General Administration of Civil Aviation

Consumer protection: The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (GACA) recently set up a new department - the centre of consumers' affairs - specialized in handling passenger and consumer complaints.

The centre aims to protect consumer interests and accept complaints on services from air transportation companies and air stations, said an official with the administration.

The centre is responsible for supervising action on complaints, and will even launch an investigation in serious cases.

The administration also requires all local bureaux to allocate staff to deal with such complaints, so as to improve service quality all around the country.

China Insurance Regulatory

Commission

Insurance curbs: China's insurance watchdog, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), announced recently that no unit or individual is empowered to force students to take out insurance, in a bid to protect youngsters' legal rights.

The announcement is particularly aimed at schools, in which students were forced to join in certain safety insurance programmes.

Insurance companies will not accept group orders from schools from September 1.

According to China's Insurance Law, insurers should promote business on the basis of free will as well as fair play, CIRC said.

The regulator welcomes supervision from the public and irregularities, once proven, will result in severe punishment.

Parents and guardians are still eligible for the safety insurance.

State

Administration of Foreign Exchange

RMB payment: China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) recently issued a temporary notice, allowing multinational companies in the three cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, to pay for their foreign exchange non-trade transactions in renminbi.

Multinational companies may pay charges, fees and other non-trade payments to their overseas headquarters and related corporations in RMB in designated banks, according to the notice.

The SAFE also allows other overseas expenses and taxes for multinational companies in China to be paid in Chinese currency.

Nevertheless, the corporations are required to first obtain approval, according to the notice.

State Development and Reform

Commission

Cement-glut warning: The Chinese Government is warning investors planning to enter the cement industry to be cautious because the industry may soon face excessive production capacity.

Investors should make a careful analysis before investing in cement, because though supply and demand are basically balanced currently, there is a risk of over-supply, according to a report released recently by the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC).

The government is expected to take urgent measures to eliminate small, backward companies and strengthen regulations to promote a sound development climate for the industry.

The active fiscal policy and expanded domestic demand have driven up the growth of the industry, said an official with the commission.

SDRC statistics show that in 2002, cement supply was at 725 million tons, and demand 700 million tons. During the first half of this year, China produced 370 million tons of cement, 15 per cent over last year.

Small plants with outdated technologies, especially in the west, are operated at the risk of environment pollution.

Ministry of

Agriculture

Lower rice yield: China's rice yield is expected to decrease this year because of the long and lingering drought in the southern part of the country, according to an official from the Ministry of Agriculture.

However, it's too early to predict the exact loss, said the official.

China's rice output may decrease to 168 million tons, down 3.7 per cent from last year, according to a prediction made by the State Cereal and Oil Information Centre.

However, the impact on the domestic rice market would be slight because the country has sufficient rice in storage.

Since late June, a heatwave has plagued most of China, especially Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hunan and Hubei provinces, which are rich paddy-growing areas.

More than 6.5 million hectares of farmland in 11 provinces were affected by drought by the end of July - most of them rice-growing.

Ministry of

Construction

Heating reform: The country will break the monopoly of State-owned enterprises in heating supply sector in urban areas by giving foreign and private firms access to the huge market from November, according to the Ministry of Construction.

The ministry will also abandon welfare heating supply in urban areas and start to collect fees depending on the indoor temperature instead of the area of houses, according to Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of construction.

The reform in the urban areas is to meet the growing demand in winter and force heating suppliers to provide better service, according to Qiu. Qiu also confirmed that the charges would not increase sharply in the short term.

In addition to breaking the monopoly, the ministry will also encourage real-estate developers and construction companies to use heat-saving materials in construction projects, especially apartment buildings in urban areas.

The ministry will also promote the installation of temperature-supervision system in newly-constructed buildings gradually, according to Qiu.

Ministry of

Education

Fee relief: Students at primary and high schools and their parents would have a sense of relief when paying for tuition when the new semester starts in September - the Ministry of Education would eliminate irregular charges by some schools and abandon as many as 360 irregular charging items.

According to sources close to the ministry, students from poverty-stricken counties and towns will only need to pay tuition fees, while other charges, including the cost of textbooks and accommodation, will be covered by the government.

The ministry also set ceilings on the total amount of charges for different provinces and cities depending on various education costs in those places, according to the sources. For example, the total charges for three years of senior high school education should be less than 40,000 yuan (US$4,836) in Shanghai, 30,000 yuan (US$3,627) in Beijing and 10,000 to 20,000 yuan (US$1,209 to US$2,418) in other provinces.

E-training: The Ministry of Education is to establish an online training platform for teachers in backward rural areas to enhance their working abilities and knowledge, according to Yuan Guiren, vice minister of education.

The National Teacher's Education Network Union will combine the resources of existing local distance education networks and form a national platform, according to Yuan.

The network will enable teachers to get re-education and training programmes in their off-hours and will not affect their work, said the ministry.

The national distant education platform would also save on costs for teachers' re-education and training, according to the ministry.

(HK Edition 08/19/2003 page1)