Accelerating the construction of a unified national market is the fundamental support and inherent requirement for building a new development pattern. To further strengthen the positive guidance and negative constraints on all regions and departments to accelerate their integration into and take the initiative to serve the construction of a unified national market, the National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with relevant departments, has recently studied and formulated the "Guidelines for the Construction of a Unified National Market (Trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"). It has now been approved by the State Council and has been printed and implemented. On January 7, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference to introduce the relevant situation.

In-depth promotion of key tasks for the unified national market

"Building a unified national market that is efficient, standardized, with fair competition and fully open is conducive to promoting the smooth flow and efficient allocation of factor resources within a wider range, creating a favorable market environment for promoting scientific and technological innovation and enterprise development. It is also beneficial for creating and leading demand with high-quality supply, and providing the general public with more high-quality products and services." At the conference, Wang Shancheng, Director of the Department of Comprehensive Reforms of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced the overall progress in building a unified national market in recent years.

Strengthen the unification of basic market institutional rules. For example, in terms of market access institutional rules, the General Office of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Improving the Market Access System", creating a fair and unified market access institutional environment for various business entities. In terms of fair competition institutional rules, the "Regulations on Fair Competition Review" was issued and implemented, strengthening the rigid constraints on the fair competition review of laws, regulations and policy measures.

Create a unified market for factors and resources. For example, improve and perfect the supporting policies for the pilot work on rural collective operational construction land entering the market, and promote the improvement of the unified urban and rural construction land market. The General Office of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Development and Utilization of Public Data Resources", facilitating the cultivation of a national integrated data market. Promote the construction of a unified power market. Currently, the inter-provincial power spot market and the power spot markets in four provinces, namely Shanxi, Guangdong, Shandong and Gansu, have been officially put into operation.

Promote a high-level unification of the commodity and service markets. For example, build a unified medical service market, realize the direct settlement of medical insurance for cross-provincial off-site medical treatment, and continuously promote the sharing and mutual recognition of inspection and test results among medical institutions across regions and among different medical institutions. Promote relevant parties to actively improve the level of platform interconnection. During the "Double 11" period in 2024, Tmall has already allowed the use of WeChat Pay, and JD.com will soon access Alipay, and the barriers between platforms are gradually being eliminated.

Promote high-standard connectivity of market facilities. For example, improve the multimodal transport standardization system, promote the "mutual recognition of inspection" of ships across the country; carry out pilot projects for the modern commercial circulation system, connect the e-commerce and express logistics distribution systems in counties, towns and villages, and accelerate the construction of commercial circulation facilities.

Put forward directional, framework-based guidance and requirements for phased work

"The formulation and issuance of the 'Guidelines' is to put forward directional, framework-based guidance and requirements for phased work for all regions and departments to accelerate their integration into and take the initiative to serve the construction of a unified national market," Wang Shancheng told reporters. The "Guidelines" put forward specific requirements and goals from three dimensions: "what is required to be done", "what is prohibited from being done", and "what is encouraged to be done".

"What is required to be done" belongs to the "mandatory actions" and is the common requirement for all regions to integrate into the construction of the unified national market.

In response to the problem that there are still some bottlenecks and blockages in transportation facilities, it is proposed that "all regions should focus on opening up dead-end roads, basically eliminating the inter-provincial bottleneck sections of the national highway network, and basically removing the main bottlenecks and navigation-obstructing nodes of cross-provincial waterways, so as to break through the bottleneck constraints of transportation infrastructure among regions." In response to the problem of inconsistent supervision standards in different regions, it is required to "further unify the data collection standards, formats and fields among different supervision departments." In response to the problem of inconsistent standards for government services in different regions, it is clearly stated that "all regions should formulate and dynamically update the standardized list of government service items at their own levels, and unify the names, application materials, acceptance conditions and other contents of government service items."

"What is prohibited from being done" belongs to the "bottom line and red line". If violated, corresponding responsibilities will have to be borne.

The "Guidelines" clearly define the prohibitive provisions in aspects such as illegally setting local protection and regional barrier conditions, impeding business entities from entering and exiting on an equal footing in accordance with the law, and affecting fair and just bidding, tendering, government procurement, etc.

"What is encouraged to be done" belongs to the "optional actions", guiding regions with conditions to take the lead in piloting.

"Different regions have different resource endowments. Regions with good basic conditions and a high degree of marketization can accelerate the construction of a unified market in their own regions and across regions by benchmarking against higher standards," Wang Shancheng said by way of example. The "Guidelines" propose that "regions with conditions are encouraged to carry out the construction of regional market integration, promote strengthening the communication and coordination of institutional rules and major policies in key areas, and increase the exploration efforts for cost-sharing and benefit-sharing in regional cooperation", etc.

"Subsequently, we will also adjust, improve and dynamically update the content of the 'Guidelines' in combination with the actual situation," Wang Shancheng said.

Promote implementation with more powerful, effective, tangible and accessible measures

"We will promote the in-depth and practical implementation of the construction of a unified national market with more powerful, effective, tangible and accessible measures," Wang Shancheng and relevant responsible comrades from relevant departments introduced the main work for the next stage.

Focus on ensuring the effective operation of the market system and accelerate the improvement of market institutional rules. Promote all regions to find the right path to integrate into the unified national market. Revise and issue the "Negative List for Market Access (2025 Edition)", further reduce the items on the list, and optimize market access management. Improve the management system for the registration items of business entities and improve the efficiency of immediate handling services for enterprise relocation.

Focus on improving the efficiency of factor collaborative allocation and deepen the market-oriented reform of factors. Build a unified urban and rural construction land market, improve the basic institutional system for promoting the standardized development of the capital market, accelerate the formation of a unified, interconnected national technology trading network, cultivate a national integrated data market, and accelerate the construction of a unified national power market system, etc. In-depth promotion of the mutual recognition of medical inspection and test results, off-site and different-store return and exchange of goods, off-site withdrawal and use of the housing provident fund, and off-site settlement of medical insurance accounts, etc.

Focus on opening up all links of the economic cycle and continuously improve the high-standard connectivity level of market facilities. "We will coordinate and promote the development of industries such as railways, highways, waterways, civil aviation and postal services. Accelerate the construction of the main framework of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, improve the capacity of comprehensive freight hubs, and improve the multimodal transport operation system," said Liu Pengfei, Director of the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Transport.

Focus on being both "lively" and "manageable" and strive to improve the overall regulatory efficiency. Issue guiding opinions on standardizing market supervision and law enforcement behaviors and norms for law enforcement behaviors, strengthen the source control of arbitrary charges on enterprises, and improve the long-term regulatory legal and institutional system for enterprise-related charges. "Since 2024, all regions have strictly implemented the requirements of the 'Regulations on Fair Competition Review', conscientiously carried out fair competition reviews, and modified and adjusted 7,299 policy measures," Miao Dan, Deputy Director of the Planning and Finance Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, told reporters. Next, the "Implementation Measures for the Regulations on Fair Competition Review" will be issued as soon as possible to further refine the review standards, 压实审查责任，and maintain a unified fair competition system.

Clean up and abolish various regulations and practices that impede the unified national market and fair competition. Break through the market access barriers that business entities strongly complain about and that the people closely follow. Promote special rectification in areas such as bidding and tendering and enterprise relocation. Improve the long-term mechanism for the transfer, verification and rectification of clues to problems violating the unified national market, and timely report on typical cases.

The unified national market is a large market that is globally oriented and fully open. Li Weizheng, Deputy Director of the Department of Market System Construction of the Ministry of Commerce, told reporters that the Ministry of Commerce focuses on reducing foreign investment market access, improving the business environment, docking with international high-standard economic and trade rules, and accelerating the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade. "We will continuously improve the high-level opening-up institutional mechanism and contribute to the construction of a unified national market."（Outlook New Era）