said citizens, from April 1, would not be charged for their first ID card. From Jan 1 this year to Dec 31, 2020, institutional supervision fees for securities and futures were suspended, it said.

Crackdown on private equity fraud

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has cracked down on 10 cases of illegal activity in private equities, including eight cases that will be subject to administrative penalties, the commission said on April 20.

The cases were related to illegal operations, transfers of benefits, market manipulation and rat trading (using personal accounts to purchase shares and then selling them when the fund buys them), the commission said.

Governmental fund system change

To reduce costs for the public and support the real economy, the Ministry of Finance recently released a notice to lower the threshold for some governmental funds.

Starting this month, the employment guarantee, where companies pay a levy to safeguard incomes for disabled employees, will be lowered to twice the local average income, from the previous thrice. Starting on July 1, another 25 percent will be cut from funds collected for the nation’s major water resource projects. The funds were previously reduced by 25 percent.

Food sold near schools targeted

A crackdown was launched to tackle substandard food sold near school campuses, said a recent notice by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The notice required that all food sold around campus must meet safety standards and cannot be additive-laden. All food workshops without licenses must be closed and any food found below standard will be removed from shelves, retrieved and destroyed to avoid potential danger, it added.

New channel to buy train tickets

A new service hotline 12328 was introduced recently to make it easier to get train tickets.

The public can also use the hotline’s official WeChat account to buy tickets online. So far, 337 cities around the country have opened the hotline with functions such as complaints and consultation for the transport sector.

Tax relief on cash for scientists

Income tax will be lowered for scientists when they get cash incentives from technological transfers, according to a State Council executive meeting on April 18.

Only half of the cash incentives will be subject to income tax when scientists and technicians in nonprofit research institute and universities are rewarded in the first three years after their research or patents earned their institutions profits, according to a statement released after the meeting, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.