Unifying the Yardstick of Government Behavior to Advance the Construction of a Unified National Market

General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “To advance the construction of a unified national market in depth, the basic requirement is ‘five unifications and one openness’.” [1]1 The “five unifications and one openness” refers to unified market access standards, unified market supervision standards, unified market infrastructure connectivity, unified factor and resource markets, unified commodity and service markets, and openness to the outside world. Among these, unifying the yardstick of government behavior is an important aspect. At present, practical problems affecting the construction of a unified national market, such as impeded factor flows, local protectionism, and market fragmentation, largely stem from inconsistent yardsticks of local government behavior, differing standards of policy implementation, and deviations in the implementation process. The key to unifying the yardstick of government behavior lies in establishing rules, delineating boundaries, setting standards, and clarifying responsibilities for government behavior. This requires unifying standards, coordinating implementation, and unifying supervision to clear the blockages and choke points that hinder market integration, thereby advancing the construction of a unified national market in depth.

习近平总书记指出：“纵深推进全国统一大市场建设，基本要求是‘五统一、一开放’”。其中，统一政府行为尺度是一个重要方面。当前，要素流动不畅、地方保护、市场分割等影响全国统一大市场建设进程的现实问题，很大程度上源于地方政府行为尺度不一、政策执行标准不同、执行过程存在偏差。统一政府行为尺度，关键在于对政府行为立规矩、划边界、定标准、明责任，需通过统一标准、协同实施、统一监督，打通阻碍市场一体化的堵点卡点，纵深推进全国统一大市场建设。

Clarify the Institutional Yardstick for Government Behavior

明确政府行为制度标尺

Strengthen source control and unify the negative list for policy formulation. Source unification is the key to eliminating differences in local government behavior and maintaining consistent yardsticks. To prevent some local governments from setting up hidden access barriers and to prevent “local policies” and “local thresholds” from hindering the construction of a unified national market, it is urgent to unify the negative list for policy formulation, clearly specifying prohibitive clauses for local governments in areas such as market access, industrial subsidies, tax incentives, financing support, and special support. By strictly prohibiting the abuse of administrative power to introduce policies and measures that exclude or restrict competition, and by strictly preventing local governments from using government investment funds to indirectly subsidize areas with overcapacity, we can rectify “involution-style” vicious competition at its root. [2]2 “Involution” (内卷) here describes a form of vicious, zero-sum competition where entities expend excessive effort without corresponding gains, often leading to a race to the bottom. At the same time, policy discrimination must be curbed at the source; all local regulations, rules, and normative documents concerning the construction of a unified national market must undergo fairness review and legality review.

加强源头控制，统一政策制定负面清单。源头统一，是消除地方政府行为差异、保持尺度一致的关键。为避免一些地方政府设置隐性准入壁垒，避免“土政策”“土门槛”阻碍全国统一大市场建设，亟须统一政策制定的负面清单，明确地方政府在市场准入、产业补贴、税收优惠、融资支持、专项扶持等领域的禁止性条款。通过严禁滥用行政权力出台排除或限制竞争的政策措施、严防地方政府通过政府投资基金变相补贴产能过剩领域，从根源层面整治“内卷式”恶性竞争。同时，还要自源头层面遏制政策歧视，凡事关全国统一大市场建设的地方性法规、规章和规范性文件，均须经公平性审查和合法性审核。

Control key links and unify standards for public resource transactions. Government procurement connects government demand with market supply and serves as the nodal interface between government behavior and market operations. It is a link where problems of inconsistent government behavior yardsticks are prone to occur and occur frequently. The development of nationally unified standards for public resource transactions should be accelerated, clarifying important content such as the bidding process, bid evaluation rules, and contract templates, eliminating “local preference” and “under-the-table operations,” and prohibiting the setting of “thresholds” and “clauses” that hinder fair competition, such as “local performance records” or “designated suppliers.” The construction of a nationally unified institutional system for public resource transactions should also be accelerated, promoting the market-based allocation of various resource factors and the fair participation of various market entities in competition, thereby forcing a shift in government behavior from “selecting specific enterprises” to “setting fair rules.”

管住重要环节，统一公共资源交易标准。政府采购连接政府需求与市场供给，是政府行为与市场运行对接的节点接口，是政府行为尺度不一问题的易发、高发环节。应加快制定全国统一的公共资源交易标准，明确招标流程、评标规则、合同文本等重要内容，消除“本地优先”“暗箱操作”，禁止设定“本地业绩”“特定供应商”等妨碍公平竞争的“门槛”和“条款”。还要加快构建全国统一的公共资源交易制度体系，促进各类资源要素市场化配置和各类市场主体公平参与竞争，倒逼政府行为从“选特定企业”转向“定公平规则”。

Reduce discretionary power and unify the yardstick for market regulation and law enforcement. Uniform penalties for the same case in law enforcement are an important guarantee for achieving fair market competition. Similar illegal acts of the same type and degree may face “excessively lenient or excessively harsh” penalties in different regions, and selective or profit-driven law enforcement may even occur. Inconsistent law enforcement yardsticks can disrupt the normal expectations of market entities and undermine the function of institutional stability in providing expectations. Law enforcement guidelines for key areas should be formulated. For high-frequency law enforcement matters such as antitrust, anti-unfair competition, and intellectual property protection, the standards for determining illegality, the gradations of penalties, and the benchmarks for discretion should be clarified. While reducing the space for discretionary power, a case guidance system for law enforcement should be promoted. By issuing typical cases through the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Justice, relatively unified law enforcement references can be provided for local areas.

减少自由裁量，统一市场监管执法尺度。执法尺度同案同罚，是实现市场公平竞争的重要保障。同类同质同等程度的违法行为在不同地区可能面临“畸轻畸重”处罚，甚至出现选择性执法、趋利性执法。执法尺度不一会干扰市场主体正常预期，损害制度稳定预期功能。应制定重点领域执法指南，针对反垄断、反不正当竞争、知识产权保护等高频执法事项，明确违法认定标准、处罚阶次和裁量基准，在减少自由裁量空间的同时推行执法案例指导制度，通过最高人民法院、司法部发布典型案例，为地方提供相对统一的执法参照。

Establish Cross-Regional and Cross-Departmental Coordination Mechanisms

建立跨区域跨部门协同机制

Improve cross-regional policy coordination mechanisms. Strengthen the connection and linkage of regional coordinated development strategies, first promoting institutional innovation exploration and policy coordination pilot projects in regions such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Establish mechanisms for policy coordination and linkage between provincial-level governments, jointly formulating and simultaneously implementing industrial policies and factor flow policies concerning the common development of the region. At the same time, establish a policy difference adjustment mechanism. For local policies that must be retained due to differences in regional development stages, clarify the applicable boundaries and衔接办法 (衔接办法,衔接办法) through consultation. For example, differences in environmental protection standards between ecological function zones and economically developed areas can be addressed through ecological compensation mechanisms to achieve “different standards, but no reduction in fairness.”

健全跨区域政策协同机制。加强区域协调发展战略的对接联动，先行推动京津冀、长三角、粤港澳大湾区等区域开展制度创新探索和政策协同试点，建立省级政府间政策协调联动机制，联合制定、同步实施有关区域共同发展的产业政策、要素流动政策。同时，建立政策差异调适机制，对因区域发展阶段不同确需保留的地方性政策，通过协商明确适用边界和衔接办法。比如，生态功能区与经济发达地区环保标准的差异，可通过生态补偿机制实现“标准不同公平不减”。

Strengthen cross-departmental administrative衔接配合 (衔接配合,衔接配合). “Overlapping responsibilities” and “passing the buck” between departments are important reasons for inconsistent yardsticks in government behavior. It is necessary to sort out high-frequency administrative matters related to the construction of a unified national market, formulate a departmental coordination list, and clarify the specific responsibilities and behavioral boundaries of lead units and cooperating units. The cross-regional relocation of enterprises involves departments such as market regulation, taxation, and social security. Unified processing procedures and shortened processing times are needed to avoid departmental barriers causing “difficulties in relocation” for enterprises. Relying on the national integrated online government service platform, service standards across different regions and departments should be unified to achieve cross-regional and cross-departmental data sharing and business coordination.

强化跨部门行政衔接配合。部门“职责交叉”“推诿扯皮”，是政府行为尺度不一的重要原因。需要梳理事关建设全国统一大市场的高频行政事项，制定部门协同清单，明确牵头单位、配合单位的具体职责与行为边界。企业跨区域迁移涉及市场监管、税务、社保等部门，需要统一办理流程、压缩办理时限，避免部门壁垒导致企业“迁移难”。还要依托全国一体化政务服务平台，统一不同地区、不同部门的服务标准，实现跨区域跨部门数据共享、业务协同。

Optimize the assessment orientation of local governments. To avoid the “short-sighted” behavior of local governments that “emphasize the partial over the whole,” it is necessary to optimize the performance assessment system for local governments, weakening quantity-oriented standards such as GDP and investment attraction, and strengthening quality-oriented standards such as market integration and factor mobility. Incorporate “breaking local protectionism” and “implementing the unified national market policy” into the performance assessment of local governments, and implement a “one-vote veto” for regions with market fragmentation or policy discrimination. [3]3 A “one-vote veto” (一票否决) is a mechanism in Chinese governance where a single failure on a designated key indicator (here, breaking local protectionism) results in an automatic negative overall assessment, overriding all other performance metrics. At the same time, adhere to the principle of “the nation as a single chessboard,” establish a performance assessment mechanism for regional coordinated development, assess the effectiveness of ecological protection and industrial coordination and cooperation between neighboring provinces, and guide local governments to shift from acting independently to coordinated development.

优化地方政府考核导向。为避免地方政府“重局部轻全局”造成的“短视”行为，需优化地方政府政绩考核体系，弱化GDP、招商引资等数量导向标准，强化市场一体化、要素流动性等质量导向标准。将“打破地方保护主义”“落实全国统一大市场政策”纳入地方政府绩效考核，对存在市场分割、政策歧视的地区实行“一票否决”。同时，坚持“全国一盘棋”，建立区域协同发展考核机制，考核相邻省份生态保护、产业协同合作成效，引导地方政府从各自为战转向协同发展。

Strengthen Full-Chain Supervision of Government Behavior

加强政府行为全链条监督

Detect early and build a normalized monitoring and early warning mechanism. Timely detection of implementation deviations is key to preventing yardstick imbalances. A nationally unified government behavior monitoring platform needs to be established. Using big data technology, data on local policies, public resource transactions, and law enforcement cases can be captured in real time. Algorithm models can be used to identify abnormal or anomalous behavior. For local industrial subsidy policies, automatically compare them to see if they conform to national unified standards. For the penalty results of a certain type of case, automatically determine whether there is a problem of different penalties for the same case. At the same time, optimize the direct feedback channel for enterprises. Set up a “market segmentation reporting zone” on platforms such as the national 12345 government service hotline and the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System to collect problems reported by various market entities through multiple channels, building an early warning system of “technological monitoring + social supervision.”

及早发现，构建常态化监测预警机制。及时发现执行偏差，是防止尺度失衡的关键。需建立全国统一的政府行为监测平台，借助大数据技术实时抓取地方有关政策、公共资源交易、执法案例等数据，通过算法模型识别异常反常行为的情形。对地方出台产业补贴政策，自动比对是否符合国家统一标准。对某类案件处罚结果，自动研判是否存在同案不同罚问题。同时，优化企业反馈直通车机制，在全国12345政务服务热线、国家企业信用信息公示系统等平台开设“市场分割举报专区”，多渠道收集各类市场主体反映问题，构建“技术监测+社会监督”预警体系。

Handle promptly and improve the cross-level and cross-regional error correction mechanism. Establish a “graded handling” mechanism to precisely correct deviations in the yardstick of government behavior detected through monitoring. For minor violations, the competent higher-level authority shall urge rectification through means such as “reminder letters” or “interviews.” For serious violations of the unified national market regulations, the central departments shall correct them, revoking or ordering amendments to the relevant policies. If a local government restricts the participation of out-of-region enterprises in government procurement through “red-head documents,” the Ministry of Finance can directly order the abolition of the documents. [4]4 “Red-head documents” (红头文件) are official documents issued by Party and government organs, named for their red letterhead. They carry significant administrative authority and are often used to implement policies or directives. At the same time, establish a cross-regional error correction coordination mechanism. For market fragmentation issues involving multiple regions, the higher-level authority shall take the lead in organizing joint investigations and coordinating all parties to unify the rectification standards.

及时处理，完善跨层级跨区域纠错机制。建立“分级处置”机制，精准矫正监测发现的政府行为尺度偏差。轻微违规行为由上级主管部门以“提示函”“约谈”等方式督促整改。严重违反全国统一大市场规定的，由中央部门纠正，撤销或责令修改相关政策。对地方政府通过“红头文件”方式限制外地企业参与政府采购，财政部可直接责令废止文件。同时，建立跨区域纠错协作机制，对涉及多地的市场分割问题，由上级部门牵头组织联合调查，协调各方统一整改标准。

Strictly enforce accountability and improve the responsibility implementation guarantee mechanism. The key to effective supervision lies in establishing and improving the accountability mechanism. Explore the formulation of “Measures for Accountability for Acts Hindering the Unified National Market,” focusing on market fragmentation, policy discrimination, and unfair law enforcement, to clarify the circumstances and procedures for holding local governments and relevant staff accountable. For those engaging in “small circles” or “small cycles” leading to regional market fragmentation, not only the directly responsible persons but also the main leaders of the local government shall be held accountable. At the same time, establish a positive incentive mechanism. For regions that have achieved remarkable results in unifying the yardstick of government behavior and promoting market integration, provide policy support and preferential treatment in areas such as central fiscal transfer payments and the layout of reform pilot projects, so that governments at all levels consciously abide by the unified yardstick and actively promote the construction of market integration.

严格问责，健全责任落实保障机制。有效监督的关键在于建立健全问责机制。探索制定《阻碍全国统一大市场行为问责办法》，围绕市场分割、政策歧视、执法不公等方面，明确对地方政府及相关工作人员的问责情形和程序。对搞“小圈子”“小循环”导致区域市场分割的，不仅要问责直接责任人，还要追究地方政府主要领导责任。同时，建立正向激励机制，对在统一政府行为尺度、推动市场一体化中成效显著的地区，在中央财政转移支付、改革试点布局等方面给予政策倾斜支持，让各级政府自觉遵守统一尺度，积极促进市场一体化建设。

(The author is President and Professor of the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系广东省社会科学院院长、教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧