The provisional regulation, which came into force immediately, mainly covers the supervision of State-owned assets in non-financial enterprises.

It sets out guidelines for the ongoing reform of the State assets management system and provides a sound legal basis for the reform, said a spokesperson with the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council.

The provisional regulation said government at various levels should clearly separate their public management functions with those of an investor in the SOEs.

China launched the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) in April. It acts on behalf of the State to directly supervise the 196 central State-owned enterprises (SOEs) that had 6.9 trillion yuan (US$833.3 billion) of State assets at the end of 2002.

Local State assets management offices are also being established to supervise local enterprises.

The State assets supervisory agencies can appoint or remove senior executives of SOEs and have a say in the transfer of State holdings, corporate mergers, closures or other major changes to the enterprises.

They are also charged with the tasks of clarifying property rights and settling disputes. A supervisory scheme will also be developed to monitor the disposal of State assets to avoid losses.

SASAC deputy director Li Yizhong said recently that the commission is already investigating reported irregularities in the State assets sales process and will impose penalties if these practices prove to be illegal.

(China Daily June 5, 2003)