Meeting with Deputy Director General Zhang Chun of Fiscal, Financial Affairs and Credit Building Department, NDRC, on China’s Corporate Credit System
2019-09-25 | Beijing
On 25th September, led by Secretary General Adam Dunnett, a European Chamber delegation paid a visit to the Fiscal, Financial Affairs and Credit Building (FFACB) Department, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), to meet with the deputy director general (DDG), Zhang Chun, on corporate social credit system issues. The director of the Foreign Investment Administration Department of the Ministry of Commerce, deputy directors of the National Public Credit Information Centre and representatives of the FFACB Department also attended the meeting.
The European Chamber released its 2019 thematic report, The Digital Hand – How China’s Corporate Social Credit System Conditions Market Actors, on 28th August, attracting much attention from both the media and government. In the report, the European Chamber recognises the intention of the Chinese Government to establish a compliant and regulated market environment. The report also aims to alert foreign-invested companies in China to the need to better prepare for the coming system.
After the Chamber representatives gave details of the report, DDG Zhang and his colleagues provided detailed responses to a series of questions jointly raised by various member companies. DDG Zhang emphasized that the intention of the corporate social credit system was to focus and punish misbehaving and distrusted companies, thus regulating the market in a more efficient way. He said the corporate social credit system was not aiming to add burden to compliant companies. DDG Zhang further elaborated on the task assignment of different ministries and departments. These came under the administration of the State Council, NDRC and the People’s Bank of China as leading units, which were in charge of top design, integrated planning and legislative preparation.
The two-hour discussion covered topics such as the responsibility boundaries of legal entities, the status of comprehensive information databases, negative ratings correction, joint sanctions, relationship between different lists (unreliable and distrusted entity lists) among others. A communication mechanism was officially established between the European Chamber and the FFACB Department, with DDG Zhang showed openness to further discussion.