Encourage private enterprises to increase investment in medical device production! Six departments including the National Development and Reform Commission have jointly issued a major announcement.

On October 23, the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) issued the "Implementation Opinions on Supporting Private Enterprises to Accelerate Reform, Development, and Transformation and Upgrading" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), jointly issued by six departments including the NDRC, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the People's Bank of China.

The Opinions clearly state:

Encourage private enterprises to increase investment in the production and manufacturing of medical devices and ensure that private enterprises participate fairly in the construction of public health infrastructure.

Increase support for small key equipment and core components.

Guide enterprises to keep key links in the industrial chain within the country.

Expand the application of robots and intelligent equipment in medical care, elderly and disabled assistance, rehabilitation, etc.

Guide private enterprises to focus on their main businesses and core technologies.

Encourage private enterprises and social forces to establish specialized scientific instrument and equipment service institutions to participate in the management and operation of scientific research facilities and instruments.

Support private enterprises in undertaking major national scientific and technological strategic tasks.

Support private enterprises in carrying out scientific and technological innovation.

Promote innovation in intellectual property financing products.

Substantially increase medium- and long-term loans for manufacturing.

Give full play to the role of the national science and technology achievement transformation guidance fund to support private enterprises in promoting and transforming a number of major technological innovation achievements.

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The Opinions include a total of 9 major policies and 38 measures, full of practical content. The full text is as follows.

Implementation Opinions on Supporting Private Enterprises to Accelerate Reform, Development, and Transformation and Upgrading

NDRC Reform [2020] No. 1566

People's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, relevant departments of the State Council, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the State Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of China, the Agricultural Development Bank of China, and China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.:

In order to thoroughly implement the important speech on supporting the reform and development of private enterprises, earnestly implement the relevant requirements of the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Creating a Better Development Environment to Support the Reform and Development of Private Enterprises," promote the accelerated implementation of relevant support policies, effectively respond to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, stimulate the vitality and creativity of private enterprises, further create a fair competitive environment for the development of private enterprises, and drive employment expansion, the following opinions are hereby put forward with the approval of the State Council.

I. Effectively Reduce the Cost of Enterprise Production and Operation

(1) Continue to promote tax cuts and fee reductions. Effectively implement policies for normalized epidemic prevention and control and resumption of work and production, simplify the procedures for applying preferential policies, conduct targeted policy publicity and guidance, and help enterprises accurately grasp and enjoy various preferential policies in a timely manner. Implement the policies of phased reduction and exemption of social insurance fees and reduction of social insurance rates. For small and medium-sized enterprises severely affected by the epidemic, legally approve their applications for deferred tax payment. For the trade union dues of micro and small enterprises from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021, a full refund support policy will be implemented.

(2) Further reduce the cost of energy and network use. Implement support policies for phased reduction of enterprise electricity prices, and continue to promote a year-round reduction of 5% in electricity prices for large-scale industries and general industrial and commercial electricity prices excluding high energy consumption. Effectively strengthen the supervision of electricity resale prices to ensure that private enterprises enjoy price reduction benefits in a timely and full manner.

(3) Deeply promote the reduction of logistics costs. Regulate the operating service charges of ports, liners, railways, and airports in accordance with the law. Establish a land use guarantee mechanism for logistics infrastructure, guide local governments to reasonably set investment intensity, tax contribution, and other indicators, and encourage the guarantee of land for logistics through long-term leasing and other methods. Regulate the management of urban delivery vehicle traffic, optimize traffic management measures according to local conditions, and encourage the development of night delivery and integrated delivery, unified delivery, and other intensive delivery models.

II. Strengthen Support for Technological Innovation

(4) Support participation in national major scientific and technological research projects. Encourage private enterprises to participate in the construction of national industrial innovation centers, national manufacturing innovation centers, national engineering research centers, and national technology innovation centers, accelerate the work of identifying national enterprise technology centers for private enterprises, and support private enterprises in undertaking national major scientific and technological strategic tasks.

(5) Increase inclusive investment in technological innovation. Local governments should increase the use of scientific and technological innovation funds for inclusive scientific and technological innovation, and support private enterprises in carrying out scientific and technological innovation through bank-enterprise cooperation, government-guided funds, subsidies for science and technology and intellectual property insurance, science and technology credit, and risk compensation for intellectual property mortgage financing.

(6) Open up channels for access to national scientific research resources. Promote the further opening up of national major scientific research infrastructure and large-scale scientific research instruments to private enterprises. Encourage private enterprises and social forces to establish specialized scientific instrument and equipment service institutions to participate in the management and operation of national scientific research facilities and instruments.

(7) Improve the intellectual property operation service system. Develop specialized technology transaction intellectual property operation institutions and cultivate technology managers. Standardize and explore the securitization of intellectual property rights and promote innovation in intellectual property financing products. Build a national intellectual property public service platform to provide one-stop retrieval, protection, and consultation services for intellectual property rights for private enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises.

(8) Promote the digital transformation of private enterprises. Implement the "cloud, data, and intelligence empowerment" action for enterprises and the special action for digital empowerment of small and medium-sized enterprises, lay out a number of digital transformation promotion centers, gather a number of digital service providers for small and medium-sized enterprises, develop digital platforms and system solutions that meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, and provide corresponding financing support for enterprises to build, use, and use clouds in combination with industry characteristics. Implement the industrial internet innovation development project, support leading enterprises in improving the application level of the industrial internet, and drive the development of new formats and models such as network collaborative manufacturing and large-scale personalized customization.

III. Improve Resource Element Guarantee

(9) Innovate the supply method of industrial land. Optimize the business environment of the land market, guarantee that private enterprises obtain the right to use industrial land supplied by the government or transferred by the park equally and legally, allow small and medium-sized private enterprises to jointly participate in the bidding, auction, and listing of industrial land, and allow land parcels to be divided according to regulations. Encourage private enterprises to use their own industrial land to develop new industries and formats and conduct research and development innovation. According to relevant plans and regulations, if the floor area ratio is allowed to be increased, no additional land price or other fees will be charged. For private enterprises that withdraw from the originally used land, the municipal and county people's governments should support the transfer of land in accordance with the law and agreement, and protect their legitimate land rights and interests; for relocation and development, industrial land can be re-arranged through negotiated transfer.