China is drafting new rules to regulate large-scale shopping outlets, which could impede the expansion plans of foreign retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Carrefour SA, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The rules, presently under review by the State Council, could be released later this year, the report said citing an unnamed official at the Ministry of Commerce. They would apply to both foreign and local retailers.

If finalized, they would raise costs and increase red tape for big retailers, the report said.

Under the draft plan, cities would be required to file detailed blueprints of their commercial plans, including plans for department stores, big supermarkets and other retail outlets in residential neighborhoods.

Retailers applying to build outlets larger than 10,000 square meters would be required to submit to a public hearing, much as they are required to do in some North American and European countries.

The hearings would include regulators, industrial associations and academic experts as well as competitors and representatives of local residents.

The newspaper cited unidentified industry executives as saying the proposed rules would be especially cumbersome for large foreign retailers, but advantageous to local companies like Shanghai-based Lianhua Supermarket Co. and Beijing's WuMart Stores Inc. 

Many Chinese retailers have lobbied the government to address a perceived bias among local governments in favor of well-funded foreign retailers.

'We are not going to restrict the development of foreign investors in China...instead, we just want a more balanced and scientific commercial layout,' Wang Yongping, secretary-general of the China Commercial Real Estate Union and a senior adviser to the Ministry of Commerce, was quoted as saying.

Editor: Yan