Staff members work at OVC's government service center. [Photo/WeChat account of Optics Valley of China]

The East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC) was elected as an outstanding national development zone with a strong business environment, according to the results of the 2021 provincial business environment assessment released by the Hubei Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

On March 31, OVC's success was discussed at a provincial news conference.

Giving full play to its roles as a high-tech development zone, a free trade zone, and a self-dependent innovation demonstration area, 10 of OVC's measures are being applied nationally, and 97 reform policies are being promoted provincially. It is also among the top 50 in the 2021 digital Chinese government ranking.

The valley has created a "business + tax affairs" model and offered one-stop services for the registration, reregistration and cancellation of enterprises. It has unveiled nine specific policies to lower the market entry threshold, shortening the time needed for file processing for business start-ups to just half a weekday.

The government is helping market entities preserve their credibility by offering lenience to first-time law and regulation violators. Enterprises with no record of dishonest behavior during the public notification period can be removed from the dishonesty blacklist.

In addition, the valley is cracking down on the infringement on intellectual property rights (IPR) and has handled more than 30,000 cases so far. Enterprises such as Xiaomi and Samsung have taken transnational legal action in the valley, making it a preferred place to address international IPR disputes.

This year, OVC will continue its efforts to improve its business environment, and strives to introduce 32,000 new market entities, which will bring the total number of registered entities to 180,000.