MNI POLICY: China Business Drive Boosts Intellectual Property

     BEIJING (MNI) - The Chinese government is accelerating steps to improve the

business environment for private companies, including moves to provide enhanced

protection for intellectual property and expand the areas foreign firms can

invest in, a senior Ministry of Commerce official said on Friday.

     China aims to "create a fairer, more transparent, convenient and attractive

environment for businesses," Tang Wenhong, director general of the ministry's

foreign investment department told a press conference.

     Foreign companies have long complained of insufficient protection for

intellectual property, a matter which is also of major concern to the U.S. in

the ongoing trade war.

     MOFCOM will monitor local governments' progress in establishing a

complaints system for foreign investors by the end of this year, and next year

will invalidate or amend rules and documents not in line with the new policies,

Tang said.

     Government departments will also expand the areas which foreign companies

can invest in, Tang said. Guidance and documentation for foreign investment in

middle and western China - regions where the government is keen to boost

development - will be issued before March, he said.

     Progress towards easing restrictions on foreign firms will be "constantly

sped up," Tang said, telling MNI later that MOFCOM was working on expanding

Shanghai's free trade pilot zone, which Chinese President Xi Jinping announced

in a speech at the International Import Expo earlier this week.

     Xiong Maoping, head of the registration department at the State

Administration of Market Regulation, said officials will also reduce licencing

requirements, crack down on violators of intellectual property rights and

increase inspection of local governments' collection of fees from small and

micro businesses.

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: iris.ouyang@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; +44208-865-3829; email: Jason.Webb@marketnews.com

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