China has launched a nationwide drive to sort out and rectify the 20,000-strong economic agents which employ a total of 330,000 people, the Ministry of Finance announced here today.

The drive is aimed at severing the links between government organs and these economic agents. No government organs will be allowed to run such agents or have any form of economic links or interests in them.

Among the targeted economic agents are accounting and auditing offices, financial consultants, tax filing offices, lawyers, assets evaluation agents, pricing assessment agents, and audit agents of project costs, as well as relevant administrative industry associations, consortia and administrative centers.

Those agents failing to comply with legal requirements or having no approval from the State Council will have to re-apply for approval. Some agents, which have overlapping operations, will be merged, and some not recognized by the law or with poor management will be closed.

The rectification endeavor will last until the middle of next year.

The State Council has set up a special panel comprising officials from 10 ministries and institutions to supervise the conduct of the drive.