A total of 67 new laws and regulations, including local
legislation, aimed at helping common Chinese citizens went into
effect Wednesday.
The new legal documents cover education, medical services,
taxation, airport tax, trainee drivers, gasoline and production
safety.
As an effort to ease burdens on families with students, the
Ministry of Education has mandated to cap the rising tuition
fees.
Another provision allows university students to postpone paying
their student loans for six years instead of four. Also, students
with loans are allowed to pay off the debt with no interest while
they are in school.
The welfare of migrant workers in Beijing will be further
protected under a new policy, which requires companies hiring
migrant workers pay insurance for their employees. Migrant workers
will be entitled to the same industrial accident and medical
insurance treatment as other urban workers.
A regulation concerning work safety issued by the Beijing
Municipal Government requires companies to report accidents in a
timely manner or face punishment or fines.
Drivers in Beijing will have cleaner gasoline and diesel oil,
beginning Wednesday. Gasoline standards have been raised to the
Euro II Standard and will benefit the driver's health and protect
the environment.
According to the Ministry of Health, patients can buy medicines
with doctors' prescriptions both in hospitals, where drugs used to
be more expensive, and drug stores.
The new laws and regulations are not only favorable to Chinese
people and companies but also for foreigners.
A new regulation issued by the China Banking Regulatory
Commission reduced the registered capital of accounting firms from
300 million yuan (US$36.22 million) to 100 million yuan (US$12.1
million) and foreign investment companies can also set up
accounting firms in China.
People with credit cards issued by foreign banks can get foreign
currency directly from Automated Teller Machine in China beginning
Wednesday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2004)