China stresses high-quality development of rare earth industry

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council stressed high-quality development of the rare earth industry at an executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang on Friday.

The meeting also deliberated a draft revision on the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, and approved a draft amendment to the Patent Law implementation rules.

Noting that rare earth is a type of strategic mineral recourse, the meeting urged efforts to coordinate the exploration, development, utilization and standardized management of rare earth resources, and promote the development and application of a new generation of green, efficient mining and metallurgy technologies.

Efforts should be made to crack down on illegal mining and the damage to ecological environment, while promoting the high-end, intelligent and green development of the rare earth industry, according to the meeting.

As China has many ports and frequent traffic of personnel and goods, the revision and improvement of the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law will better safeguard people's health and public security, the meeting noted.

The meeting called for optimizing the frontier health, quarantine and joint prevention-and-control mechanism, and the working mechanism for frontier health and quarantine, while establishing and improving an infectious disease prevention-and-control system that combines regular and emergency response.

Stressing the need to strictly enforce the implementation rules of the Patent Law, the meeting also urged further improving the patent application and examination system to level-up China's patent creation, application, protection, management and service, as well as better matching the relevant international treaties.