With the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce jointly issued a notice deciding to uniformly abolish the collection of individual business management fees and wholesale market management fees nationwide, effective September 1, 2008.

It is reported that the management fees for individual industrial and commercial households and for wholesale markets have been collected by the administration for industry and commerce from individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises since the 1980s. These fees are primarily used for constructing wholesale markets, providing services to individual industrial and commercial households, and covering the administrative expenses of the administration for industry and commerce. To date, these fees have been collected for over 20 years.

With the establishment and continuous improvement of China’s socialist market economic system, the functions of the administration for industry and commerce have undergone a transformation. The primary focus now is on maintaining economic order and conducting market regulation, rather than directly participating in market development. The suspension of fees for the administration of individual industrial and commercial households and for the management of wholesale markets will help ease the burden on individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises, promote fair competition among market operators, and foster the sustained, healthy development of the non-public sector—including individual and private enterprises. It will also help strengthen and improve the administration for industry and commerce, and encourage the administration to administer according to law and enforce the law impartially.