China releases guideline for enhanced reform in fire service

BEIJING - The general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council have published a new guideline to deepen the reform of firefighting law enforcement.

China will comprehensively reform the supervision and management of fire control work, step up management at the source, and prevent and defuse risks, according to the guideline.

Efforts will be made to further streamline administration and delegate powers and resolutely remove various unreasonable barriers in firefighting supervision.

The document outlined 12 major tasks of reform in five areas.

Qualification licensing of firefighting technical service organizations will be canceled and restrictions on the market access of firefighting products will be eased amid efforts to improve the quality of supervision services.

In terms of enhancing supervision, firefighting violations shall be registered in offenders' credit records and enterprises with severe illegalities and credit breaches shall be managed with a "blacklist" approach, according to the guideline.

The Internet of Things and big data will be used to enable real-time evaluation of fire risks and precise oversight.