The Ministry of Commerce issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Community Commerce in China"

Ministry of Commerce Issues "On Accelerating Guiding Opinions on the Development of Community Commerce in China "

Community commerce is the foundation of urban commerce and an important carrier to meet residents' comprehensive consumption needs. Currently, with the rapid development of China's national economy and the increasing per capita disposable income of urban residents, urban commerce in China is becoming increasingly prosperous, and the construction of urban central business districts has reached a high level. However, with significant changes in consumption demand and consumption structure, residents' demand for community commerce is increasing. At present, most cities have insufficient community commercial facilities, unreasonable network layouts, and single service functions, which cannot meet residents' basic living needs and improve quality of life. Accelerating the development of community commerce is an urgent requirement to meet residents' consumption, change the urban landscape, expand employment, and enhance the modernization and comprehensive competitiveness of urban commerce. It is also an urgent requirement for building a socialist harmonious society and comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society. To further accelerate the development of community commerce in China, the following opinions are proposed.

I. Guiding Ideology and Overall Objectives

The construction of community commerce should implement the important thought of the "Three Represents" and the scientific outlook on development, adhere to the purpose of "people-oriented, serving society," take "convenience, benefit, and service to the people" as the starting point, seize the opportunities of new area development and old city renovation, improve the service functions of new community commerce, optimize the structural layout of old community commerce, accelerate the creation of a harmonious community consumption environment, and contribute to the realization of building a socialist harmonious society.

Strive to complete the construction and renovation of community commerce within 3-5 years in 166 cities nationwide with populations over one million, forming a community service network that meets basic living consumption needs. Basically realize that community residents' basic needs for shopping, dining, repairs, beauty and hairdressing, laundry, household services, and recycling of renewable resources can be met within the community. In communities with higher consumption levels, on the basis of meeting basic living needs, form a community commercial comprehensive service system with a more reasonable commercial layout, more complete service functions, and higher service quality and management level.

II. Work Principles

First, adhere to people-oriented principles. The development of community commerce should reflect public opinion, embody public sentiment, and meet public needs. It should be based on whether the people are happy and satisfied, making community commerce construction a work that solves practical problems and does good and practical things for the people.

Second, adhere to government guidance and market-oriented operation. The construction of community commerce should gradually form a development mechanism guided by the government, invested by enterprises, operated by the market, and participated in by society, fully playing the role of various ownership enterprises in community commerce construction.

Third, lead by example and proceed step by step. Carry out the project of creating demonstration communities for community commerce, gradually expand based on summarizing the experience of demonstration communities, and form a radiation-driven effect.

Fourth, adapt measures to local conditions and provide classified guidance. According to the economic development level and different stages of community commerce development in various places, provide classified guidance; adhere to the principle of starting from reality, avoid formalism and going through the motions, highlight key points, and advance step by step.

III. Key Work Areas

(1) Strengthen planning to promote reasonable network layout. Reasonable planning of commercial outlets is the premise to realize community commerce service functions and meet different consumption levels, characteristics, and habits. Promoting community commerce development must adhere to planning first. Local commerce authorities should accelerate the completion of urban commercial outlet planning, making detailed provisions on the scale, structure, and layout of community commerce in urban commercial outlet planning. Where conditions permit, special planning for community commercial outlets can be formulated based on urban commercial outlet planning.

(2) Formulate standards, provide classified guidance, and highlight key points. Currently, the Ministry of Commerce is formulating national construction standards for community commerce. Local commerce authorities can formulate local standards according to the different characteristics of urban development and types of community commerce in their regions, determine work priorities, and coordinate community commerce construction activities in a targeted manner. Old urban areas should leverage and utilize the radiation effect of existing commercial service outlets, focusing on improving outlet facilities; newly built communities with reserved service outlets should reasonably allocate outlets according to changes in community residents' needs, expand service scope, focusing on improving outlets and service levels; undeveloped communities should strengthen overall planning, focusing on centralized construction of group-type community commercial centers and reasonable allocation of multi-point convenience commercial outlets.

(3) Encourage capable chain enterprises to participate in community commerce construction. Local commerce authorities should take practical measures, through a series of support policies such as funding and outlets, actively guide enterprises to use chain operation methods to establish supermarkets, convenience stores, standardized vegetable shops, restaurants, laundries, and other convenient and beneficial outlets in urban communities, gradually adding convenient service functions to meet the diverse and personalized consumption needs of community residents. Actively guide laid-off and unemployed personnel to enter the community, organically combining community entrepreneurship and employment with community economic development. Encourage enterprises to integrate scattered community commercial resources through acquisition, merger, franchising, and other forms, standardize small stores within the community, achieve resource sharing, and comprehensive utilization.

(4) Use modern technical means to innovate service systems. Local commerce authorities should actively build information service platforms oriented to community services. Encourage qualified enterprises to use information technology to carry out community convenience services, develop online transactions and online services to supplement existing outlets; encourage qualified enterprises to establish customer demand information systems to timely collect, analyze, and store customer information, providing targeted, fast, and thoughtful services to residents. Vigorously promote community backbone enterprises to carry out "three door-to-door" services: home delivery, meal delivery, and repair services, extending service functions and improving service levels. Advocate and encourage community commerce enterprises to form dedicated convenience comprehensive service teams for home service, establish stable and smooth communication channels with community residents' committees and residents, and carry out paid convenience services aimed at solving difficulties for community residents.

(5) Effectively carry out community commerce demonstration work. Currently, some provinces and cities have started community commerce construction and achieved preliminary results. To further promote community commerce development, local commerce authorities should combine local realities, focus on selecting and building a batch of community commerce demonstration areas with exemplary roles in their regions, formulate practical community commerce demonstration activity plans and schemes, propose specific requirements and measures for demonstration communities, and strengthen supervision, inspection, and acceptance work. In 2005, the Ministry of Commerce plans to identify 50 demonstration community commerce areas nationwide. In the next two years, by promoting demonstration experience, gradually expand the demonstration scope to promote comprehensive development of community commerce.

IV. Work Requirements

(1) Strengthen leadership and establish a long-term working mechanism. Community commerce construction is not only a people's livelihood project that benefits the people but also a systematic project involving many aspects. Local commerce authorities should actively seek support from local governments, establish corresponding leadership coordination mechanisms, strengthen communication and cooperation with construction, finance, labor and social security, industry and commerce, civil affairs, taxation, and other departments to form a joint force. At the same time, fully leverage the enthusiasm of street offices, residents' committees, property management departments, and commercial enterprises to form an interconnected, interactive, and coordinated mechanism.

(2) Strengthen research and guidance on community commerce work. Local commerce authorities must attach great importance to community commerce work, plan carefully, organize meticulously, and earnestly focus on implementation. Local commerce authorities should enhance investigation and research to understand the basic situation of local community commerce development. Any problems encountered in promoting community commerce construction should be communicated to our department in a timely manner. Updates on community commerce development should be reported promptly. Reports on the development status and work summary of community commerce should be submitted every six months, with submission times in July each year and January of the following year.

(3) Formulate support policies. The Ministry of Commerce will separately formulate specific policies to promote nationwide community commerce work. Local commerce departments may introduce specific policy measures to support community commerce development based on local conditions.