The person in charge of the Policy and Regulation Bureau of the State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission answered the reporter’s question on the Measures for the Comp

　　According to the website of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, recently, the State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission issued the Measures for the Compliance Management of Central Enterprises (Order No.42 of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, hereinafter referred to as the Measures). After the promulgation of the Measures, the person in charge of the Policy and Regulation Bureau of the State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission answered a reporter’s question on the Measures.

　　Q: Please introduce the drafting background of the Measures.

　　A: General Secretary of the Supreme Leader emphasized that law-abiding operation is a major principle that any enterprise must abide by. Only by operating in accordance with the law can enterprises achieve stability and prosperity. After the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee clearly put forward the supreme leader’s thought of rule of law, and raised the overall rule of law to an unprecedented new height. Central documents such as "Planning for the Construction of China under the Rule of Law (2020-2025)" and "Implementation Outline for the Construction of a Society under the Rule of Law (2020-2025)" put forward clear requirements for enterprises to operate in compliance with the law. In order to implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission attached great importance to compliance management. In 2018, it issued the Guidelines for Compliance Management of Central Enterprises (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), organized the compilation of a series of compliance guidelines in key areas, and designated this year as the "Year of Strengthening Compliance Management" for central enterprises, further increasing the impetus. The central enterprises have conscientiously implemented the relevant requirements, and the compliance management has made positive progress and obvious results, which has provided a strong support for the reform and development of enterprises.

　　The Party Central Committee clearly put forward the goal of accelerating the construction of world-class enterprises, which must be guaranteed by first-class rule of law. Under the background that the current international competition is increasingly reflected in the dispute over rules and laws, the domestic and international environment and risk challenges faced by central enterprises are becoming increasingly complex and severe, so it is necessary to speed up the improvement of the management level of legal compliance and ensure that the tasks of reform and development are steadily advanced on the track of the rule of law. To this end, the State Council State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission thoroughly implemented the supreme leader’s thought of rule of law, drafted the Measures on the basis of summing up the compliance management practice of central enterprises and drawing lessons from the advanced practices of large international enterprises, extensively solicited the opinions of central enterprises, and publicly solicited opinions and suggestions from the society, which were issued after being reviewed and approved by the Party Committee and Committee of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

　　Q: Compared with the previously issued Guidelines, what are the main changes in the Measures?

　　A: The Measures are issued in the form of an order of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which sets clear requirements for central enterprises to further deepen compliance management through departmental regulations. Compared with the Guidelines, the Measures are more rigid, more comprehensive, more demanding and more practical. Specifically, the first is to clarify the main responsibilities related to compliance management. According to the corporate governance structure, the compliance management responsibilities of the party committee (party group), board of directors, managers and chief compliance officer of the enterprise are defined, and the "three lines of defense" responsibilities of compliance management of business and functional departments, compliance management departments and supervision departments are further defined. The second is to establish and improve the compliance management system. Central enterprises are required to formulate basic systems, specific systems or special guidelines for compliance management in light of the actual situation, build a hierarchical and classified compliance management system, and strengthen the inspection of system implementation. The third is to comprehensively standardize the compliance management process. Put forward clear requirements for compliance risk identification, assessment and early warning, compliance review, risk response, problem rectification and accountability, and realize closed-loop management of compliance risk. The fourth is to actively cultivate a compliance culture. Central enterprises are required to enhance the compliance awareness of all employees in various ways and in all directions through special study on the rule of law, professional training and strengthening publicity and education, so as to create a compliance culture atmosphere. Fifth, accelerate the informatization construction of compliance management. Promote central enterprises to use information technology to embed compliance requirements into business processes, and use big data and other technologies to carry out real-time dynamic monitoring of key areas and key nodes to realize immediate early warning and rapid disposal of compliance risks.

　　Q: We have noticed that the Measures clearly stipulate that central enterprises should set up chief compliance officers. Please tell us about it.

　　A: Setting up a chief compliance officer in a central enterprise is an important measure to strengthen compliance management. From the practice of large international enterprises, it is a common practice for world-class enterprises to set up the chief compliance officer. As a member of the core management of the enterprise, the chief compliance officer has played an active role in comprehensively leading the construction and operation of the compliance management system. From the actual situation of central enterprises, the compliance management of central enterprises has made positive progress in recent years, but the top-level design and overall planning are still insufficient, and the work coordination needs to be further strengthened. To this end, some enterprises have set up chief compliance officers and achieved good results. In 2021, the Guidelines for Requirements and Use of Compliance Management System (ISO 37301:2021) issued by the International Organization for Standardization clearly stipulated that one person should be designated to be responsible and have authority over the operation of the compliance management system. International organizations such as the World Bank and OECD encourage enterprises to set up chief compliance officers as an important indicator to evaluate the level of compliance management. Therefore, the establishment of the chief compliance officer in the central enterprises is not only conducive to further clarifying the responsibilities of compliance management, implementing responsibilities, and coordinating all forces to better promote the work, but also shows that the central enterprises attach great importance to strengthening compliance management and have an important demonstration and driving role in promoting all kinds of enterprises to operate in compliance with the law. Based on the above considerations, we propose in the Measures that the central enterprises should set up the chief compliance officer according to the actual situation, lead the compliance management department to organize relevant work, and guide their subordinate units to strengthen compliance management.

　　Q: Compliance review is clearly stipulated in the Measures. What are the specific requirements?

　　A: Strengthening compliance review is the first pass to standardize business practices and prevent violations. If compliance review is done properly, most compliance risks can be prevented from the source. In this regard, we put forward higher requirements for compliance review in the Measures: First, clarify the responsibilities and boundaries of compliance review of various departments. The business and functional departments are responsible for the compliance review of their own business management behaviors, and the compliance management department is responsible for the compliance review of important matters such as rules and regulations, economic contracts, and major decisions, so as to further clarify their respective division of labor and facilitate the landing of responsibilities. The second is to further enhance the rigidity of compliance review. Enterprises should embed compliance review into the process as a necessary procedure, and the opinions on compliance review of major decision-making matters should be signed by the chief compliance officer, giving clear opinions on the compliance of decision-making matters, further highlighting the rigid constraints of compliance review, and ensuring that "the trial must be tried". The third is to improve the closed-loop management of compliance review. Referring to the experience and practices of some enterprises, business and functional departments and compliance management departments constantly improve the review standards, processes and priorities according to their responsibilities and authorities, and regularly carry out post-evaluation and compliance evaluation on the review situation, so as to continuously improve the review quality through closed-loop management and better support the work of the security center.

　　Q: The "Measures" stipulate the special chapter on informatization construction of compliance management. Please tell us about it.

　　A: The Plan for the Construction of Rule of Law China (2020-2025) proposes for the first time to use modern scientific and technological means such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence to build a "smart rule of law" in an all-round way and promote the digitalization, networking and intelligence of the construction of rule of law China. This brings new opportunities and higher requirements for enterprises to build the rule of law by taking the digital express train and realizing accelerated development. At present, more than half of the central enterprises have established an information management system for the rule of law, but there are still some gaps in the information construction of compliance management. We understand that one of the important reasons why world-class enterprises do well in compliance management is to make full use of modern scientific and technological means such as big data and artificial intelligence, truly embed compliance requirements into business management processes, and realize immediate early warning and rapid disposal through data analysis and intelligent control, which has effectively improved management efficiency. Therefore, in order to adapt to this development trend, the special chapter of the Measures stipulates the informatization construction of compliance management, and puts forward requirements from defining main functions, promoting interconnection with other information systems, and strengthening real-time dynamic monitoring of key areas and key nodes.

　　Q: Please introduce the next work arrangement of SASAC.

　　A: In the next step, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council will urge the central enterprises to conscientiously implement the requirements of the Measures, improve the system and mechanism, refine the work measures, and implement all tasks. Strengthen supervision and guidance on the implementation of the Measures, organize mutual learning and learning among enterprises, and speed up the filling of shortcomings. At the same time, guide the provincial SASAC to actively promote the compliance management of the funded enterprises with reference to the Measures, accelerate the improvement of the overall level of compliance management of state-owned enterprises according to law, provide more powerful support for deepening reform and high-quality development, and greet the party’s twentieth victory with practical actions.