Starting from May 20th, the Law on the Promotion of Private Economy will be officially implemented, and "unwaveringly consolidating and developing the public ownership economy, and unwaveringly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public ownership economy" will be written into the law for the first time. Previously, China released a new version of the negative list for market access, further reducing the list items and providing broad space for various business entities such as private enterprises to invest and develop. Industry insiders pointed out that the introduction of various support policies, especially the implementation of the Private Economy Promotion Law, focuses on the shortcomings faced by the healthy development of the private economy, responds to the concerns of enterprises, boosts development confidence, and will create a legal environment and social atmosphere conducive to the development of the private economy, stimulating the momentum of private economy development. The Private Economy Promotion Law consists of 9 chapters and 78 articles, including General Provisions, Fair Competition, Investment and Financing Promotion, Technological Innovation, Standardized Operation, Service Guarantee, Rights and Interests Protection, Legal Responsibilities, and Supplementary Provisions. The person in charge of the Legal Work Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress introduced that the Law on the Promotion of Private Economy for the first time wrote into the law "unswervingly consolidate and develop the public economy, unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public economy" and "promote the healthy development of the private economy and the healthy growth of private economic people". It is the first time to clarify the legal status of the private economy, and for the first time to clearly stipulate that promoting the sustainable, healthy and high-quality development of the private economy is a major policy that the country has long adhered to. According to data from the State Administration for Market Regulation, as of the end of March 2025, there were over 57 million registered private enterprises in China, accounting for 92.3% of the total number of enterprises; There are over 125 million registered individual businesses nationwide. Currently, there are still many obstacles in market access, factor acquisition, and service supply for the private economy, and there are also some weak links in the innovation and development capabilities of private enterprises themselves. The Law on the Promotion of Private Economy focuses on the prominent issues facing the healthy development of the private economy, and further improves relevant institutional measures, which is conducive to creating a stable, fair, transparent, and predictable environment for the development of the private economy. Specifically, the Law on the Promotion of Private Economy focuses on improving and perfecting the institutional mechanisms for fair participation of private economic organizations in market competition, and identifies effective policies and practices in practice as legal systems. Areas outside the negative list for market access, including private economic organizations, are allowed to enter on an equal footing in accordance with the law. It is worth mentioning that China has recently released a new version of the negative list for market access. The number of items on the new list has been reduced from 117 to 106, and a number of national measures have been directly deleted, such as changing the official seal engraving industry from a licensing system to a filing system. Since the full implementation of the negative list system for market access in 2018, the list has undergone four revisions, reducing from 151 items to 106 items. One major approval restriction in multiple fields such as transportation, energy, and elderly care has been relaxed, and the efficiency of access has been continuously improved. Recently, the National Energy Administration released ten measures to promote the development of private economy in the energy sector. Among them, the measures focus on promoting fair participation of private enterprises in the market, proposing to improve the market access system, promoting the separation of oil and gas pipeline transportation and sales, and guiding private enterprises to enter competitive links in the oil and gas market more conveniently. Market access is an important prerequisite for private enterprises to participate in economic activities and achieve fair competition. ”Li Hongjuan, Deputy Director of the Private Economy Research Office at the Economic System and Management Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that in recent years, China's market access system reform based on the negative list has been steadily promoted, and it has been synchronized with a series of institutional reforms such as approval, investment, and supervision. In terms of relaxing the access of private enterprises, the system has systematically cleared various explicit and implicit barriers, continuously improved the efficiency of government services, and improved the long-term mechanism for private enterprises to participate in major national project construction. In the fields of energy, railway, communication and other infrastructure and social undertakings, market competition mechanisms have been further introduced, and the market "threshold" has been continuously lowered. Market rules have become more transparent, and the market environment has become more fair, playing a positive role in stimulating the endogenous power and innovation vitality of private enterprises. Liu Yonghao, Chairman of New Hope Group, stated that the Private Economy Promotion Law focuses on improving and perfecting the institutional mechanisms for fair participation in market competition in the field of market access for private economic organizations, including implementing a nationwide unified negative list system for market access, implementing a fair competition review system, ensuring the equal use of various production factors and public service resources in accordance with the law, and preventing and stopping monopolistic and unfair competition behaviors in market economic activities. The negative list will become shorter and the market competition environment will definitely improve. The promulgation of the Private Economy Promotion Law has greatly encouraged private entrepreneurs. The Private Economy Promotion Law is based on a fair competition review mechanism and the negative list system, allowing private enterprises to participate more freely in competition, continuously creating a legal business environment, and continuously enhancing development momentum and confidence. At the same time, policies are also improving various institutional measures to promote the development of the private economy in a targeted manner. In terms of optimizing the investment and financing environment, the Private Economy Promotion Law proposes to improve institutional measures, reduce institutional transaction costs, and optimize the investment and financing environment for the private economy; Explicitly support the participation of private economic organizations in major national strategies and projects, and make provisions for guiding private economic investment in key areas, improving market-oriented mechanisms for sharing financing risks, and providing higher-level investment services; In terms of supporting technological innovation, the Private Economy Promotion Law encourages and supports private economic organizations to actively play a role in promoting technological innovation, cultivating new quality productivity, and building a modern industrial system. The support of the Private Economy Promotion Law for technological innovation and other aspects has doubled the confidence of technology enterprises with high R&D investment, allowing them to focus more wholeheartedly on technological innovation, industrial chain upgrading, and international competition. ”Qi Xiangdong, Vice Chairman of the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce and Chairman of Qianxin Group, stated that the Private Economy Promotion Law directly addresses industry pain points and provides institutional solutions for technology-based private enterprises to overcome development bottlenecks through the dual drive of "promoting investment and financing" and "vigorously supporting technological innovation". Once positive measures such as financial support, major projects, and technological breakthroughs are truly implemented, the financial pressure on private enterprises will be greatly alleviated, accelerating the transformation of technology from research and development to application. (New Society)