Vice Minister of Agriculture Yu Xinrong: Two-Pronged Approach of Streamlining Administration and Delegating Power, and Standardization and Transparency

This website news  Since the establishment of the current government, great importance has been attached to accelerating the transformation of government functions and streamlining administration and delegating power, taking the deepening of the reform of the administrative approval system as the breakthrough point for transforming government functions, giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, and remarkable achievements have been made. In the process of implementing the decisions and arrangements of the State Council, how did the Ministry of Agriculture “cut into its own flesh” and “which flesh to cut”, how to achieve decentralization without chaos and smooth linkage, and how to standardize existing administrative approval items and improve approval efficiency and service quality. Around the above issues, Yu Xinrong, Vice Minister of Agriculture and head of the Leading Group for the Reform of the Administrative Approval System of the Ministry of Agriculture, accepted an exclusive interview with reporters.

Reporter: What is the overall approach of the Ministry of Agriculture to streamlining administration and delegating power?

Yu Xinrong: The Party Leadership Group of the Ministry of Agriculture has clearly stated that it is necessary to take accelerating the transformation of government functions as the core, take approval according to law, responsible approval, efficient approval and clean approval as the goals, take streamlining approval items, standardizing approval behavior and strengthening supervision and restraint as the focus, and accelerate the establishment of an administrative approval power operation mechanism with standardized procedures, transparent approval, efficient handling and strong supervision. In summary, it is three sentences and twelve characters: simplification first, standardization as the key, and supervision as the foundation.

Simplification first means reducing approval. For all matters that citizens, legal persons or other organizations can decide independently, that the market competition mechanism can effectively regulate, and that industry organizations or intermediary institutions can self-discipline and manage, the government must withdraw; for all matters that can be managed through post-event supervision and indirect management, no pre-approval shall be set up, further reducing approval items, links, preconditions and levels, delegating what should be delegated and reducing what should be reduced, and giving full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation.

Standardization as the key means standardizing approval. On the premise of strictly abiding by the law, scientifically optimize the approval process, solidly promote online approval and standardization construction, use informatization and standardization to improve approval quality, standardize approval behavior, compress the space for discretionary power, and truly achieve approval according to law, efficient approval, responsible approval and clean approval.

Supervision as the foundation means strengthening supervision, implementing performance management, improving supervision mechanisms such as electronic monitoring and online complaints, strengthening third-party supervision, vigorously promoting the open and transparent operation of administrative approval power, letting the people supervise power, and letting power operate in the sunshine.

Reporter: What are the priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture in streamlining administration and delegating power?

Yu Xinrong: Reducing administrative approval is the primary task of vigorously streamlining administration and delegating power and deepening the reform of the administrative approval system. The Ministry of Agriculture focuses on making breakthroughs in four aspects. First, for all matters that citizens, legal persons or other organizations can decide independently, that the market competition mechanism can effectively regulate, that industry organizations can self-discipline and manage, and that can be effectively managed through methods such as post-event supervision, in principle all shall be cancelled. Second, priority shall be given to cancelling and delegating “high-value” administrative approval items that restrict the development of modern agriculture, hinder industrial transformation and upgrading, and affect the innovation vitality of enterprises. Third, for proposals for cancellation and delegation put forward by various departments and localities, if retention is truly necessary, there must be sufficient justification; otherwise, they shall all be cancelled or delegated. Fourth, in accordance with the requirements that cancellation is the principle and adjustment is the exception, all non-administrative licensing approval items facing citizens, legal persons and other organizations shall in principle be cancelled, and side doors shall be resolutely blocked.

Reporter: How many administrative approval items does the Ministry of Agriculture plan to cancel and delegate, and what is the proportion?

Yu Xinrong: At the beginning of the establishment of the current government, the Ministry of Agriculture had a total of 57 administrative approval items. Since 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture has seriously organized, carefully planned and strongly promoted the work, and with the determination and courage of a “warrior cutting off his wrist”, vigorously streamlined administration and delegated power, truly ensuring that what should be cancelled is resolutely cancelled and what should be adjusted is uniformly adjusted. On the basis of a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the base number, through item-by-item review, scientific demonstration and proactive public announcement, it studied and put forward proposals to cancel and delegate 30 administrative approval items, with a cancellation and delegation proportion of 53%. At the same time, the category of non-administrative licensing approval items will no longer be retained in the future. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture also proposed cancelling and delegating 20 sub-items, changing all pre-approval items for industrial and commercial registration to post-approval items, so as to maximize streamlining administration and delegating power.

Reporter: For the administrative approval items to be cancelled and delegated, what measures has the Ministry of Agriculture taken to ensure decentralization without chaos and orderly linkage?

Yu Xinrong: Reducing approval is by no means reducing responsibility; rather, it means more supervision tasks, heavier responsibilities and greater difficulty. Whether supervision is in place after cancellation and whether linkage is smooth after delegation not only concerns the final results of the reform of the administrative approval system, but also concerns the development of the entire agriculture and rural economy. This time, the Ministry of Agriculture has cancelled and delegated a large number, covered a wide range of fields, and has heavy implementation tasks. In order to escape the strange cycle of “tightening brings rigidity, rigidity brings relaxation, relaxation brings chaos, and chaos brings tightening”, the Ministry of Agriculture organized relevant departments and bureaus to start early, plan ahead, and take effective measures to ensure that follow-up linkage and supervision work is implemented in place. First, formulate follow-up linkage implementation plans and measures item by item, and through measures such as carrying out approval business training, formulating administrative approval standards, establishing a technical review expert database and an online communication platform, and implementing direct docking between divisions and between individuals, guide localities in undertaking the work well, ensuring seamless linkage and smooth transition in cancellation and delegation work. Second, actively cooperate with relevant departments in revising the laws and regulations involved in the administrative approval items decided by the State Council to be cancelled and delegated, and promptly conduct a comprehensive cleanup of the rules and normative documents of the Ministry of Agriculture. Up to now, 6 departmental rules have been abolished, 15 departmental rules have been revised, and 16 normative documents have been abolished, laying the foundation for performing duties according to law. Third, while conducting performance assessment of the departments and bureaus undertaking administrative approval, from the three dimensions of “receiving”, “managing” and “delegating”, study and formulate implementation plans and specific assessment indicators, and in February 2014 clearly conduct extended performance assessment on the implementation of the reform of the administrative approval system by provincial agricultural departments, effectively strengthening in-process and post-event supervision, ensuring that all work of cancellation and delegation is implemented in place, and ensuring the sustained and healthy development of related industries. Fourth, successively form multiple research and supervision groups to conduct special research and guidance on the reform of the administrative approval system, and conduct written baseline surveys of 89 agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery units in 31 provinces and cities, deeply understand the situation and widely listen to opinions. In response to specific problems and countermeasures and suggestions reflected by various localities, urge relevant departments and bureaus to conduct comprehensive self-inspections, study and put forward handling opinions and rectification measures item by item, and ensure that the cancelled and delegated administrative approval items are linked smoothly and in a stable and orderly manner.