Experts brainstorm standardization of the sharing economy
A forum on the development and regulation of the sharing economy was held on Saturday at the third China International Import Expo.
It gathered officials, scholars and experts to brainstorm the standardization of the booming sharing economy.
China's sharing economy has achieved leapfrog development, and it plays an important role in stabilizing the job market during the COVID-19 epidemic, Han Yi, chief engineer with the State Administration for Market Regulation, told the forum.
"Although the sharing economy changes people's lifestyle and consumption concept and boosts job market, it requires regulation and improvement in terms of service, personal information safety protection and fair competition to create a sound development environment and protect the rights and interests of those involved," said Han.
"Chinese authorities will further improve the business environment to spur the vitality of the sharing economy and enhance the protection of intellectual property rights to guide more industries and companies to get involved in the sharing economy.
"A complete standardization system of the sharing economy should be established and improved with the launch of a number of standards covering new economic models.
"Financial institutions should step up financial support to companies in the sharing economy industry, and sharing economy platform operators are encouraged to optimize supply and lift product and service quality to provide more diversified and convenient services to the public.
"Market watchdogs should innovate supervision and management via science and technology means and highlight the principles of 'encouraging innovation' and 'risk prevention' at the same time, enhance whole-chain supervision and management and actively tackle the challenges resulting from the rapid integration of online and offline businesses."
The most commonly seen application scenes of the sharing economy in China is minsu (Chinese version of B&B), shared bike, food delivery and online car-hailing, Yu Xinli, a member of the China Sharing Economy Standardization Technology Commission, said during the forum.
"A number of standards covering service, management, operation, quality and hygiene have been released in these areas, which play an important role in the healthy and orderly development of China's sharing economy," said Yu.
The forum was jointly hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation and Shanghai-based China Economic Information Service, a subsidiary of Xinhua news agency.
The 2020 sharing economy standardization development report was released by the center during the forum.
In recent years, as information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things become deeply integrated with traditional industries, the sharing economy represented by online car-hailing, short-term house rental and takeout delivery is developing rapidly worldwide, the report says.
Last year, the trading scale of China's sharing economy hit 3.28 trillion yuan and kept growing with the sectors of shared accommodation and shared medical treatment among the fastest-growing, according to the report.
Standardization will provide important support for the healthy development of the sharing economy, it states.
