Providing Economic Law Support for the Development of New Quality Productive Forces

The "Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Recommendations") clearly states that it is necessary to "accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and lead the development of new quality productive forces." The 2025 Central Economic Work Conference also emphasized that "the consistency and effectiveness of macro-policy orientation must be enhanced," aiming to promote the transformation of economic development from quantity to quality. As economic law adjusts the state's intervention in economic relations, it must respond from the institutional level to the objective requirements of the development of new quality productive forces. By constructing a scientific and complete legal support system, it provides stable market expectations and strong rule-of-law guarantees for technological innovation and industrial transformation.

《中共中央关于制定国民经济和社会发展第十五个五年规划的建议》（以下简称《建议》）明确提出，要“加快高水平科技自立自强，引领发展新质生产力”。2025年中央经济工作会议也强调，“要增强宏观政策取向一致性和有效性”，旨在推动经济发展实现从量到质的转变。作为调整国家干预经济关系的经济法，必须从制度层面回应新质生产力发展的客观要求，通过构建科学完备的法律支撑体系，为科技创新与产业变革提供稳定的市场预期和有力的法治保障。

The Inherent Alignment between the Dual Regulatory Functions of Economic Law and New Quality Productive Forces

经济法双重调控功能与新质生产力的内在契合

The proposal and development of the concept of new quality productive forces marks a major innovation in China's theory of productive forces and a great leap in productive forces in the New Era. Its basic connotation is the leap in laborers, means of labor, subjects of labor, and their optimized combination, with a substantial increase in total factor productivity as its core feature. From the perspective of economic law, new quality productive forces are not only iterative breakthroughs in technology but also place higher demands on relations of production, especially the rule-of-law business environment. This demand essentially calls for a rule-of-law framework with self-repair and dynamic evolution capabilities.

新质生产力概念的提出及其发展，标志着我国生产力理论的重大创新和新时代生产力的巨大跃迁。其以劳动者、劳动资料、劳动对象及其优化组合的跃升为基本内涵，以全要素生产率大幅提升为核心特征。从经济法视角审视，新质生产力不仅是技术的迭代突破，更是对生产关系尤其是法治化营商环境提出的更高要求。这种要求在本质上呼唤一种具备自我修复与动态演进能力的法治框架。

Through the dual means of macro-control and market regulation, economic law can precisely align with the characteristics of "innovation" and "high quality" of new quality productive forces. First, the core element of new quality productive forces is technological innovation, which typically has high risk and externalities. Macro-control law within the economic law system, especially fiscal and tax law and industrial law, can compensate for market failures in basic research and disruptive technological innovation through resource allocation under the new-type nationwide system [1]1 The "new-type nationwide system" (新型举国体制) refers to a state-led mobilization mechanism that combines government planning with market forces, used to concentrate resources on strategic national goals such as technological breakthroughs.. Second, new quality productive forces require the free flow and optimized combination of production factors. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC [2]2 The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC was held in July 2024, focusing on comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization. clearly stated that "the vitality of all types of business entities must be fully stimulated, the system and mechanism for market-oriented allocation of factors must be accelerated and improved, and the effectiveness of macroeconomic governance must be enhanced." This assertion points the direction for economic law to play a supporting role. Market regulation law within the economic law system, through anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition supervision, can break down institutional barriers and market obstacles that restrict the development of new quality productive forces, ensuring that all types of business entities can equally use production factors and fairly participate in market competition.

经济法通过宏观调控与市场规制的双重手段，能够精准契合新质生产力“创新”与“质优”的特点。首先，新质生产力的核心要素是科技创新，这具有典型的高风险性和外部性。经济法体系中的宏观调控法，特别是财税法与产业法，可以通过新型举国体制下的资源配置，弥补市场机制在基础研究和颠覆性技术创新领域的失灵。其次，新质生产力要求生产要素的自由流动与优化组合。党的二十届四中全会明确提出，“要充分激发各类经营主体活力，加快完善要素市场化配置体制机制，提升宏观经济治理效能”。这一论断为经济法发挥支撑作用指明了方向。经济法体系中的市场规制法通过反垄断与反不正当竞争监管，能够破除制约新质生产力发展的制度藩篱和市场壁垒，确保各类经营主体平等使用生产要素、公平参与市场竞争。

Vigorously developing new quality productive forces requires economic law to provide comprehensive institutional supply and rule-of-law support. This support is reflected in the ability of the rule-of-law system to maintain the stability of core principles while achieving institutional evolution through dynamic adjustments when facing the impact of technological change and disturbances from the external environment. Constructing an economic law support system that meets the requirements for the development of new quality productive forces essentially involves balancing the relationships between "stability" and "progress," and between "establishment" and "abolition," on the track of the rule of law, realizing a paradigm shift in economic law from a mere "law of management" to a "law of incentives and empowerment."

大力发展新质生产力需要经济法提供全方位的制度供给与法治支撑。这种支撑力体现在法治体系在面对技术变革冲击和外部环境扰动时，既能保持核心原则的稳定性，又能通过动态调整实现制度进化的能力。构建符合新质生产力发展要求的经济法支撑体系，本质上是在法治轨道上平衡好“稳”与“进”、“立”与“破”的关系，实现经济法由单纯的“管理之法”向“激励与赋能之法”的范式转变。

Strengthening the Institutional Supply of Economic Law to Address the Complexity of the Environment during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period

强化经济法制度供给以应对“十五五”时期环境复杂性

Entering the period of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the external environment facing China's development has become more complex and severe. Global technological competition is increasingly intense, and the security and stability of industrial and supply chains face unprecedented challenges. This places higher demands on the rule-of-law guarantee effectiveness of economic law: how to enhance the defensive capabilities of industrial chains within the rule-of-law framework while simultaneously stimulating the immense vitality of the domestic market?

进入“十五五”规划时期，我国发展面临的外部环境更加复杂严峻，全球科技竞争日趋白热化，产业链供应链的安全性、稳定性面临前所未有的挑战。这对经济法的法治保障效能提出了更高要求：如何在法治框架内提升产业链的防御能力，同时激发国内市场的巨大活力？

Currently, the institutional shortcomings restricting the development of new quality productive forces are mainly reflected in three aspects. First, the consistency of policy orientation needs to be enhanced. In some strategic emerging industries, there are still poor connections between administrative intervention and market mechanisms. Some regulations and policies have shown a tendency toward "acting on their own and engaging in departmentalism" during implementation, weakening the expected functions of laws and policies. Second, the legal rules for the allocation of data factors are not yet complete. As the core driving force of new quality productive forces, the definition of data ownership, transaction rules, and security supervision are still in the exploratory stage, and a mature rule-of-law path has not yet been formed, making it difficult to fully release the "data dividend." Third, the regulation of cutting-edge technologies lags behind. The development of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and biomanufacturing poses challenges to the traditional system of economic legal liability. There is a lack of rule-of-law integration between flexible regulation and inclusive and prudent regulation, easily leading to regulatory "overstepping" or "absence." These challenges expose the lag of traditional economic law in responding to high-frequency, disruptive innovation.

当前，制约新质生产力发展的制度短板主要体现在三个方面。第一，政策取向一致性有待增强。在一些战略性新兴产业领域，行政干预与市场机制之间仍存在衔接不畅，部分法规政策在执行中出现了“自行其是、搞本位主义”的倾向，削弱了法律和政策的预期功能。第二，数据要素配置的法律规则尚不完善。作为新质生产力的核心动能，数据的权属界定、交易规则和安全监管仍处于探索阶段，尚未形成成熟的法治路径，导致“数据红利”难以充分释放。第三，前沿技术的监管滞后。人工智能、生物制造等颠覆性技术的发展对传统经济法律责任体系构成了挑战，缺乏弹性监管与包容审慎监管的法治化衔接，容易导致监管“越位”或“缺位”。这些挑战暴露出传统经济法在应对高频次、颠覆性创新时的滞后性。

In response to these issues, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC proposed to "improve the macroeconomic governance system to ensure the steady and long-term progress of high-quality development." This requires that the economic law system possess stronger institutional responsiveness. This supporting function inherent in the economic law system requires us to focus not only on "law on paper" but also on the "vitality" of law in complex and changing economic situations. Understanding "enhancing the consistency and effectiveness of macro-policy orientation" from the perspective of the rule of law means that a rule-of-law evaluation mechanism for economic policies must be established and improved, ensuring that various incremental policies and existing policies work in the same direction on the track of the rule of law, avoiding the fallacy of composition caused by policy stacking.

针对这些问题，党的二十届四中全会提出，要“完善宏观经济治理体系，确保高质量发展行稳致远”，这要求经济法制度必须具备更强的制度回应性。这种内生于经济法体系的支撑机能要求我们不仅要关注“纸面上的法律”，更要关注法律在复杂多变的经济形势中的“生命力”。从法治角度理解“增强宏观政策取向一致性和有效性”，就是必须建立健全经济政策法治化评估机制，确保各类增量政策与存量政策在法治轨道上同向发力，避免政策叠加带来的合成谬误。

Deepening Institutional and Mechanism Reforms to Build a Rule-of-Law Innovation Ecosystem

深化体制机制改革构建法治化创新生态

The core of strengthening economic law support that aligns with the development of new quality productive forces lies in deepening institutional and mechanism reforms, transforming the spirit of the "Recommendations" and the Central Conference on Comprehensively Governing the Country by Law into specific rule-of-law practices. The supporting role of economic law should be strengthened and its practical path optimized from the following dimensions.

强化契合新质生产力发展的经济法支撑，核心在于深化体制机制改革，将《建议》与中央全面依法治国工作会议精神转化为具体的法治实践，应从以下维度强化经济法的支撑作用，优化经济法的实践路径。

First, improve the collaborative system for scientific and technological innovation under the new-type nationwide system. At the level of economic law, the "Science and Technology Progress Law" and its supporting regulations should be revised to strengthen the primary position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. In particular, it is necessary to coordinate national strategic scientific and technological forces, improve the diversified investment mechanism of "government guidance + social participation," and use fiscal and tax legal systems to provide long-term and stable rule-of-law guarantees for basic research. A long-termist tax incentive system for scientific and technological innovation should be explored and established to ensure decisive breakthroughs in tackling key core technologies.

第一，完善新型举国体制下的科技创新协同制度。在经济法层面，应通过修订《科学技术进步法》及其配套规章，强化企业科技创新主体地位。特别要统筹国家战略科技力量，完善“政府引导+社会参与”的多元投入机制，利用财税法律制度对基础研究提供长效、稳定的法治保障。应探索建立长期主义的科创税收优惠体系，确保关键核心技术攻关取得决定性突破。

Second, improve the legal system for a national integrated data factor market. The "digital intelligence" characteristics of new quality productive forces require us to break through the limitations of traditional physical space. In accordance with the "Recommendations'" deployment to "deepen the construction of Digital China. Improve the basic system for data factors, build an open, shared, and secure national integrated data market, and deepen the development and utilization of data resources," the relevant legal systems for data factors should be accelerated and improved. The focus should be on solving the rule-of-law difficulties in data rights confirmation, pricing, and circulation. The institutional costs of data flow should be reduced through rule-of-law means, and the relationship between data sharing, data security, and personal privacy protection should be balanced. By enhancing the institutional inclusiveness and adaptability of economic law, pilot programs in certain areas should be allowed, fault-tolerance mechanisms should be established, and rule-of-law pilot experiences should be used to promote the formation of a unified national market.

第二，健全全国一体化数据要素市场法律体系。新质生产力的“数智”特征要求我们必须突破传统物理空间的限制。应按照《建议》关于“深入推进数字中国建设。健全数据要素基础制度，建设开放共享安全的全国一体化数据市场，深化数据资源开发利用”的部署，加快完善数据要素相关法律制度。重点解决数据确权、定价、流通中的法治难题。要通过法治手段降低数据流转的制度性成本，平衡好数据共享与数据安全、个人隐私保护的关系。通过提升经济法的制度包容性与适配性，允许在部分领域先行先试，建立容错机制，以法治化的试点经验推动全国统一大市场的成型。

Third, construct an economic law regulatory framework that combines local conditions with consistency evaluation. Economic law cannot adopt a "one-size-fits-all" approach in its implementation. The internal logic of economic law's function of providing rule-of-law guarantees requires that the law must both maintain the unity, dignity, and authority of the national legal system, ensure the smooth implementation of government decrees, and support local governments in actively exploring the development of new industries and promoting new models within the rule-of-law framework based on local conditions. At the same time, the requirement of the 2025 Central Economic Work Conference to "include all types of economic policies and non-economic policies, existing policies and incremental policies, into the consistency evaluation of macro-policy orientation" must be strictly implemented. Through rule-of-law-based filing review and consistency evaluation systems, it should be ensured that local support policies do not violate fair competition review standards and do not undermine the unified national market, thereby forming a positive situation at the institutional level of orderly competition, adaptation to local conditions, and joint efforts.

第三，构建因地制宜与一致性评价并行的经济法规制框架。经济法在执行中不能搞“一刀切”。经济法发挥法治保障功能的内在逻辑，要求法律既要维护国家法制统一、尊严、权威，确保政令畅通，又要支持地方结合实际在法治框架内积极探索发展新产业、推进新模式的自主权。同时，要严格落实2025年中央经济工作会议关于“将各类经济政策和非经济政策、存量政策和增量政策纳入宏观政策取向一致性评估”的要求，通过法治化的备案审查和一致性评估制度，确保地方性支持政策不违反公平竞争审查标准，不破坏全国统一大市场，从而在制度层面形成有序竞争、因地制宜、合力推动的良好态势。

(The author is a researcher at the Competition Law and Competition Policy Research Center of Wuhan University)

（作者系武汉大学竞争法与竞争政策研究中心研究员）