BEIJING, Nov. 30 -- The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Saturday unveiled a reform plan for the initial public offering (IPO) system.

It is seen as a major step in introducing a system of registration for IPO issuances to replace the current administration approval mechanism.

The plan, on pushing forward with reform on a new share issuance system, was released about two weeks after a reform plan unveiled by the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which promised to introduce a registration-based system.

The CSRC said in a statement that the plan would be market-oriented and law-based, and emphasize a regulation philosophy with information disclosure at its core.

Reviews of new listing candidates will be more transparent, and the process will be made public at the same time. By increasing transparency, the CSRC said it will endeavor to allow the public to monitor the whole reviewing process.

China has an approval-based IPO system, whereby new listing candidates experience a complicated application process that can take multiple rounds of reviews and several years to receive approval from the CSRC.

Under the registration-based IPO system, the CSRC said it would focus on compliance review of the new listing candidates. The timing of new share issuance and how to issue shares will be determined by the market. The valuations of new share offerings will better reflect the demand-supply dynamics.

The CSRC said the plan will serve the purpose of protecting small and medium investors, by safeguarding their right to know, right to participate, right to supervise and right to claim compensation.

The plan would also further clarify the liabilities of the new share issuers, IPO sponsors, accounting and law firms, among others in IPO issuance.

Issuers and brokers should compensate losses of the investors in accordance with laws if serious illegal actions by the issuers in information disclosure causes losses for the investors.

A commission spokesman said the plan for the IPO issuance system meant no relaxation on regulation. It stressed more on regulation during the listing and on stricter enforcement of laws and rules after the listing.

The spokesman said that it could take about one month to complete preparations before the first to-be-listed company can begin its registration process.

He predicted around 50 companies would be able to complete their registration procedures for IPO by the end of January.

The IPO issuance in China has been put on hold in the country's stock markets since October last year, with around 700 firms left in the IPO pipeline.