Ministries respond to veteran affairs, IPR protection

Several ministry-level departments, including those for veteran affairs and education, have responded recently to issues of public concern.

Veterans on frontline for job opportunities

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs unveiled a new set of criteria for assessing veterans for job placements on Dec 20, which put more weight on military personnel's performance.

The regulation, jointly released by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, further underlines the principle of matching jobs to veterans based on their performance while in service.

Veterans will be assigned jobs in accordance with a score, which is based on several categories such as performance in combat, training level and combat preparedness, length of service, living conditions of their service location, and military rank.

Those who earned honorary titles and medals while in service will be prioritized when receiving job assignments, while those who made false claims in their personal files will see their scores reduced.

The new regulation will cover servicemen who retire starting in autumn.

Pupils, students to be better protected

The Ministry of Education has called for greater efforts to protect kindergarten pupils and school students from sexual assault in a notice released on Dec 22.

Local education administrations and schools must promote sex education and teach children how to prevent sexual assault in class, through pamphlets or other channels, the notice said.

Schools should conduct better background checks on candidates concerning their conduct and psychological status while recruiting teachers, it said, adding that a database on sexual-assault-related crimes should be set up in coordination with public security departments.

The ministry also required schools to more carefully check the background information of their temporary teachers, saying those who were deprived of political rights or have received fixed-term imprisonment or penalties for serious crimes must not work for schools.

Local education administrations and schools should make joint efforts with public security departments to step up patrols around schools to prevent children from being sexually assaulted by people from outside, the notice said.

IPR violators to face stricter punishment

The National Intellectual Property Administration said on Dec 19 that the protection of intellectual property rights will be stepped up with tougher punishments set to be imposed for IPR infringement.

Thirty-eight government departments including the National Development and Reform Commission, the People's Bank of China and the administration have jointly signed a memorandum to strengthen cooperation in the crackdown on IPR infringement.

The memorandum listed six types of infraction regarding intellectual property including repeated patent infringements, declining to execute punishments on patent violations and using fake documents in patent applications.

Enterprises that break the law may face multiple restrictions in receiving government funds, establishing financial institutions, and receiving customs certifications.

The administration will also publicize IPR infringements on a national online credit system, which accelerates the establishment of an intellectual property credit system.

Success for illegal garbage import crackdown

The General Administration of Customs said on Dec 19 that customs nationwide seized 91,600 metric tons of illegal garbage imports in the latest round of an enforcement campaign.

Customs officers in 11 provincial regions including Guangdong province and Tianjin municipality detained 129 suspects and broke up 38 smuggling rings during the action. The smuggled trash included waste plastics and mineral residue, the administration said.

It was the fifth crackdown on such smuggling launched by the administration this year. So far, 718 suspects from 202 smuggling rings have been detained, with evidence of more than 1.55 million tons of illegal solid waste imports found.

China began importing solid waste as a source of raw materials in the 1980s, and was for years been the world's largest importer. The government decided last year to phase out and completely halt such imports by the end of 2019, except for certain categories.