The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Beijing has prompted new ways of working, including tele-conferencing, online business talks and taxation, and working at home.
To reduce face-to-face contacts, the Beijing Foreign Trade and Economic Commission has required enterprises to download application forms for interest-subsidized loans from the Internet and to acquire import permits for ordinary commodities online. It has also examined exports of machines and electronics and registered export and import rights online.
As the commission handles the approval and issuance procedures for licenses for representative offices established by foreign companies, in which paper work is essential, through express mail services.
The commission has also started an "online business talks" system, which allows multi-lateral communications for both domestic and overseas customers.
The outbreak of SARS has triggered the rapid development of "e-administration" for the local government, which used to suffer from inefficient meetings and bundles of documents.
Online taxation is another outstanding change in working modes in Beijing.
Of the 352 additional taxpayers registered in April in Fengtai District, 57.9 percent were registered through the Internet, according to a local taxation administrator.
Online services were not only more convenient, but also conducive to the establishment of a market-economy-friendly personal information system, according to Wang Jiping, director of the Beijing Taxation Bureau.
After the outbreak of SARS, the long-awaited working-at-home mode has become popular among the city's white-collar workers. According to a recent survey, 40 percent of the respondents considered working at home more efficient.
(People's Daily June 8, 2003)
