个体工商户制度的存与废:国际经验启示与政策选择

Existence and Abolishment of the System of Privately or Individually-owned Business: Enlightenment from International Experience and Policy Choices

个体工商户是我国最常见的一种商事登记主体形态,是社会公众遵循市场经济规律,投资于社会生产生活最为紧密领域的草根经济,在不同的历史时期发挥着不同的作用。但是,作为我国登记制度中最富有中国特色的个体工商户制度,其性质和法律地位,无论在理论研究还是司法实践领域,无论是在实体法还是程序法上,都一直存在较大争议,与国际通行的商事主体分类也大相径庭。在当前我国进行商事登记制度改革的大背景下,通过对个体工商户的由来与演变、境外考察、发展现状等分析,得出个体工商户制度已不符合历史发展需要,从趋势上来讲应当向微型企业等过渡并逐步走向消亡的结论。

As the most common form of commercial registration body in China, privately or individually-owned business is a kind of grassroots economy invested by the public following the law of the market economy in sectors closely related to social production and life, which has played diverse roles in varying historical times. Though being a representative with Chinese characteristics in commercial registration systems in China, the system of privately or individually-owned business has prompted much controversies regarding its nature and legal status both in theoretical research and in juridical practices, and both in terms of substantial law and procedural law. The system is also totally different from the established international classification of commercial bodies. In the context of current reform of commercial registration systems in China, this article explores the origin and evolution of privately or individually-owned business, introduces insights from overseas inspections and its current situation, and concludes that the system of privately or individually-owned business is no longer in conformity with the needs of historical development. From the trend perspective, a transition should be made toward micro business and privately or individually-owned business should walk up to decline and extinction.