Head of the Central Social Work Department answers reporters' questions on the 'Opinions on Promoting Deep Reform of Industry Associations and Chambers of Commerce'

  问：请介绍一下《意见》出台的背景和意义。

  答：行业协会商会是我国经济建设和社会发展的重要力量。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央高度重视行业协会商会改革发展工作，作出一系列重大决策部署。党的十八届三中全会强调限期实现行业协会商会与行政机关真正脱钩，党的二十大强调理顺行业协会、学会、商会党建工作管理体制，党的二十届三中全会强调深化行业协会商会改革，党的二十届四中全会强调推动行业协会商会改革发展，这些重大决策部署推动我国行业协会商会改革发展取得新成就、迈上新台阶，行业协会商会服务经济社会发展的功能作用日益彰显。同时，我国行业协会商会仍处于脱钩改革后的转型调整期，面对新的发展形势和任务，在党建引领、综合监管、内部治理、结构布局、作用发挥等方面还存在不少老问题、新挑战，亟待在进一步深化改革中予以解决。

  The "Opinions" provide a comprehensive plan and systematic design for promoting deep reform of industry associations and chambers of commerce under new circumstances, fully reflecting the CPC Central Committee's high regard for the reform and development of such organizations. This is of great significance for upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, stimulating and enhancing social vitality, and advancing the modernization of social governance.

  Q: Please introduce the main framework and content of the "Opinions".

  A: The "Opinions" consist of 7 parts and 18 measures. The first part covers general requirements, clarifying the guiding ideology and overall goals for promoting deep reform of industry associations and chambers of commerce. Parts two to six constitute the main content, focusing on five aspects: upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, improving management systems and operating mechanisms, adjusting and optimizing structural layout, actively playing functional roles, and optimizing the development environment. These sections clarify key tasks and specific measures for promoting deep reform. The seventh part sets out requirements for strengthening organization and implementation.

  Q: In terms of upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership, what deployments does the "Opinions" make?

  A: Party leadership is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics and also the fundamental principle that must be followed in the deep reform of industry associations and chambers of commerce. The "Opinions" make four deployments regarding upholding and strengthening the Party's overall leadership and strengthening party building guidance. First, regarding streamlining the management system for party building work, it requires accelerating the construction of a party building pattern combining vertical and horizontal coordination, linking upper and lower levels, and ensuring effective synergy; establishing and improving the working mechanism of "managing the industry also means managing party building"; implementing joint responsibility for party building across departments; further clarifying the affiliation relationships of party organizations within industry associations and chambers of commerce; and establishing a comprehensive and smoothly functioning party organization system. Second, regarding enhancing the political and organizational functions of party organizations, it requires improving the quality of coverage by party organizations and party work, advancing standardized and normalized construction of party branches,健全ing mechanisms for party organizations to play their role, promoting effective participation of party organizations in major decisions such as important personnel arrangements, and strengthening the political responsibility for leading development. Third, regarding strengthening norms for elections and building a team of leaders, it requires establishing and improving nomination, review, public notice, supervision, exit mechanisms, regular reporting by main responsible persons, accountability, and handover systems for leaders of industry associations and chambers of commerce; conducting thorough reviews of candidate selections; strengthening supervision and management of leaders; rectifying chaos during elections; strictly regulating honorary positions for leaders; and building a team of leaders who support Party leadership, possess professional expertise, manage associations effectively, and maintain integrity and clean conduct. Fourth, regarding intensifying disciplinary inspection and enforcement, it requires improving the disciplinary inspection work mechanism, strengthening the standardization, rule-of-law, and formalization of disciplinary inspection work, establishing and perfecting systems for handling clues of suspected disciplinary violations by party organizations and members within industry associations and chambers of commerce, improving anti-corruption systems, deepening the rectification of unhealthy trends and corruption issues, and comprehensively advancing the efforts to deter, prevent, and eliminate corruption.

  Q: What requirements does the "Opinion" propose for consolidating and expanding the results of the reform to separate industry associations and chambers of commerce from government?

  A: The "Opinion" adheres to the reform direction of "de-administrativization" for industry associations and chambers of commerce, proposing three aspects of requirements for consolidating and expanding the results of the separation reform. First, establish and improve a management system with unified leadership by the Party committee, overall coordination by the Party's social work department, and respective responsibilities, collaborative cooperation, and comprehensive supervision by registration authorities, industry management departments, competent units, and relevant functional departments. Second, conduct comprehensive supervision and inspection on the separation of institutions, functions, assets and finances, personnel management, party building, foreign exchange and cooperation, etc., for separated industry associations and chambers of commerce, and the implementation of relevant policies; further clarify the asset attributes and ownership relations of such associations and chambers, and accelerate the improvement of their asset management systems. Third, gradually promote the separation of institutions, functions, financial independence, and personnel autonomy for industry associations and chambers of commerce that still have competent units, strengthen daily guidance and management supervision, and achieve standardized operation according to law and healthy, orderly development.

  Q: In terms of improving the management system and operating mechanism of industry associations and chambers of commerce, what deployments has the "Opinion" made?

  A: The comprehensive supervision system established during the separation reform has been in operation for nearly 10 years and urgently needs to be improved and perfected in light of new situations and tasks. The "Opinion" focuses on improving and perfecting the comprehensive governance system for industry associations and chambers of commerce, making three deployments. First, strengthen government supervision, clarify the industry management departments for direct registration and separated industry associations and chambers of commerce, and require them to fulfill responsibilities such as business guidance, industry supervision, and party building according to their functions; deploy relevant departments across regions to review management and service matters involving industry associations and chambers of commerce, focus on investigating problems arising after separation, and study and propose improvement measures; explore establishing a classified management system, improve and perfect the system for reporting major matters for instructions, strengthen supervision of key matters; deepen the registration system reform, research and formulate methods for direct registration of industry associations and chambers of commerce, explore simplified cancellation procedures for such associations and chambers, and improve exit systems. Second, establish and improve a social supervision mechanism, formulate an information disclosure system for industry associations and chambers of commerce, encourage and support media, the public, and members to supervise these organizations, smooth complaint and reporting channels, and explore establishing professional and social third-party supervision mechanisms. Third, enhance the ability of industry associations and chambers of commerce to govern themselves according to law, strengthen the construction of joint and comprehensive industry associations and chambers of commerce, establish and improve internal management systems, regulate the establishment and strict management of executive offices and branch (representative) offices, standardize charging behaviors and international exchange and cooperation, comprehensively strengthen asset and financial management, and strictly manage the establishment of enterprises.

  Q: In terms of adjusting and optimizing the structural layout of industry associations and chambers of commerce, what deployments has the "Opinion" made?

  Answer: Compared with the needs of economic and social development, the structural layout of industry associations and chambers of commerce in China still has problems such as being unreasonable and unbalanced. The "Opinions" make 3 deployments around adjusting and optimizing the structural layout. First, clarify 4 reform paths: optimize and integrate industry associations and chambers of commerce with overlapping business functions, excessively small institutional scale, overly fine field division, or weak functional roles; accelerate the exit of those that are operationally dysfunctional, disrupt order, suffer from industry shrinkage, or have completed their original purposes; focus on cultivating and prioritizing the development of industry associations and chambers of commerce that align with major national strategies and regional development positioning, adapt to the needs of industrial transformation and upgrading, and serve the development of new quality productive forces; actively support the establishment of industry associations and chambers of commerce in emerging strategic industries, future industries, green low-carbon industries, etc., in accordance with the law. Second, reasonably control the scale: for national industry associations and chambers of commerce, increase integration efforts; for local industry associations and chambers of commerce, strengthen macro-control and guidance based on the changes in local economic and social development and industrial structure; for municipal and county-level industry associations and chambers of commerce, simplify exit procedures in accordance with the law and control the overall scale through orderly competition. Third, avoid a "one-size-fits-all" approach in implementation, discard impatience and rashness, follow the principle of piloting first and advancing steadily, conduct pilot programs in fields where national industry associations and chambers of commerce are concentrated and in some local areas, and then steadily expand after accumulating experience.

  Question: What requirements does the "Opinions" put forward regarding the role and function of industry associations and chambers of commerce?

  Answer: Fully leveraging the positive role of industry associations and chambers of commerce in serving economic and social development is the ultimate goal of deepening reform. The "Opinions" clarify the functional positioning and key points for exerting influence of industry associations and chambers of commerce from 3 aspects. First, standardize industry development. Industry associations and chambers of commerce should establish and improve industry self-discipline management systems and self-discipline constraint mechanisms, formulate and implement industry professional ethics codes, carry out industry credit evaluation work in accordance with the law, consciously resist "involutionary" competition, punish members who violate self-discipline rules, play a role in resolving petition contradictions, and better maintain industry development order. Second, expand service functions. Industry associations and chambers of commerce should promote the implementation of the Party's theories, lines, policies, and principles, as well as national development strategies and relevant industry-specific plans within the industry, provide services and reflect demands in accordance with the law, conduct surveys and research and industry statistics, promote the construction of advanced industry standard systems, facilitate the promotion and application of new technologies and products, assist in the development of advanced industrial clusters, and actively participate in comprehensive rural revitalization, social governance, volunteer services, public welfare and charity, food safety, emergency rescue, and other work. Third, participate in international exchange and cooperation. Industry associations and chambers of commerce, especially national ones, should actively participate in work such as the formulation of international standards and international rules, participate in or promote the establishment of international economic and trade dialogue mechanisms, serve in building international supply and demand docking platforms, participate in international economic and trade negotiations, responses to trade friction, trade relief and anti-discrimination-related work, guide and encourage industry enterprises to actively participate in building the "Belt and Road" initiative and global industrial division of labor and cooperation.

  Question: What deployments does the "Opinions" make regarding optimizing the development environment for industry associations and chambers of commerce?

  Answer: A good development environment is an important guarantee for promoting the standardized and healthy development of industry associations and chambers of commerce. The "Opinions" make 3 deployments regarding strengthening cultivation and support, and optimizing the development environment. First, strengthen policy support. Encourage all localities and relevant departments to formulate and implement policy measures supporting the transformation and development of industry associations and chambers of commerce according to actual conditions, transfer or entrust functions and matters suitable for industry associations and chambers of commerce to those with appropriate qualifications in accordance with legal procedures, and implement policy measures such as tax incentives and financial support. Second, strengthen talent support. Increase the intensity of talent training for industry associations and chambers of commerce, establish and improve the training and evaluation system for practitioners, smooth career development channels, and standardize salary management for industry associations and chambers of commerce. Third, smooth communication channels. Establish institutionalized channels for collecting people's suggestions from industry associations and chambers of commerce, and share relevant information data with industry associations and chambers of commerce that meet the conditions in accordance with the law.

  Q: What are the requirements for promoting the implementation of the "Opinions"?

  A: The vitality of the system lies in its execution. To effectively implement the "Opinions", all regions and relevant departments must work together. In accordance with the "Opinions", party committees and governments at all levels must strengthen organizational leadership and promptly study and resolve major issues. Party committee social work departments must enhance overall coordination and supervision to ensure that relevant policies and measures take effect. Publicity and guidance should be strengthened to create a favorable atmosphere supporting the development of industry associations and chambers of commerce.