Govt cracks down on unnecessary paperwork

The Ministry of Civil Affairs on Monday released a guideline to standardize the use of neighborhood committees' stamps, in the latest effort to liberate people from civil affairs laden with paperwork.

The guideline on improving grassroots authorities' working on issuing proofs has ironed out an inventory of 20 civil affair matters that neighborhood authorities have no power to certify.

That includes proof of kinship, birth, death and criminal record, which were required by some civil affairs authorities or employers. Many would turn to neighborhood authorities for such proofs, leading to misuse of stamps.

Jointly issued by the Ministry of Civil affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security and three other central agencies, the guideline pledged a sweeping crackdown on companies and government agencies' insatiable appetite for proofs without legal basis.

The requests for proofs were widely considered a way for bureaucrats to dodge legal responsibilities when things go awry.

The guideline asked local authorities to create a complaint channel for public to report organizations for asking for unnecessary paperwork and notify its higher-up authorities for corrections.

The "informed commitment" system would be promoted to replace paperwork with the credit-based approach. Wrongdoer could face stains to their credit records and other penalties.