Document No. 100, 2001 Issued by Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
In accordance with Circular of the State Council on Policies and Measures Pertaining to the Development of the Western Region (Document No. 33, 2000 Issued by the State Council) and the Circular of Implementing Policies and Measures of the State Council Pertaining to the Development of the Western Region Transmitted by the Office of the State Council (Document No. 73, 2001 issued by Office of the State Council), and other related laws and statutes, and in light of the reality of Guangxi, regulations on investment, taxation, land, mineral resources, pricing and fees are hereby formulated as follows.
Part I Reforming management system for examining and approving investment projects
1. Canceling the examination and approval of certain projects.
The authorities of Guangxi shall cancel the examination and approval of the projects without either the central government s investment (including the central budgetary investment, all kinds of special construction funds included in the central budgetary management, investment from government loan, loans from the international financial organizations and foreign governments) or Guangxi government s investment (including the regional budgetary investment, and all kinds of special construction funds of included in the regional budgetary management), and the projects encouraged by the state and in compliance with the regional development planning. The projects invested by the governments of prefecture, city and county levels shall be examined and approved by planning departments, and the economic and trade departments of the prefecture, city, and county levels. The investment projects funded by enterprises can be decided by the enterprises themselves.
1.1. Urban infrastructure construction projects, which are water supply facilities of less than 100,000 tons/day, sewage treatment facilities of less than 100,000 tons/day, waste disposal facilities of less than 300 tons/day, the town bridges of less than 100 m long each, the city tunnels less than 250 m long, and the city roads not over 100,000 sqm.
1.2. Agriculture, forestry, water conservancy projects. The projects refer to farming, animal husbandry, fisheries, tree planting not over 300 mu, nursery, small inter-city or inter-prefecture reservoirs and water diversion projects, sluice, dikes, river rectification, irrigation, soil and water conservation, drinking water, hydropower stations of less than 20,000 kilowatts (including water control projects), agricultural machinery, feed industry and agricultural products processing industry.
1.3. Social facilities. They are museums, libraries, cultural centers, cinemas and theaters, teaching, experiment, and living facilities, district medical and other health facilities, sports facilities, radio, film and TV facilities, nursing homes, welfare homes, rehabilitation facilities for the disabled, community service facilities, science, research and service facilities for family planning, hotels and entertainment facilities for tourism.
1.4. Real estate projects. They are office and residential buildings.
1.5. Commercial facilities. They are supermarket chains, distribution center, shopping mall not exceeding 20,000 sqm, non-agricultural product wholesale market, and warehouses for all kinds of commodities.
1.6. Transportation projects. The highway projects in line with of the highway network planning of Guangxi, the port construction projects conforming to the national and regional shoreline planning and the overall layout of ports, and the transport stations conforming to the transport station layout of Guangxi.
1.7. Post and telecommunications projects.
1.8. Industrial projects. They are the general competitive industrial projects not requiring the construction balance and operating conditions by Guangxi.
1.9. High-tech Projects. They are those not confirmed as the major high-tech projects by the state or Guangxi.
1.10. The office building projects. They are the office and business buildings financed by the enterprises or institutions themselves.
1.11. Fixed assets investment license.
The foreign-invested projects and the projects otherwise stipulated by the state regulations are not included in the above projects whose examination and approval are cancelled.
2. Simplifying the examination and approval procedures for investment projects
Red-tape for projects to be examined and approved by the autonomous region shall be further simplified. For those projects with no investment from the autonomous region, only the project proposals are subject to examination and approval; for those projects that are partially invested by the autonomous region, the examination and approval procedure shall be focused on the feasibility study reports; in the case of projects to be invested entirely or for the most part by the autonomous region, the project proposal, the feasibility study report and the initial design are required for examination and approval. The following is a specific description of the situation with various types of projects:
2.1. Projects in agriculture, forestry and water conservancy. A project of this kind which calls for investment from the regional government and tops 10 million yuan in total investment shall have its feasibility study report examined and approved by the regional planning department, while one below 10 million yuan in total investment shall have its feasibility study report examined and approved by the planning department at the prefecture or city level and be submitted to the regional planning department for the record. In the case of projects that do not call for investment from the regional government but that still have to be examined and approved by the regional authority, those having more than 200 million yuan in total investment shall have their project proposal examined and approved by the regional planning department, and those below 200 million yuan in total investment shall have their project proposal examined and approved by a prefecture or ccity-level planning department.
2.2 Transportation projects. Local railways, highways, and ports that call for investment from the regional government, shall only have their project proposals and feasibility study reports examined and approved by the regional planning department; whereas transportation stations that call for investment from the autonomous region shall have their project proposals examined by the autonomous region s planning and trade departments.
2.3 Projects in energy development. A medium-sized hydroelectric power station 20,000-100,000 kw in installed capacity shall only have its project proposal submitted to the planning department of the autonomous region for examination and approval. A medium-sized hydroelectric power station 100,000-250,000 kw in installed capacity shall only have its project proposal and feasibility study report examined and approved by the autonomous region s planning department. A power grid 110 kv and 220 kv in voltage shall only have its general plan examined by the planning department of the autonomous region. The planning and trade departments of the autonomous region shall only examine and approve those energy-conservation projects, rural energy projects and coalmining industrial projects that call for investment from the government of the autonomous region.
2.4. Projects for urban infrastructure construction. Those projects that call for investment from the autonomous regional government and top 30 million yuan in total investment shall only have the project proposal and feasibility study report examined by the planning department of the autonomous region, while those below 30 million yuan in total investment shall only have the feasibility study report examined and approved by the planning department of the autonomous region. Those which do not call for investment from the government of the autonomous region but which still need to be examined and approved by the autonomous region authorities, shall only have their project proposals examined and approved by the planning department of the autonomous region.
2.5. Industrial projects. In industries not subjected to state limitations, those projects that are invested with enterprises own funds or domestic bank loans and that need the autonomous regional government to provide construction and business conditions, shall only have their pproject proposals examined and approved by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region; those calling for investment and shares from or subsidized by the autonomous regional government, shall have their feasibility study reports submitted to the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region for examination and approval.
2.6. Hi-tech projects. Major hi-tech projects or hi-tech projects calling for investment from the government of the autonomous region shall have their feasibility study reports examined and approved by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region.
2.7 Commercial and trade facilities. Projects involving the construction of warehousing facilities for commodities and materials that have an important bearing on national and public interests shall have their project proposal and feasibility study reports submitted to the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region for examination and approval. Any project for the construction of a farm produce wholesale market shall only have its feasibility study project examined and approved by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region.
2.8. Social undertakings. Social undertakings in education, public health, culture, sports and physical culture, broadcasting-movie-TV, tourism, family planning, civil affairs and public welfare that call for a total investment of more than 30 million yuan from the autonomous regional government shall only have their feasibility study reports submitted to the planning department of the autonomous region for examination and approval. Those calling for 10 million to 30 million yuan of investment shall only have their project proposal examined and approved by the planning department of the autonomous region. Those calling for less than 10 million yuan of investment shall have their letters of proposals examined by a planning department at the prefecture or city level.
2.9 Foreign-invested projects. Projects using foreign investors own funds or commercial bank loans in industries encouraged by the state or enjoying certain advantages shall only have their feasibility study reports examined and approved by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region.
2.10. Projects using foreign loans. A capital construction project using a foreign loan below the prescribed limit shall only have its project proposal and feasibility study report or its plan for using the foreign loan submitted to the planning department of the autonomous region for examination and approval.
2.11. Investment projects to be undertaken outside China. With the exception of those in trade-oriented processing industry or investment in foreign trade, projects to be undertaken outside China using an investment below the prescribed limit shall only have their feasibility study report examined and approved by the planning department of the autonomous region.
2.12. Projects of multilateral or bilateral international aid given gratis shall directly have their feasibility study reports examined and approved by the planning department of the autonomous region.
2.13. Projects undertaken by the departments, institutions and enterprises directly under the autonomous region and needing investment of the government of the autonomous region shall be examined and approved by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region according to the aforementioned simplified procedures.
2.14. Projects listed on the autonomous region s catalogue on key projects shall have their project proposals, feasibility study reports, initial designs, reports of work commencement examined and approved by the autonomous regional department in charge of investment, which shall also organize acceptance appraisals when such a project has been completed. The projects applying for the central government investment and the projects of special stipulations by the state shall proceed with their examination and approval procedures as per the state s regulations.
3. Establishing a Registration and Record System for Investment Projects
Any investment project that does not need government examination and approval shall submit all the documents needed to the autonomous regional department in charge of investment and go through the formalities for registration for the record, including information concerning the owner, name, site, contents, scale, construction period, and financial sources of the project. The owner of the project shall go through the other formalities at departments concerned on the strength of the evidence of record issued by the planning and trade departments of the autonomous region. The planning and trade departments of the autonomous region shall formulate, in separate paper, the procedures for the registration and record system for such investment projects.
Those projects that have been handled prior to the promulgation of the reform plan shall be registered, sorted out according to the merit of the cases, and go through the new examination and approval procedures within a prescribed time limit. The planning, land, construction, environmental protection, labour safety, seismological, and fire-prevention departments that are related to investment projects shall handle their formalities according to the new examination and approval stipulations.
Projects in industries encouraged by the state or those involving technical transformation in the autonomous region s key industries, except where stipulated otherwise for certain foreign-invested enterprises, shall be accorded national treatment.
Part II. Preferential Tax Policies
4. Preferential Enterprise Income Tax Policy
4.1 Foreign-invested enterprises in industries encouraged by the state shall pay their income tax at the reduced rate of 15 percent. This refers to those enterprises that are engaged in the encouraged industries listed in the Guiding Catalogue of Industries for Foreign Investment and the Catalogue of Superiority Industries for Foreign Investment in Central and West China, and the main business income of which makes up 70 percent of their total income.
4.2. Enterprises engaged in the encouraged industries in the autonomous region, the six key industries of nonferrous metals, power generating, automobile, foodstuff, pharmaceutical, and high and new technology designed by the autonomous region, or the seven traditional industries of machinery, sugar refining, timber, building materials, iron and steel and manganese, chemical, and daily necessities to be renovated and upgraded by using high and new technology with the support of the autonomous region, as well as farm produce processing enterprises, shall pay an enterprise income tax at a reduced rate of 15 percent.
4.3. Enterprises engaged in developing tourist resources shall pay their income tax according to the reduced 15 percent rate.
4.4. Listed companies in the autonomous region shall pay their income tax according to the reduced rate of 15 percent.
4.5. Enterprises that are wholly owned, or jointly run by enterprises, organizations or individuals from outside the autonomous region and that accord with the state s industrial policies shall, beginning from the day production commences, have the portion of income due to the outsiders exempt from enterprise income tax within a five-year period.
4.6. The new enterprises, with the exception of those banned and abolished by state stipulations, shall be exempt from enterprise income tax for two years beginning from the day production starts. Enterprises resulting from the separation, regrouping, expansion, moving, change of business, merger of the original enterprises, or those which have recruited new members or changed their affiliations or names, shall not be regarded as new enterprises and therefore not titled to the preferential income tax policy.
4.7. Foreign-invested enterprises shall enjoy local income tax reduction or exemption during the five-year period in which they are exempt from enterprise income tax during the first two years and pay half of it during the remaining three years according to the Tax Law.
4.8. Enterprises engaged in state-encouraged industries in the coastal industrial zones set up with the approval of the People s Government of the Autonomous Region, shall, beginning from the day of production commencement, be exempt from enterprise income tax during the first three years and pay half of it in the next two years. This refers to any enterprise that is engaged in any one of the items in the Catalogue of Key Industries, Products and Technologies to Be Developed by the State s Encouragement (revised in 2000), and that the main business of the enterprise makes up more than 70 percent of its total income.
4.9. Enterprises engaged in farm produce processing, environmental protection, and multipurpose utilization of resources in key towns or small cities and towns along transportation thorough fares or industrial belts, shall, beginning from the day production commences, be exempted from enterprise income tax for the first three years and pay half of this tax for the ensuing seven years.
4.10. Newly opened foreign-invested enterprises for a term of more than ten years in transportation, power generating, water conservancy, postal service, radio broadcasting and television, shall, beginning from the year they begin to make a profit, be exempt from enterprise income tax for the first two years and pay half of this tax in the third through the fifth years.
4.11. Newly opened enterprises in transportation, power generating, water conservancy, postal service, radio broadcasting and television, nonferrous metals, auto, sugar-refining and foodstuff industries, information technology, pharmaceutical and bio-technology, shall, beginning from the day business commences, be exempt from enterprise income tax for the first two years and pay half of it for another three years.
4.12. Newly opened enterprises engaged in high and new technology certified by the autonomous region s science and technology department shall, beginning from the day production begins, enjoy preferential treatment for a five-year period, in which they are exempt from enterprise income tax for the first five years and pay half of it in the latter three years.
4.13. Newly opened enterprises engaged in specialty farming, water conservancy, forestry, environmental protection and multipurpose utilization of resources, shall, beginning from the day production starts, be exempted from the enterprise income tax for the first two years and pay half of it for another three years.
4.14. In case the items in the aforementioned preferential income tax policy overlap in an enterprise, then the more preferential item shall be applied, with the duration of this preferential treatment calculated consecutively.
4.15. The examination and approval of enterprise tax exemption and reduction shall be handled by the tax authorities of the autonomous region according to relevant state law.
4.16. The enterprise income tax reduction as mentioned above means that an enterprise enjoying a preferential 15 percent tax rate shall have this rate cut in half when calculating the amount of its enterprise tax.
4.17. Should any contradictions arise with previous preferential enterprise income tax policies, these stipulations shall be enforced.
5. Tax on special agricultural products.
Incomes from special farm products from environmental protection, ecological forests developed by retiring farmland from farming (on which ecological forests should account for at least 80 percent of the acreage), grassland developed from farmland, and the treatment of deserts, shall be exempt from special farm product tax for ten years beginning from the first profit-making year.
6. Farmland use tax
Land used for highway construction, farmland occupied for the construction of state and provincial highways, or land used with the approval of the autonomous region for the construction of highways above the second grade, shall be exempt from the farmland use tax according to farmland use tax exemption accorded to highway and civil aviation construction, whereas farmland use tax shall be levied on the use of land for the construction of other types of highways. The scope of farmland use tax exemption is limited to the highway routes and the farmland occupied by ditches dug beside the highways. The farmland occupied by the construction of depots, highway maintenance stations, traffic inspection stations, engineering teams and auto washing grounds shall not be exempted from farmland use tax. The aforementioned farmland shall not be exempt from farmland use tax if it used for other purposes, and the amount of farmland use tax to be levied shall be calculated from the day the land begins to be used for other purposes
7. Customs duty and value-added tax on imports
In the case of projects invested by domestic or foreign investment in state-encouraged or superiority industries, the advanced technology and equipment imported within the total volume of investment shall be exempt from customs duty and value-added tax on such import with the exception of the commodities listed in the Catalogue of Non-Tax Exemption Import Commodities for Domestic Investment Projects (revised edition in 2000) and the Catalogue of Non-Tax Exemption Income Commodities for Foreign Invested Projects. The equipment to be imported within the total amount of investment of, and for use in, any foreign-invested project that accords with the Catalogue of Superiority Industries for Foreign Investment in Central and West China, shall be exempt from customs duty and the value-added tax for such import, and the examination and approval procedure shall be carried out according to provisions in the Notice of the State Council on Readjusting the Tax Policy concerning Imported Equipment (State Document No. 37, [1997])
Part III. Preferential Land Use Policy
8. The land quotas for key construction projects in the development of the western regions shall be guaranteed, when the newly added land use quotas fall short of the needs, the turnover, replace, discounting and other quotas shall be used. Unused land that has been developed into grassland can be used as make up for farmland quotas if the departments concerned prove that the unused land could have been turned into farmland
.
9. The general land use plan may be readjusted under one of the following circumstances:
9.1 A piece of land for construction purposes is not listed in the general land use plan, but the construction project accords with Article 26 of the Land Administrative Law on construction projects entitled to independent selection of sites.
9.2. Any construction project for independent selection of site that has been specified in the general land use plan but fails to be implemented in the land use diagram because uncertainty of the choice of site, or it has been reserved in the land use diagram but not specified in the general land use plan, or it has been specified in both the general land use plan and the land use diagram but the location of the land to be used has to be readjusted.
9.3. Due to special reasons, a small part of the urban land for a construction project has to exceed the scope of urban construction land as specified in the general land use plan, but such urban land is subjected to approval in batches . Cases like this, which involves partial readjustment of the general land use plan, may be submitted along with the readjustment plan and the documents concerning the construction land itself for examination and approval.
9.4. To protect the grain production capacity in areas where most of the farmland are hill slopes, some of the farmlands with fine water conservancy and soil-conservation facilities and whose gradient is between 15 to 25 degrees thanks to many years of harnessing, may be designated as basic farmlands, so long as the local ecological system is not affected. Part of the newly reclaimed farmland with fine supplementary facilities may also be designed as the basic farmland. The farm production patterns on the basic farmland may be adjusted for the development of cash crops according to related stipulations, so long as the farming conditions are not jeopardized.
10. The right to use state-owned barren mountains, wasteland and uncultivated beaches for the development of tourism may be obtained by concession. Preferential land price may be accorded to the concession of the land use right; and such land use right with compensation may remain unchanged for 50 years and be inherited, and the term of this right may be extended according to law. The development of a specialty tourist project by taking advantage of available local resources may go through the formalities according to stipulations on the use of collection land for construction purposes if the basic facilities of such a project involves the use of collective land.
11. The land to be used by an enterprise for mining purposes or obtaining soil from it may be supplied according to stipulations on temporary provision of land. The road that extends from a mining area to the outside may be built and shared jointly by the enterprise which provides the investment, and the rural collective economic organization which provides the land. The land thus used may be regarded as rural public utility land, and subjected to formalities applicable to the construction use of collective land. If a user s own land is suitable for the use and management of the organization that owns the land to be used, the right to land use may be transferred on an equal basis through consultation.
12. The returns from the compensated use of available urban land for construction purposes may be used in urban infrastructure construction, apart from covering expenses on the formulation of the general land use plan, land purchase reserve funds, and the work of deciding basic land prices, grading and accessing the prices of farm-use lands, registering and issuing collective land use certificates, investigating changes in land use, building up land information databases, and managing land ownership.
13. In the case of an infrastructure project to be constructed with state investment within a tight schedule, if use of the land is controlled by another organization and is therefore affecting the progress of the project, and if the use of the said land is subjected to approval by the People s Government of the Autonomous Region because it involves the transfer of farmland or the requisition of land, construction on the land may be started right away with the consent of the People s Government.
14. If a construction project entitled to independent choice of site is to be situated on ore deposits or likely to cause geological disaster, preliminary examination and verification shall be accomplished during the feasibility study period and before the application for the use of land is submitted. No such procedures are required when the land use application is officially submitted.
15. Land use examination and approval are handled through a hierarchical responsibility system. It is the responsibility of the autonomous region to examine if the use of a land accords with the general land use plan and the annual land use plan and if the application proceedings, the compensation for land acquisition, the measures for the reallocation of local population, and the work to make up for the acreage of farmland used for construction purposes have been handled according to stipulations; and such basic and technical work as land survey, verification of land ownership, categorization of land, verification of land size and boundaries is the responsibility of city and county governments and the land administrative department. When issuing the land use certificate, an applicant for land registration may be exempt from the land survey fee (with the exception of the part charged by a intermediary organization) if the land administrative department has already finished the land right investigation and of the applicant can provide up-to-standard diagrams and documents.
16. The use of land needed for the development and utilization of superiority resources verified by the state and the autonomous region, for high-tech development, for the industrialization of military technology converted for civilian use, for key transportation construction projects, and for the construction of second-grade highways in the autonomous region s highway network, shall be handled according to the Circular of the Autonomous Regional Planning Commission and Other Departments Endorsed by the People s Government of the Autonomous Region concerning the Provisionary Provisions of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Land Acquisition, Demotion and Population Reallocation for Major Infrastructure Construction Projects (Guangxi Government Document No. 39 [2000]). Such a project is exempt from land use compensation fee if it uses unused state-owned land.
17. With the exception of the use of land to be appropriated by the state according to law, the use of state-owned land for other construction purposes shall be compensated according to law. If there are more than two bidders for the use of a piece of land for commercial real estate development, or for any other land provision plans that have been announced, the city or county government land administrative department concerned shall hold public biddings and award the right of land use to the highest bidder. In the case of the right to the use of land obtained by organizations or individuals through administrative appropriation, if the land no longer accords with the current legal stipulations on land appropriation, an annual rent system may be instituted. The rent, to be collected by the city or county government land administrative department according to a set or basic land price, shall be managed as economic returns from compensated land use. Any foreign-invested project that calls for the use of land shall be subjected to examination and approval by the land administrative department of the autonomous region, and the city or county government may provide the right to the use of state-owned land in return for certain shares in the project, or convert the value of the land into investment.
18. In the case of planting trees and grass on unused land or restoring farmland to grassland, the policy is whoever has planted trees and grass or restored farmland to grassland owns the use of land and the trees and grass. Barren mountains, wastelands, or other unused state-owned lands provided to collectives or individuals for planting trees and grass or other ecological construction work shall be exempt from land provision fee, and the use of the land shall remain unchanged for 50 years. The right to the use of land may be transferred, rented, or mortgaged if the investment on the land has reached the sum provided in the contract and if the conditions are suitable for ecological construction, and the term of use of the land may be extended upon expiration. Those who want to plant trees and grass and engage in other ecological work on barren mountains or wasteland owned by rural collectives may obtain the land use on a contracted basis or by rentals or auctions, and the land use right thus obtained will remain unchanged for 50 years and can be inherited, transferred, rented or mortgaged.
Part IV. Preferential Policy for Mineral Resources
19. The returns from selling the prospecting and mining rights acquired with state funding shall, according to stipulations, be partially or entirely transferred as the state capital in a state-owned mining enterprise or prospecting team under one of the following conditions: 1) the prospecting and mining of petroleum, natural bas, gas from coal strata, rich iron ore, quality manganese ores, chromium iron ores, copper, nickel, gold, and silver ores, sylvite, platinum family metals, and subterranean water resources; 2) the prospecting and mining in state-designated underdeveloped areas under the state anti-poverty program and key development areas; 3) the prospecting of replacement resources in large or medium-sized mining enterprises that have run out of original resources; 4) companies holding state assets obtaining, by converting their prospecting and mining rights into assets, stock rights in state-owned mining enterprises that have been converted into joint-stock entities or that have been turned into joint ventures with Chinese and foreign investment; state-owned mining enterprises having difficulty paying for the prospecting and mining rights due to natural disasters and other irresistible reasons
20. Those prospecting and mining mineral resources may apply for reduction or exemption of mine use and mining right fees if they are 1) engaged in the mining and tapping of natural gas, coal strata gas, uranium, rich iron ores, quality manganese ore, chromium iron ores, copper, sylvite, platinum family metals, and subterranean water resources; 2) prospecting and developing replacement resources for large and medium-sized mining enterprises; 3) using new technology and new methods to increase the level of multipurpose utilization (including developing mineral resources of low grades or difficult to handle, and utilizing the remaining mineral resources in old mining areas); or 4) prospecting for mineral resources in areas where such efforts are encouraged according to the mineral development plan of the autonomous region. They shall be exempt from the mining right use fee in the first prospecting year, pay 50 percent of it during the second and third prospecting year and 25 percent of it during the fourth through seventh prospecting year; they shall also be exempt from the mine use fee during the first capital construction year or the first year of production, and pay 50 percent of it during the second and third year of production, and 25 percent of it during the fourth through the seventh year, or be exempt from it the year the mine is closed down..
21. Foreign investors engaged in the prospecting and mining of resources other than petroleum and natural gas shall, over and above the preferential state policies already in force, be exempt from prospecting and mining fees for one year, and have the fees reduced by half for another two years. Foreign investors engaged in developing the mineral resources in the Guiding Catalogue of Industries for Foreign Investors shall be exempt from mineral resource compensation fee for five years. In a joint venture with Chinese and foreign investment, the Chinese partner that holds shares by selling their prospecting and mining rights shall have such rights appraised, verified and reasonably priced according to stipulations, with the Chinese side providing relevant materials concerning its geological achievements.
22. Those who have invested in prospecting and verified mineral resources that are worth developing may obtain the mining right according to law. They are also allowed to count their prospecting expenses into the deferred assets and be reimbursed periodically during the mining period.
23. Those engaged in tapping low-penetration and thick oil or third-time oil recovery, or prospecting and tapping coal-strata gas, may apply for exemption according to the Measures Concerning Reduction and Exemption of Fees for the Use of Prospecting and Mining Rights. Any coal-mining enterprise more than 100 square kilometers in area, or any metal ore mining enterprise more than 30 square kilometers in area, may apply for reduction or exemption of mining right use fee if it is truly in financial difficulties. Those engaged in tapping and recovering minerals associated with a major mineral ore other than petroleum and gas shall be exempt from mineral resource compensation fee.
24. Actively cultivating the mineral rights market and promote the concession and transfer of prospecting and mining rights. The scope for the accession of mining rights covers areas where the mineral deposits have been verified with prospecting efforts funded by the state, mineral areas that have been reverted to state ownership according to law, and other areas yet to be covered by the mining right. Apart from applications for approval, the mining rights maybe transferred through biddings or auctions. Owners of prospecting and mining rights may transfer their rights by selling, converting their rights into capital, joining in cooperative prospecting or mining, or allowing themselves be quoted on the stock market.
Part V. Adjusting by Means of Price Mechanism
25. The examination and approval for prices shall be further decentralized so as to increase the proportion of prices regulated by the market. The management of the government pricing and guiding prices shall be strengthened. Guangxi price catalog shall be formulated and promulgated. The following will be decentralized to the city and county departments in charge of pricing management: power plants with generating capacity below 8,000 kilowatts connected with non-major power grid of the autonomous region, medical institutions below prefecture or city level with self-prepared drugs, water conservancy projects below prefecture or city level, taxi, county-level public transport, vehicles parking lots, port s domestic trade cargo, sugar cane, seeds, electricity installation and maintenance, real estate management, and other goods and services. The prices for the commodities and services which are fully competitive including the water and highway freight, sugar, coal for power generation, newspapers and magazines, filature silk, pure gold articles, foreign trade warehousing, commodity circulation, guest rooms, and resins, shall be regulated by the market.
26. The price-forming mechanism for electricity should be improved to further reduce the users burden so as to stimulate electricity consumption.
26.1 The current electricity price-fixing method by the power projects based on the period of repayment of loans and their interest payments will be changed into the approved power grid price during the operation period (the operation period for thermal power generation is 20 years, hydropower, 30 years); the network electricity prices for the new power generating enterprises shall be decided and approved according to the social average cost of the generating sets of the same advanced technology in the same period in the power grid of the autonomous region; due to the increased investment in the generating units in compliance with the requirements of environmental protection, the cost shall be recalculated separately and the network prices should be decided in accordance with the state s related stipulations.
26.2 The cost of transmission and distribution, power loss, taxes and profits contained in the actual electricity price should be calculated and the prices of power grid s transmission and distribution shall be re-decided. The transmission costs in the main grid of the autonomous region shall properly be lowered and "transmission of western power to east shall be encouraged.
26.3 Gradually abolishing district price increasing and implementing unified electricity prices in the autonomous region. After the completion of rural network "reforms", electricity meters shall be given to each household so as to realize that the residents in both urban and rural areas pay for the electricity at the same electricity prices. The standards for charges in the urban power network reform of "one household one meter" shall be strictly controlled.
26.4 Power generating enterprises shall be encouraged to sign purchase contracts directly with consumers and pricing concessions shall be given; electricity subsidies shall be reduced and phased out gradually; the preferential prices for electricity shall be given due to exceeding the basic figures and during the wet period with fewer electricity consumers.
27. Intensifying reform of freight prices and expanding price-fixing autonomy of transportation enterprises.
27.1. The local railway tariff shall be changed from government pricing to government guiding price. Based on the market demands, the enterprises can decide flexible specific rates in the floating range of the stipulated basic prices. Since the local newly-constructed railway shall repay the principal and interest of loans, according to the principle of compensating for reasonable operating costs, the new local railway shall implement the new prices.
27.2. Formulating the passenger transport prices according to the grades of highways and the types of vehicles; further regulating the prices for highway passenger services and freight services.
27.3. Implementing floating air fare policy for the branch flights in the autonomous region.
28. Intensifying the collection of sewage treatment charges and rationally adjusting the prices of urban water supply. Sewage treatment charges are an important component of urban water prices. According to the requirements of the construction loans, there shall be price commitment system for the sewage treatment projects, in which three years before the completion of the project the fees for sewage treatment shall be paid. To the sewage treatment enterprises which have been completed and put into operation, the fees for waste water treatment will be gradually adjusted to a reasonable level according to the principle of compensation for reasonable cost and a modest profit and in consideration of the consumers ability. The prices of water supply shall be increased correspondingly so as to ensure the normal operation of the enterprises.
29. Classified ticket prices shall be fixed to promote the development of tourism industry.
29.1 Ticket prices for non-commercial investment scenes and public parks shall be fixed by the government pricing; sightseeing places with clear seasonal features shall have seasonal ticket prices for both off season and busy season. The discount tickets will be given to the students, the servicemen, the elderly, the disabled and the tourism teams.
29.2 The non-profit parks free of charge shall be promoted so as to push the leisure consumption activities in the parks.
29.3 Commercial investment scenes shall implement market price adjustment and the investors can decide their own ticket prices.
30. Better work on the proceeds pledge to attract investment. The electricity proceeds shall be used as pledge for the loans for rural power network reform and the proceeds pledge for loans shall be extended to the construction projects of urban water supply, public transport, telecommunications, water conservancy, and urban sewage treatment.
Part VI. Regulation Through Fee-collecting Mechanisms
31 The autonomous region follows a fee-collecting policy to encourage investment and stimulating infrastructure development.
31.1. In the case of infrastructure construction projects in which the profit or fee-collecting is used as the pledge for loan grants, all the red-tape concerning commitment to both rights shall be finished within prescribed work days so long as all the relevant procedures have been gone through and all the needed documents are available.
31.2. Establishing a rational investment compensation system. The right to economic returns and the fee collection right shall be used as pledge to attract foreign investment, social funds and bank loans in the construction of highways, bridges, tunnels and other transportation infrastructure projects as well as water conservancy projects and urban environmental protection projects having a certain loan-repaying potentials in the autonomous region. Unified loan granting and repayment will be the new fee-collecting and loan-repaying policy for projects for the construction of a second-grade highway network owned by the highway department of the autonomous region to cover all the counties in the autonomous region from 2001 to 2010.
31.3. All the construction projects in urban infrastructure shall be exempt from urban development supplementary fee pending the promulgation of a state plan, while the other projects shall have such a feel reduced by half. For these projects the urban planning and comprehensive technical service fee shall be collected at a reduced 50 percent rate
32. Reducing fees collected from enterprises, managers and consumers and redouble support for enterprises in their effort to reduce their economic burdens and beat poverty and regrouping or transforming themselves.
32.1. Intermediary organizations shall reduce their current fee-collecting standards for enterprises in the process of transformation and regrouping (including those going bankrupt), for research institutes in the process of changing themselves into enterprises or reforming themselves and therefore calling for such intermediary services as making inventory and appraisals of their assets, financial auditing and asset verification. No additional fee shall be charged from making inventories of assets which is part of the asset appraisal work.
32.2. Abolishing the administrative feeds for rural enterprises, social and welfare production and temporary residence of workers from other regions, the administrative fee for temporary residents, family planning, urban population expansion, and administrative fees for building enterprises from other region
33. Readjusting the fee-collecting policy to promote education
33.1. Establishing a system for sharing the costs of education under the socialist market economic system. While rectifying the collection of fees for compulsory education, the portion of tuitions for non-compulsory education in the total costs of education shall be gradually raised to more than 35 percent, but the steps to be taken towards that direction shall be prudent.
33.2. Formulating a fee-collecting policy that encourages and supports various forms of schools run by society. For schools run by social resources with state approval, the principle for the collection of fees is that he who invests reaps the benefit, and the standard for such fees shall be compatible with the fund-raising methods employed by those who have sponsored the schools, and the feels shall be collected according to the entire costs involved in the cultivation of each and every student. Different areas, school runners, schools and specialties are allowed to set different standards for fees. Compulsory education run with social resources with government approval may collect a certain portion of donations from the students apart from the miscellaneous feeds, lodging fees and fees collected on behalf of the state according to the stipulations of the autonomous region.
33.3. Student dormitories built with bank loans and social funds and according to a unified plan to meet the requirement of socializing school logistics work, are allowed to charge lodging fees according to the highest standards available.
34. Promoting the development of environmental protection by means collecting charge.
34.1 The policy on charges for waste disposal promulgated shall be implemented all over Guangxi.
34.2 Collection of the charges for water resources shall be continued and gradually improved.
35. Increasing efforts to clearing up disordered charges and optimizing the environment for investment and consumption.
35.1 Continued efforts shall be exerted to cancel the unreasonable fees and unreasonable fee standards shall be lowered to create an environment for fair competition.
35.2 The investigation and punishment for the unreasonable fees shall be taken more seriously and major cases of arbitrary collections of charges which affect the development of the western region must be severely investigated and punished.
Part 7. The interpretation and time for implementation
36. The Office of the Leading Group of Guangxi for the Development of the Western Region is responsible for overall interpretation of the Regulations. And according to the functional division of the relevant departments of Guangxi, the departments of the planning, economic and trade, finance, state tax, local tax, land and resources, and price are responsible for the interpretation of the concrete contents in their charge respectively.
37. These regulations shall come into effect as of 2001.
