Salt Industry Reform Plan
To implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, promote the reform of the salt industry, achieve efficient allocation of salt resources, further release market vitality, and promote healthy and sustainable development of the industry, the following plan is formulated.
- Overall Requirements
Guiding Ideology
Fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee, and the Central Economic Work Conference; earnestly implement the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing; focus on ensuring the quality and supply safety of edible salt; promote supply-side structural reform on the basis of adhering to the salt franchise system; govern salt by law; innovate management methods; improve salt reserves; strictly supervise the market; establish a fair competition and well-regulated market environment; cultivate a number of enterprises with core competitiveness; and gradually form a salt industry management system that suits China's national conditions.
Basic Principles
Highlight salt safety. Improve the salt supervision mechanism, strengthen the construction of enterprise standard conditions and credit systems, improve the social salt reserve system, broaden the supply channels of iodized salt, ensure the quality of edible salt, and achieve scientific iodine supplementation.
Release market vitality. Cancel regional restrictions on salt production and sales, reform the pricing mechanism of edible salt and the management of industrial salt, encourage enterprises to operate independently and integrate production and sales, and continuously strengthen and optimize through mergers and reorganizations, providing momentum for the healthy development of the industry.
Focus on overall planning. Combine ensuring salt safety with stimulating market vitality, coordinate various reform measures, establish communication and coordination mechanisms, strengthen work guidance and effect evaluation, and ensure the smooth progress of reform.
Adhere to governing salt by law. Improve laws, regulations, and policy measures, accelerate the construction of standard systems, establish and improve supervision systems, clarify the management responsibilities of all parties, innovate management methods, and implement governance according to law.
- Strengthen Specialized Supervision of Edible Salt and Improve the Salt Franchise System
Improve the designated production system for edible salt
No new designated edible salt production enterprises will be approved, ensuring that the number of enterprises only decreases, not increases. Encourage the integration of production and sales between edible salt production and wholesale enterprises. Encourage social capital to enter the edible salt production field and cooperate with existing designated production enterprises.
Improve the franchise system in the wholesale sector of edible salt
Improve the franchise system in the wholesale sector of edible salt. Adhere to the wholesale franchise system, based on the existing designated edible salt production enterprises and edible salt wholesale enterprises, no new edible salt wholesale enterprises will be approved. Encourage mergers and reorganizations between edible salt wholesale enterprises and designated production enterprises. Other types of commodity circulation enterprises shall not engage in edible salt wholesale. Encourage state-owned edible salt wholesale enterprises to introduce social capital through investment in shares, joint investment, enterprise restructuring, etc., while maintaining state control, to carry out strategic cooperation and resource integration.
Improve the specialized supervision system for edible salt
Improve the specialized supervision system for edible salt. Maintain the existing specialized salt supervision system unchanged, with the salt industry authority responsible for salt management and supervision according to law. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is the salt industry authority of the State Council, responsible for national salt industry work, formulating salt industry development plans and industrial policies, managing the national edible salt franchise work, and ensuring the stable development of the salt industry. The salt industry authorities authorized by local people's governments at or above the county level are responsible for managing the edible salt franchise work within their administrative regions. Salt industry authorities at all levels, together with public security, judicial, health and family planning, industry and commerce, quality inspection, food and drug supervision departments, perform their respective duties and cooperate closely to strengthen the safety supervision of edible salt according to law. In conjunction with the reform of the administrative law enforcement system, explore the reform of the edible salt safety supervision system, study the separation of administrative management functions undertaken by edible salt wholesale enterprises, and create conditions to transfer the quality and safety management and supervision functions of edible salt to the food and drug supervision department or the market supervision department. Accelerate the construction of an electronic traceability system for edible salt, achieving traceable sources, queryable flows, preventable risks, and accountable responsibilities.
- Promote Comprehensive Reform of Salt Industry Management and Improve the Salt Reserve System
Reform regional restrictions on salt production and wholesale
Cancel the regulation that designated edible salt production enterprises can only sell to designated wholesale enterprises, allowing production enterprises to enter the circulation and sales fields, independently determine production and sales quantities and establish sales channels, carry out cross-regional operations with their own brands, achieve integration of production and sales, or entrust enterprises with edible salt wholesale qualifications to sell on their behalf. Cancel the regulation that edible salt wholesale enterprises can only sell within designated areas, allowing them to purchase salt from designated edible salt production enterprises and carry out cross-regional operations. Provincial-level edible salt wholesale enterprises can carry out cross-province operations, and sub-provincial edible salt wholesale enterprises can operate within their own province (autonomous region, municipality). Encourage salt enterprises to rely on existing marketing networks, vigorously develop e-commerce, chain operations, logistics distribution, and other modern circulation methods, and carry out comprehensive commodity circulation business.
Reform the government pricing mechanism for edible salt
Reform the government pricing mechanism for edible salt. Liberalize ex-factory, wholesale, and retail prices of edible salt, allowing enterprises to determine prices independently based on factors such as production and operation costs, salt quality, and market supply and demand. Price management departments at all levels should strengthen market monitoring of edible salt retail prices, cooperate with salt industry authorities to take measures to maintain basic price stability, and may take price intervention or other emergency measures according to law under special circumstances to prevent abnormal fluctuations in the price of ordinary edible salt.
Reform the management of industrial salt transportation and sales
Reform the management of industrial salt transportation and sales. Cancel the filing system and transport permit system for two-alkali industrial salt established by various localities, cancel various restrictions on the entry of small industrial salt and salt products into the market, and liberalize the market and prices of small industrial salt and salt products. People's governments at all provincial levels should effectively implement the requirements of liberalizing the control of industrial salt transportation and sales, and study and formulate implementation rules and accountability and other relevant management measures. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology should strengthen supervision and inspection. Industrial salt production enterprises should establish and maintain complete production and sales records, strictly prevent industrial salt from flowing into the edible salt market. Quality inspection departments should urge production enterprises to improve product quality, strengthen the quality supervision of industrial salt products, and investigate and deal with unqualified products according to law. Industry and commerce departments should investigate and deal with false advertising and infringement and counterfeiting according to law.
Reform the salt reserve system
Reform the salt reserve system. Establish a social salt reserve system composed of government reserves and corporate social responsibility reserves to ensure the safe supply of salt and raw iodine during natural disasters and emergencies. All provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) should establish government salt reserves according to local salt supply and demand conditions, with reserves not less than one month's consumption of edible salt in the province (autonomous region, municipality). They can rely on the warehousing capacity of existing edible salt wholesale enterprises, or choose qualified edible salt production enterprises to implement dynamic reserves. The local fiscal budget should arrange funds to support salt reserves through loan interest subsidies, management fee expenditures, etc. Strengthen the audit of reserve subsidy funds and accept social supervision. Improve the corporate salt reserve system, set minimum and maximum inventory levels for edible salt production and wholesale enterprises to prevent shortages in the salt market and hoarding by enterprises. The minimum inventory shall not be lower than the average monthly sales volume of the enterprise under normal circumstances. The specific inventory standards shall be studied and proposed by industry associations and approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Salt industry authorities at all levels should strengthen supervision and inspection of inventory. Encourage enterprises to establish social responsibility reserves with self-borne costs on the basis of minimum inventory when supply and demand are stable or production capacity exceeds demand. Raw iodine supply shall be managed according to the current method, with the central finance providing appropriate support for the procurement of raw iodine and the production and supply of iodine additives.
- Strengthen the Construction of the Edible Salt Management System and Ensure the Safety of Edible Salt Supply
Strictly standardize the qualifications of edible salt production and wholesale enterprises
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology takes the lead, with the active participation of relevant departments such as the Food and Drug Administration, to formulate standard conditions for edible salt production and wholesale enterprises in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, comprehensively considering factors such as technical level and health security conditions. Provincial salt industry authorities should re-examine the qualifications of existing edible salt production and wholesale enterprises strictly according to the new standard conditions, report to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for filing, and publicize them on designated websites to accept social supervision.
Accelerate the construction of the credit system
Salt industry authorities at all levels should, together with relevant departments and industry associations, establish credit records for edible salt production and wholesale enterprises and their legal representatives and senior managers, and incorporate them into the national unified social credit system. Rely on the national credit information sharing platform, the national enterprise credit information publicity system, and designated websites of local governments to establish and improve the information publicity system. For social capital intending to enter the edible salt production and wholesale fields, relevant information should be publicized before admission, and information about all enterprises and their legal representatives should be publicized regularly every year. For enterprises and individuals with illegal and dishonest behavior, relevant departments should strengthen supervision, implement joint punishment according to law, and for those with serious consequences affecting salt safety, take measures such as industry bans according to law. Salt industry associations at all levels should play a good role in coordination, communication, and industry self-discipline.
Strengthen scientific iodine supplementation
Give full play to the role of edible salt production and wholesale enterprises in ensuring supply, effectively broaden the supply channels of iodized salt, ensure the coverage rate of qualified iodized salt is above 90%, and at the same time meet the demand for non-iodized salt for specific populations. Actively carry out publicity and education on scientific iodine supplementation, and improve the awareness of scientific iodine supplementation among pregnant women, children, and people in iodine-deficient areas. The National Health and Family Planning Commission is responsible for formulating the standard for salt iodization, organizing surveillance of iodine deficiency disorders, and publishing the iodine nutritional status of regional populations. Provincial health and family planning departments are responsible for delineating remote and poor iodine-deficient areas, doing dynamic monitoring, and adjusting the scope of assistance areas in a timely manner. All localities can flexibly choose methods such as government subsidies for transportation and sales costs or direct subsidies to the poor population according to actual conditions, to ensure that people in remote and poor areas and economically underdeveloped border ethnic areas can eat and afford qualified iodized salt, and establish a linkage mechanism linked to social assistance standards and prices to adjust the guarantee standards in a timely manner.
Strengthen emergency mechanism construction
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is responsible for the coordination and handling of emergency incidents in the national edible salt supply. Salt industry authorities at all levels should, together with relevant departments, study and formulate emergency plans for edible salt supply, and file them with the emergency management departments of the same level government. In emergency situations, the salt industry authorities should, according to the emergency plan, take measures such as releasing government reserves and dispatching corporate social responsibility reserves to ensure the stability of the edible salt market.
Promote the strengthening and optimization of salt enterprises
According to the requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises, accelerate the corporatization and shareholding reform of state-owned salt enterprises, establish a standardized corporate governance structure, actively develop mixed ownership, transform operating mechanisms, revitalize enterprise assets, and enhance vitality. Encourage mergers and reorganizations of edible salt production and wholesale enterprises, allow various financial investment entities to participate in various forms, increase capital investment to advantageous enterprises, support enterprises to raise funds through capital markets or public listings, and form a number of enterprise groups with core competitiveness to lead the development of the industry. Include the resolution of historical problems of central salt enterprises in the central state-owned capital operation budget expenditure, and governments at all levels should implement tax preferential policies for asset appreciation, land registration changes, and free transfer of state-owned assets involved in the merger, reorganization, and integration of state-owned salt enterprises.
- Strengthen Organizational Leadership and Implement Reform Tasks
Improve the legal and regulatory system for the salt industry
Relevant departments of the State Council and local governments should, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and the spirit of this plan, promptly clean up the current salt industry management regulations and policies, propose legislative, amendment, and abolition suggestions according to procedures, promote the improvement of the legal and regulatory system, and promote the healthy development of the salt industry.
Set a transition period and implement reform step by step
From the date of issuance of this plan to December 31, 2016, relevant departments should promptly study and formulate policy measures such as standard conditions for edible salt production and wholesale enterprises, salt reserves, market supervision, and price monitoring and intervention, and modify and improve relevant systems. From January 1, 2017, liberalize the prices of all salt products, cancel the salt transport permit, allow existing designated edible salt production enterprises to enter the circulation and sales field, and allow edible salt wholesale enterprises to carry out cross-regional operations. The existing licenses of designated edible salt production enterprises and edible salt wholesale enterprises will not be reissued, and their validity will be extended to December 31, 2018. From January 1, 2018, existing designated edible salt production and wholesale enterprises can apply for licenses according to the new regulations and engage in corresponding business activities according to the scope of the license.
Effectively implement work responsibilities
People's governments at all provincial levels are responsible for the overall reform of the salt industry within their administrative regions. They should strengthen organizational leadership, clarify the regulatory responsibilities of relevant departments, formulate specific work plans based on the reform direction and main principles determined in this plan, arrange government salt reserves, fiscal subsidies for iodized salt supply in remote and poor areas and economically underdeveloped border ethnic areas, and fully implement all reform tasks. Relevant departments of the State Council should, according to the requirements of the plan, promptly formulate supporting policies and measures, establish a collaborative linkage mechanism, and form a joint regulatory force. The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology should strengthen work guidance and overall coordination, do a good job in supervision and inspection and effect evaluation, promptly study and propose solutions to new problems in the reform, ensure salt safety and market stability, and report major issues to the State Council in a timely manner.
(Source: Xinhua Viewpoint)
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