China
Ten central government bodies, led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released the 15th Five-Year Plan for Promoting the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises on 3 September. The plan sets targets and implementation arrangements for SME policy from 2026 to 2030. The other issuing bodies include the national agencies responsible for development and reform, science and technology, finance, employment, commerce, monetary policy, market regulation, financial regulation and securities regulation.
By 2030, the plan targets a cumulative increase of about 15 per cent in operating revenue per employee among above-designated-size SMEs, average annual growth of more than 8 per cent in internal research and development expenditure by industrial SMEs above the designated size, 22,000 specialised and innovative “little giant” firms, and 600 national SME industrial clusters. It also aims for at least 95 per cent of specialised and innovative SMEs to reach level two of the official digitalisation assessment and 80 per cent to reach level three, while increasing the number of China-foreign SME cooperation zones to 50.
The plan identifies seven areas of work: stabilising firms and employment, developing enterprises through a graduated system, advancing digital and green transformation, strengthening industrial coordination, improving access to production inputs, expanding public services, and reinforcing legal and policy support. Measures include establishing a second phase of the National SME Development Fund to channel private capital towards seed-stage and early-stage companies; creating a pool of SMEs for listing support; enabling eligible SMEs to participate in national science and technology programs; and establishing a long-term mechanism for preventing and resolving overdue payments to SMEs. The figures are targets in the plan, not completed outcomes.
Australia
The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Treasury released an updated position on retail central bank digital currency on 3 September. They maintained their 2024 assessment that there is currently no clear public interest case for issuing a retail CBDC for everyday use by Australian households and businesses. The assessment drew partly on 33 focus groups involving 239 participants across every state and territory between February and July 2026, including dedicated discussions with people in remote areas, people with disability, new migrants, small-business owners, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The report said participants generally considered the existing payments system adequate for day-to-day needs and identified no material payment gap that only a retail CBDC would address. Cash continued to be valued as a simple and reliable option and as a back-up during outages and other disruptions. The RBA and Treasury said they would continue monitoring cash access, tokenised money, consumer preferences and digital finance, allowing the retail CBDC case to be reassessed if conditions and the policy case change.
On the same day, the RBA opened consultation on how its settlement services could support tokenised finance, with submissions due by 30 October. The consultation covers synchronising tokenised assets with the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System and Fast Settlement Service; one-for-one exchange between tokenised private money issued by different institutions; possible future access to central bank reserves for stablecoin issuers; and design questions for tokenised central bank reserves. The current policy boundary therefore leaves retail CBDC without a clear case for issuance while the infrastructure for wholesale tokenised settlement proceeds through consultation and design work.
United States
The US District Court for the District of Columbia granted California a preliminary injunction on 2 September, temporarily blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from submitting four Clean Air Act pre-emption waiver orders to Congress as “rules” for review under the Congressional Review Act. The court also denied motions to dismiss filed by the EPA and by intervenors the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers.
The waivers concern California's authority to apply its own emissions standards to cars, trucks, and lawn and garden equipment. In June, the EPA announced that it would treat four waivers from 2009, 2013, 2022 and 2024 as rules eligible for submission under the Congressional Review Act. California sued, arguing that they were waiver decisions under the Clean Air Act rather than rules subject to that process.
The preliminary injunction directs the EPA to take all necessary steps within its control to restore the status of the four waivers to what it was before the agency's 12 June announcement. The order governs the position while the litigation continues and is not a final judgment on every issue in the case. Separate litigation over Congress's 2025 revocation of a waiver connected with California's ban on new petrol-powered vehicle sales after 2035 remains pending.
Editorial framework: This briefing uses Sustenesis as an editorial framework for selecting facts, organising relationships and structuring information, with attention to differences and constraints in rules, responsibilities, resources, risks and social relations. Sustenesis functions here as a method of organisation rather than a position or commentary; the body remains limited to verifiable facts.
Sources
Xinhua: 促进中小企业发展“十五五”规划发布 (15th Five-Year Plan for SME Development Released)
https://app.xinhuanet.com/news/article.html?articleId=202609034510ce85a9dc4673b259793932d4fea9
Xinhua: 十部门联合印发《促进中小企业发展“十五五”规划》 五专家共话中小企业高质量发展新蓝图 (Ten Departments Jointly Issue the 15th Five-Year Plan for SME Development)
https://www.news.cn/info/20260903/6b0b0520c7894e0297f785a1b09e44f7/c.html
Reuters: China vows to support small and midsize firms in employment, innovation
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-vows-support-small-midsize-firms-employment-innovation-2026-09-03/
Reserve Bank of Australia: RITS Consultation and Retail CBDC Update
https://www.rba.gov.au/media-releases/2026/mr-26-24.html
Reserve Bank of Australia and Australian Treasury: Digital Currency in the Australian Context: An Update
https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/tokenised-money/pdf/retail-cbdc-position-paper-sep-2026.pdf
Reserve Bank of Australia: The Role of RITS in Supporting Settlement in a Tokenised Ecosystem — In Brief
https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/tokenised-money/the-role-of-rits-in-supporting-settlement-in-a-tokenised-ecosystem/
United States District Court for the District of Columbia: California v. United States Environmental Protection Agency — Order
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/order.pdf
United States District Court for the District of Columbia: California v. United States Environmental Protection Agency — Memorandum Opinion
https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/memorandum-opinion.pdf
Reuters: US judge bars EPA effort to send California vehicle emissions rules to Congress
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-judge-bars-epa-effort-send-california-vehicle-emissions-rules-congress-2026-09-03/
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