China plans to amend 26 laws, including the Drug Administration Law

Published on:

2023-03-02

Beijing, 20 Apr (Xinhua) -- This reporter learned from the 14 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12 th National People's Congress [NPC], which opened on 20 April, that China intends to revise 26 laws, including the Drug Administration Law, to promote the streamlining of administration and delegating power according to law.

Entrusted by the State Council, Song Dahan, director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council, explained the "Amendment (Draft) to 26 Laws including the Drug Administration Law of the People's Republic of China" at the meeting on the 20th, in accordance with the decision on canceling and adjusting administrative examination and approval items and other matters promulgated by the State Council three times in July, October 2014 and February 2015, and the spirit of the "Work Plan for Accelerating Price Reform in the Near Future" deliberated and adopted by the 69th executive meeting of the State Council in November 2014. The relevant legal amendments include amendments to the legal provisions related to the proposed abolition of administrative examination and approval items, amendments to the legal provisions related to the proposed decentralization of administrative examination and approval items, amendments to the legal provisions related to the proposed change of pre-approval items for industrial and commercial registration, and amendments to legal provisions related to price reform.

Among the amendments to the laws and regulations related to the proposed abolition of administrative examination and approval items, what is particularly interesting is that, for the convenience of taxpayers, the draft amendment to the Tax Collection and Management Law amends the relevant provisions on taxpayers' handling of tax reduction and exemption, deleting the content requiring taxpayers to provide "written application" and "subject to examination and approval by the examination and approval authority", so that taxpayers can directly handle tax reduction and exemption in accordance with the conditions stipulated by laws and administrative regulations. In addition, the legal provisions involved in a number of qualification approval projects established by the Insurance Law, the Securities Investment Fund Law, the Urban and Rural Planning Law, and the Special Equipment Safety Law have been amended or deleted in the draft amendment, including the qualification approval of insurance sales practitioners, insurance brokerage practitioners, planner practice qualifications, and special equipment inspection and testing personnel.

In the amendments to the laws and regulations related to the proposed change of pre-approval items for industrial and commercial registration, the draft amendment amends the relevant provisions for the pre-approval of industrial and commercial registration, such as the drug production license and drug business license established by the relevant provisions of the Drug Administration Law, the establishment permit of for-profit old-age care institutions established by the relevant provisions of the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, and the establishment permit of employment intermediary institutions established by the relevant provisions of the Employment Promotion Law, etc., the draft amendment amends the relevant provisions, and the pre-examination and approval of industrial and commercial registration will no longer be required.

In the revision of legal provisions related to price reform, the reporter noted that the provisions of the Drug Administration Law, the Railway Law, the Postal Law and other laws will be amended to liberalize competitive prices in the fields of medicines, railways, and postal services, involving the price setting of goods and services such as drugs, railway passenger fare rates, cargo and parcel freight rates, railway passenger and cargo transportation miscellaneous charges, postal universal service business fees, postal enterprise franchise business fees, and other goods and services. Song Dahan said that some of the goods and services in competitive fields in these regulations can form prices through market competition, and some can be set by the government and enterprises through negotiation or through bidding.

Responsible Editor: Song Yan

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