Sun Chengliang, Deputy Secretary in charge of daily work of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, stated at a press conference held by the Shandong Provincial Government on the 21st that the province has launched a three-year action plan to optimize the rule of law business environment for political and legal organs, and to help build a market-oriented, rule of law, and international first-class business environment. In the "Ten Thousand Private Enterprises Evaluate Business Environment" survey organized by the All China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Shandong has been selected as one of the top 10 provinces with the best business environment for four consecutive years. According to Sun Chengliang, Shandong is accelerating the construction of foreign-related legal affairs in the Jinan and Qingdao Central Legal Zones, relying on the Jinan, Qingdao, and Yantai areas of the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone to establish the Free Trade Zone International Arbitration Court and International Arbitration Center, and creating a preferred location for international commercial dispute resolution. In addition, a green channel for the entry and exit of personnel from major foreign-related investment cooperation projects has been established, providing residency and visa convenience for foreign talents and business personnel to start businesses in Shandong in accordance with the law. According to statistics, the province has visited foreign talents more than 18000 times and processed 64000 visa documents. Li Zhuqun, the deputy director of Shandong Provincial Public Security Department and the first level inspector, said that Shandong public security organs severely crack down on prominent crimes that affect development and security and are strongly reflected by enterprises and the public in accordance with the law, launch the "Lu Jian" special strike, and severely crack down on economic crimes involving enterprises. There were 6332 cases in the province, and more than 12000 suspect were arrested, avoiding and recovering economic losses of 1.821 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) for enterprises and the public. Li Zhuqun stated that when companies encounter online rumors, spreading rumors, and extortion, they should immediately preserve fixed evidence, file complaints and reports to online platforms, and report to administrative law enforcement departments or public security organs. For those suspected of illegal and criminal activities, the public security organs in Shandong will severely crack down on and punish them in accordance with the law. Since this year, Shandong has investigated and handled 110 enterprise related online rumor cases, investigated and dealt with 197 illegal suspect according to law, cleared 22000 enterprise related rumor information, and closed 454 illegal accounts. Resolving commercial disputes is an important indicator for evaluating the rule of law business environment, and it is also a fundamental function of the work of the people's courts Wang Chuang, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Vice President of the Shandong Provincial High People's Court, stated that from January to October this year, the provincial courts received 2.102 million cases of trial and execution, and closed 1.825 million cases. The quality and efficiency of trial and execution continue to rank among the top tier of courts in the country. Wang Chuang stated that Shandong courts have increased their efforts in protecting intellectual property rights, comprehensively promoted the "three in one" reform of criminal, civil, and administrative trials of intellectual property rights, and established a joint mechanism for intellectual property protection with multiple units such as the Shandong Provincial Department of Science and Technology. They have taken the lead in issuing guidelines for the application of punitive damages in the trial of civil cases of intellectual property infringement by provincial courts nationwide. Punitive damages have been applied to 35 cases, including the "Sanqi" trademark infringement case, with a total amount of 190 million yuan awarded. Jiang Wanyun, Deputy Prosecutor General of Shandong Provincial Procuratorate, pointed out that the procuratorial organs in Shandong focus on intellectual property protection in rural revitalization, guiding the handling of 22 cases of fake pesticides, fake seeds, and counterfeit agricultural products. Yang Zengsheng, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Department of Justice of Shandong Province, stated that the Department of Justice has launched a special action to "serve the real economy and join hands with enterprises", established a lawyer service team, set up enterprise friendly service stations, and helped enterprises carry out "rule of law physical examinations", providing more than 130000 legal opinions, representing nearly 120000 legal affairs, and assisting enterprises in resolving more than 30000 conflicts and disputes. (New Society)