Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Optimizing Business Environment
(Adopted at the 20thRoutine Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15thShanghai Municipal People’s Congress on April 10, 2020)
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 For purposes of continuously optimizing Business environment, stimulating the vitality of market participants, maintaining the legitimate rights and interests of market participants, promoting high-quality economic development, enhancing the modernization of government governance systems and capabilities, and building Shanghai into an outstanding global city and a socialist modern international metropolis with world influence, these Regulations are formulated in light of the reality of this Municipality, and in accordance with the Regulations on Optimizing Business Environment and other laws and administrative regulations.,
Article 2 These Regulations apply to work related to optimizing Business environment within the administrative area of this Municipality.
Business environment as mentioned in these Regulations refers to the institutional mechanism factors and conditions involved in the market economic activities of enterprises and other market participants.
Article 3 The business environment shall be optimized with adherence to the principles of marketization, the rule of law and internationalization, by taking the needs of market participants as the evaluation criteria and the transformation of government functions as the core, taking “Integrated Online Platform” as the starting point to comprehensively “deepen the reform of streamlining administration, delegating powers and optimizing services”. This Municipality shall practice the service concept of “being responsive to requests without making any unnecessary intervention”, benchmark against the highest standard and level, and create an international first-class Business environment with facilitation of trade and investment, high administrative efficiency, standardized government services, and enhanced legal system so as to create a stable, fair, transparent and predictable development environment for the investment and business development of all kinds of market participants.
Article 4 The municipal and district people’s governments shall strengthen the organization and leadership of optimizing Business environment, and establish and improve the overall working mechanism for optimizing Business environment, improve the joint meeting mechanism to serve the enterprises and strengthen the overall planning of the service for enterprises in the corresponding administrative area in accordance with the principles and requirements for optimizing Business environment. The main person in charge of the government is the first person responsible for optimizing Business environment.
The development and reform departments at municipal and district levels are the competent departments for optimizing Business environment within their administrative areas, and are responsible for guiding, organizing, and coordinating the daily work of optimizing Business environment.
The municipal departments of economyand informatization, commerce, government services, market regulation, housing and urban-rural development, planning resources, judicial administration, local finance, intellectual property rights and other departments shall fulfill its duties in optimizing Business environment.
Article 5 The municipal and district people’s governments and their relevant departments shall fully utilize the existing legal system and national policy resources, explore specific and feasible new experience and methods for optimizing Business environment, and reproduce and promote the effective reform measures.
China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Lin-gang Special Area, Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Hongqiao Business District and other areas shall play a leading role in optimizing Business environment, piloting various reform measures conducive to optimizing Business environment.
Article 6 This Municipality shall strengthen communication and cooperation with relevant provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, focus on improving Business environment in the demonstration area in the Yangtze River Delta on ecologically friendly development, promote the establishment of unified market access and supervision rules, and strive to form a unified open market with the free flow of various factors of production and enhance the overall Business environment in the Yangtze River Delta region.
Article 7 The municipal and district people’s governments shall establish an incentive mechanism for optimizing Business environment, and shall commend and reward units and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in optimizing Business environment in accordance with the relevant rules.
All districts and departments can actively explore specific measures to optimize Business environment within the framework of the rule of law and in relation to their actual situations. The relevant entities and individuals who make mistakes or deviate in their exploratory work, but make and implement decisions in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality in a diligent and responsible attitude, without making any private gains, then no negative evaluation shall be made upon such entities and individuals, and they may be exempted from or relieved of their liabilitiesaccording to the law.
Article 8 As required by Business environment evaluation system, this Municipality promotes the reform of optimizing Business environment which is oriented towards the satisfaction of market participants and the public, and give play to the leading, supervising and urging role of Business environment evaluation in optimizing Business environment.
All districts and departments shall timely adjust and improve the policy measures for optimizing Business environment based on the results of Business environment evaluation.
Chapter II Market Environment
Article 9 This Municipality shall give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources, build a service system covering the entire life cycle of enterprises, and continue to optimize Business environment in terms of enterprise start-up, financing and credit, dispute resolution, and business withdrawal.
Article 10 All kinds of market participants can, equally and according to the law, enter fields which are outside of the negative list for national market access. Fields outside the negative list of national foreign investment access shall be managed in accordance with the principle of treating domestic investments and foreign investments equally.
This Municipality shall formulate industry guidance policies and make them public to society in accordance with the relevant regulations on urban function positioning, development planning, environmental protection and safety, and the established procedures.
Article 11 This Municipality shall benchmark against international high-standard investment and trade rules to promote trade facilitation, encourage and promote foreign investment. This Municipality shall carry out the experimental foreign investment policies and measures in China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and Lin-gang Special Area to expand the opening up of the country to the outside world in accordance with the national deployment.
All types of enterprises are encouraged to set up headquarters and R&D centers in this Municipality. International organizations that are closely related to the construction of Shanghai’s international economic, financial, shipping, trade and science and technology innovation centers are encouraged to register in this Municipality, and this Municipality supports the establishment of international organizations related to this Municipality’s key strategic emerging industry.
Article 12 This Municipality shall, according to the law, protect the decision-making power in operation, the property rights and other legitimate rights and interests of market participants, and protect the personal safety and property securityof enterprise operators.
No entity or individual may intervene in matters such as pricing, internal governance, and business model that should be independently decided by market participants in accordance with the law. It is prohibited to require market participants to provide any form of apportionment. It is prohibited to illegally implement administrative coercion or infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of market participants and their operators.
Except as otherwise provided by laws and regulations, market participants are entitled to decide independently whether to join or withdraw from social organizations such as industry associations and chambers of commerce.
Article 13 Development support policies of the State and this Municipality shall equally apply to all kinds of market participants according to the law. All kinds of market participants are entitled to the equal use of capital, technology, human resources, land use rights and other natural resources and other production factors and public service resources.
The municipal and district people’s governments and their departments shall treat all kinds of market participants equally and shall not formulate or implement discriminatory policy measures.
Tendering and bidding and government procurement shall be open, transparent, fair and just, and all kinds market participants shall be treated equally according to the law, and shall not be subject to any unreasonable conditions or any restriction or exclusion by way of potential bidder or vendor.
This Municipality shall improve the management system of public resource trading, establish and improve a public resource trading platform, optimize the transaction service process, and publicly disclose information on public resource trading rules, procedures, results, supervision ,credit and other related matter.
Article 14 This Municipality shall establish and improve a fair competition coordination mechanism, strengthen law enforcement, prevent and prohibit acts of market monopoly and abuse of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition in market economic activities, and unfair competition, so as to create a fair market environment for competition.
Article 15 This Municipality shall create a healthy development environment for small and medium-sized enterprises, guarantee their fair participation in market competition, and support their entrepreneurship and innovation.
The municipal and district people’s governments shall formulate special policies in fiscal support, fees reduction and exemption, financial support, public services, etc., and arrange special funds for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the financial budget at the same level of government in order to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Article 16 This Municipality shall enhance the protection on minority investors, improve the protection mechanism on the rights and interests of minority investors, safeguard the rights to information, voting, dividends and supervision of minority investors, and give play to the function role of minority investor service agencies in equity holding, right exercising, dispute mediation, and litigation resolving, and improve the convenience of minority investors in regard to safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests.
Article 17 This Municipality shall include all enterprise-related business licensing items in the reform scope of “Separating Permits from the Business License” and adopt methods as directly abolishing examination and approval, changing examination and approval to record-filing, implementing notification and commitment and optimizing examination and approval services to promote such reform. Except for specific fields as prescribedin laws and administrative regulations, no enterprise-related business licensing items shall be used as preconditions for enterprise registration.
This Municipality supports the exploration of the reform of “One Permit for One Industry” approval model, integrating multiple permits involved in one industry access into a comprehensive industry permit.
The department of market regulation shall clearly inform the enterprise of the licensing items that need to be handled according to the business scope self-declared by the enterprise, and synchronously inform the relevant competent department of the information of the enterprise applying for the license. The relevant competent department shall timely handle the enterprise-related business licensing items in accordance with the application of the enterprise, and shall promptly report the results to the market regulation department.
Article 18 For legally established government funds, enterprise-related deposits and enterprise-related administrative and institutional fees, and operating service fees priced by the government, catalog list management shall be implemented, and no fees or deposits which are outside of the catalog list shall be implemented. The municipal finance department and the municipal development and reform department shall compile such catalog list and make it public.
This Municipality shall promote the use of letters of guarantee from financial institutions and guarantee insurances instead of cash payment of enterprise-related deposits. The municipal development and reform department, the municipal housing and urban-rural development department and other relevant competent departments shall clarify specific requirements and guidelines.
Article 19 This Municipality shall cultivate and develop various types of industry associations and chambers of commerce, and shall regulate and supervise the charging, comparison-based evaluation, certification and other conduct of industry associations and chambers of commerce pursuant to the law.
Industry associations and chambers of commerce shall strengthen internal governance and capacity building, reflect industry demands in a timely manner, organize the formulation and implementation of group standards, strengthen industrial self-discipline, and provide market participants with information consulting, publicity and training, market expansion, rights and interests protection, disputesresolution and other services.
Article 20 The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments in this Municipality shall fulfill the policy commitments which they have made to market participants according to the law and all kinds of contracts entered into with market participants according to the law, and shall not default on or break contracts on the grounds of adjustment of administrative division, change of government, institutional or functional adjustments, replacement of relevant responsible persons, etc. Where policy commitments or contractual provisions need to be changed due to the needs of national interests or social and public interests, such change shall be carried out in accordance with statutory authority and procedures, and losses suffered by market participants as a result shall be compensated according to the law.
If the government alters or withdraws the administrative permitsthat has taken effect or adopts expropriation or other measures in accordance with the conditions and procedures prescribedby law, the market participants shall be compensated pursuant to the law.
Article 21 The people’s governments at all levels, and their relevant departments and institutions in this Municipality shall not default on or be in arrears of the payment of goods, projects, services and other items to market participants, and shall not extend any payment period in disguise beyond the agreed payment mechanism.
This Municipality shall explore the establishment of a restrictive and disciplinary mechanism for default payment behaviors, prevent and correct the arrears in market participants’ accounts through budget management, performance appraisal, audit supervision and other measures.
Article 22 This Municipality shall strengthen the intellectual property rights protection, rationalize the comprehensive management and enforcement system of intellectual property rights and strengthen the enforcement cooperation mechanism for cross-regional intellectual property laws.
This Municipality shall implement a punitive compensation system against infringement of intellectual property rights, promote the establishment of a mechanism of rapid and collaborative protectionon intellectual property rights, improve the cohesive mechanism in between administrative and judicial protection, explore the public interest litigation in intellectual property rights, enhance the aid mechanism in safeguarding intellectual property rights, and provide the infringement early warning, legal services and judicial relief for intellectual property protections.
This Municipality shall improve diversified mechanisms for the settlement of intellectual property disputes, give full play to the active role of industry associations and mediation, arbitration, intellectual property services and other institutions in resolving intellectual property disputes.
Chapter III Government Services
Article 23 This Municipality shall accelerate the construction of an integrated online government service platform (hereinafter referred to as the “Integrated Online Platform”), promote the integration of offline and online government services, consolidate public data resources, strengthen business collaboration, and optimize government services, promote a main portal, one-time login, and integrate online services for market participants to handle affairs.
All government services in this Municipality are included in the Integrated Online Platform, unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations or involving state secrets and public safety. Market participants can handle government services through the Integrated Online Platform, and can obtain precise government services through enterprise-specific web pages.
The municipal governmentservice department is responsible for overall planning, coordination and promotion, and guidance and supervision of work in relation to Integrated Online Platform. All districts and departments shall promote the standardization and construction of government services, refine and quantify government service standards, compile government affairs service guidelines, clarify matters such as application requirements, materials, procedures, tolerance acceptance and other contents, the standards for online and offline applications must be consistent. The conditions for handling government servicesmust not contain any miscellaneous provisions, and relevant departments must not require market participants to provide application materials other than those specified in the guidelines.
The market participants can independently choose the service channels for handling government services, and the relevant departments must not designate such channels for government services. If the standardized electronic materials have been collected online, the applicant shall not be required to provide hard copies.
This Municipality shall promote the establishment of a special window for foreign-related services on the Integrated Online Platform to provide convenient government services for foreign-invested enterprises and foreigners.
Article 24 The government services hall shall promote a comprehensive window service, implementing comprehensive acceptance, categorized dealing, and unified delivery.
The service window shall strengthen standardized management, promote standardized construction, improve service systems such as one-time notification, first-inquired person in charge, receiving documents with vouchers and time-limited processing; improve the working mechanisms such as appointments, full-time assistance, joint processing, stagger and extended services.
All districts and departments shall allocate more staffs for window service and strengthen their professional training.The service window staffs shall,in accordance with the government’s efficiency improvement regulations, comprehensively apply efficiency assessment, supervision and inspection, efficiency accountability and other means to improve service quality and efficiency.
Except in the circumstances clearly prescribed by laws and regulations, the window service staffs shall not refuse to accept the application submitted by the applicant. If the window staff fails to accept the material, all departments shall strengthen verification and supervision.
Article 25 This Municipality shall implement a list management system for government permits. The municipal approval reform department shall, together with the relevant administrative departments, publish the list to the public in a timely manner and make dynamic adjustments.
Except as specified within the list of administrative permits, any establishment or the disguised establishment or implementation of governmentpermits in the manner of files, record, registration, catalog, planning, annual inspection, annual report, production supervision, recognition, certification, review and any other forms shall be prohibited. The governmentpermits that have been cancelled by the State and this Municipality shall not be continued, resumed in disguised form or transferred to perform by industrial associations, chambers of commerce and other organizations for implementation.
The relevant departments shall submit reports containing government permits, fees collection, supervision and inspection of the current year to the approval reform department at the same level and publish such reports to the public according to the law.
Article 26 This Municipality shall fully implement the system of administrative approval via Notification andCommitment. For administrative approval items that are difficult to verify approval requirements in advance but incompleteness can be corrected,with controllable risks, through the on-processing and post-event supervision, the administrative approval authority may adopt a Notification andCommitment method to implement the administrative approval, except for those directly involving public safety, ecological environmental protection and personal health, life and property safety, and those in need for approval on the spot according to the law. The specific and Commitment items shall be determined by the approval reform department in conjunction with the relevant departments and published to the public.
As for administrative approval with Notification andCommitments, the relevant department shall inform the applicant of the approval requirements and the materials to be submitted at one time. If the applicant makes commitment in writing to meet the requirements for examination and approval, an administrative approval decision shall be made directly, and supervise the fulfilling status of applicant’s commitment according to the law. If the applicant fails to fulfill its commitment, the approval department shall order the applicant to rectify within a time limit; if the conditions are not met after such rectification period, the approval decision shall be revoked and brought into the credit information platform in accordance with the relevant regulations.
Article 27 This Municipality shall follow the principles of lawfulness, necessity, simplicity and regulate the intermediary services for administrative approval. The list of intermediary services for administrative approval shall be compiled by the municipal approval reform department in conjunction with the relevant administrative department, and published to the public.
Except as otherwise provided by laws and regulations, the market participants shall have the right to choose the intermediary service agency independently. No administrative department may designate or designate in a disguised manner an intermediary serviceagency for them, and may not force or force in a disguised manner the market participants to accept any intermediary services.
If the district or department needs to entrust an intermediary service agency to provide technical services during the administrative approval process, it must choose an intermediary service agency through a competitive method and pay its own service fees.
The intermediary service agency shall clarify and publish to the public with the conditions, procedures, time limits, and charging standards for intermediary services for statutory administrative approval.
Article 28 The relevant departments of the Municipal People’s Governmentshall publish a list of proof items on the website of the municipal government, list item by item the requirement basis, requesting entity, issuing entity and other items. Within seven working days after the implementation of the new proof items or the cancellation of the original proof items, the relevant department shall complete the update of the list.
All districts and departments shall strengthen the mutual recognition and sharing of proof, and avoid repeated requests for proof from the market participants, and shall carry out pilot Notification and Commitment for proof as required by the State and this Municipality so as to provide further convenience by reducing the burden of proof.
Article 29 This Municipality shall implement the government service evaluation system to improve the government service level. The government service evaluation system covers all municipal government services, evaluated objects and service channels. Evaluations and responses shall be made public.
The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments in this Municipality shall,in response to bad reviews and complaints, establish mechanisms for investigation and verification, supervision, rectification and feedback. As for the real-name based bad review, the department in charge shall contact and verify within one working day. Matters that are clear with reasonable complaints shall be rectified immediately; matters that are complex and difficult to resolve at once shall be rectified within a limited period. The rectification shall be reverted to the enterprise and the public in a timely manner. The administrative department in charge of government services shall follow up on the rectification results of the real-name based bad review.
Article 30 This Municipality shall implement the whole process of enterprise start-up with “One Form Application and One Window Collection”. Applicants can apply for business licenses, seals, invoices, basic social insurance and other services through the “One Window” online service platform. If the materials are complete and conform to the legal form, the relevant government department shall handle such application on site; if it cannot be handled on site, it shall be handled within one working day.
When applying for the establishment of enterprise and change of registration items, the applicant promises that the submitted articles of association, agreements, resolutions, and qualification certificates are true, lawful and effective, the administrative department of market regulation may conduct a formal review of the submitted materials, except for otherwise provided by the laws and regulations. The applicant who provides false materials for registration shall undertake the responsibility specified under the law.
An enterprise may receive the business license, seal and invoice required for general business activities synchronously at the Starting a BusinessComprehensive Window in the government service hall.
As for the establishment of enterprise, the name pickingvia Notification and Commitment system and the enterprise’s domicile self-declaration system shall be tentatively launched, and the integrated electronic process of starting a business shall be promoted. Multiple enterprises may use the same address as their registered domicile in accordance with the relevant regulations of This Municipality.
Article 31 This Municipality shall, in line with the relevant provisions of electronic licenses, establish and improve mechanisms for the collection and application of electronic licenses. Except as otherwise provided by laws and regulations, electronic licenses issued by the municipal and district people’s governments and their departments shall be collected in real time and transferred into the municipal electronic license database to ensure that the data is complete and accurate.
The applicant may present the electronic licenses required for business processing through the municipal electronic license database when applying for relevant matters. The accepting unit shall not refuse to process or require the applicant to provide physical licenses, except for retrieving original licenses pursuant to the law.
Article 32 This Municipality shall establish a unified electronic seal system, promote the application of electronic seals in government services, community affairs and other fields, and encourage market participants and social organizations to use electronic seals in economic and social activities. Each department that has established an electronic seal system shall accomplish mutual recognition and intercommunication.
The enterprise electronic seal shall be issued free of charge together with the enterprise electronic business license. Enterprises can independently engrave the physical seal according to actual needs.
Article 33 The reliable electronic signatures that meet the conditions prescribed by laws that enterprises use in dealing with government affairs shall have the same legal effect as handwritten signatures or seals; electronic seals and physical seals shall have the same legal effect; electronic and physicalcertificates shall have the same legal effect, except as otherwise prescribedby laws and administrative regulations.
Article 34 Notification andCommitment system shall be implemented for the enterprise’s fixed assets investment project, the scope of which shall be formulated by the municipal development and reform department, and publish to the public subject to the approval of the Municipal People’s Government.
Article 35 This Municipality shall implement a category-based review and approval mechanism construction projects. The municipal departments of housing and urban-rural development, transportation and other departments shall formulate and publish the risk categorizing standards and risk levels of various construction projects, and implement differentiated approval, supervision and management together with the municipal departments of development and reform, planning resources and other departments.
This Municipality shall implement the whole process and full coverage reform of construction projects approval. The municipal housing and urban-rural development department shall take the lead in establishing a unified construction projects approval management system, through the main portalof Integrated Online Platform, to realize “One Form Application, One Acceptance, Integrated Online Services, Completion within a Limited Period and Certificate Issuance at One-time” for various approval stages of project approval, land use, planning, construction, and completion acceptance, and promote the approval of construction projects to achieve the entire process to be handled online. For low-risk construction projects with social investment, construction project planning permits and construction permits can be handled in a consolidated manner, and the entire period of filing and approval process shall not exceed ten working days.
The municipal and district people’s governments shall establish construction project approval and reviewcenters, through the construction project approval management system, and implement a one-stop service model such as joint review, joint supervision and inspection, and comprehensive completion acceptance.
This Municipality shall strengthen the services in advance for major construction projects, and explore a pilot mechanism as “Tolerance for Deficiencies and Supplement Later” in the approval process for non-critical elements that do not affect safety and public interests, allowing market participants to supplement relevant documents prior to the filing of inspection and acceptance.
This Municipality shall implement the insurance policy for potential defects in engineering quality and explore the implementation of the architect accountability system.
Article 36 This Municipality shall implement comprehensive areas assessments in areas such as industrial bases and industrial communities. Each area management authority shall organize and carry out area assessments such as water resources demonstration, traffic impact assessment, geological disaster risk assessment, and lightning strike risk assessment, disclose the results of the area assessment to the public and take the results into consideration when relevant departments perform the management duties.
Market participants, which operate construction projects in industrial bases and industrial communities that have completed comprehensive area assessments, no longer need to carry out the above-mentioned assessments separately, unless otherwise provided by the State and this Municipality.
Article 37 For the new low-risk industrial project with social investment of the enterprise in this Municipality, the inspection and acceptance together with the real estate registration can be applied simultaneously and, after the final inspection, the relevant certificates of acceptance and the electronic certificates of real estate can be obtained at one-time, and physical certificates can be received on site.
The real estate registration institution shall handle the real estate transfer registration and realize “single window collection, tax payment on site, certificate issuance on site and completion at one-time. The real estate registration institution shall strengthen cooperation with public utility enterprises, financial institutions, etc., and gradually achieve the simultaneous processing of transfer of electricity, water supply and drainage, gas and network, together with real estate registration. This Municipality shall promote the facilitation reform such as applying for real estate mortgage registration at commercial banks.
Any entity or individual may inquire the registration information such as owners of non-residential real estate and cadastral map information by address, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality in relation to the inquiry of real estate registration materials.
Article 38 This Municipality shall rely on the municipal and district talents service centers to provide facilitated professional services such as talents introduction, obtaining permanent residence permit, communication, evaluation and consultation.
This Municipality shall facilitate the entry, exit, stay and residence, work, study and living of high-level foreign talents. The application for work and residence permits through the “Foreigners Work and Residence Single Window” shall be handled at one time within seven working days.
Article 39 This Municipality shall provide the declaring person with integrated electronic services such as import and export goods declaration, transportation methods declaration, tax payment, trade permit and Certificate of Origin application through the International Trade Single Window, promote trade financing, credit insurance, export tax rebate and other local special applications.
Each charging department shall publish the charging standards at the International Trade Single Window, and accomplish the “One-Stop” inquiry and settlement of port-related market charges. The municipal departments of ports, transportation, development and reform, and market regulation shall strengthen port charge management.
This Municipality shall, through the International Trade Single Window, push forward the connection with the declaration interfaces of other economies, promote the interconnection of information, and facilitate enterprises to carry out cross-border business.
Article 40 This Municipality shall apply various port customs clearance facilitation measures to reduce the time for cargo port supervision and port and shipping logistics operation, so that the cargo status and payment information of each link of customs clearance and logistics is traceable and so as to facilitate enterprises to carry out operations in various link.
This Municipality shall promote the optimization of port supervision and encourage enterprises to declare at customs and go through customs clearance procedures in advance. If there is any error in the customs declaration, the relevant fault tolerance mechanism shall be applicable.
Pursuant to relevant regulations, eligible enterprises shall qualify for management measures such as check and release prior to inspection, release prior to tax payment, and release prior to instrument correcting. The customs shall publish the overall customs clearance time of the customs declaration enterprise.
Article 41 This Municipality shall establish a unified taxes and fees declaration platform for taxpayers and fee payers, and promote the combined declaration and payment of relevant taxes and fees. Relevant departments shall simplify materials and procedures for handling payment of taxes and fees, reduce the frequency of tax payments and the time for handling payment of taxes and fees, improve the service capabilities of electronic tax bureaus and smart tax service sites, and promote the use of electronic invoices.
This Municipality shall strictly implement various national policies of taxes and fees reduction, and actively conduct the publicity and guidance to ensure the effective implementation of all policies.
Article 42 An enterprise can independently choose the location of its main office within this Municipality and register such location as its domicile according to law. All districts and departments shall provide facilitation to enterprises for their changes of domicile across districts, and shall not impose obstacles to such changes.
Any cross-district relocation that can't be addressed at the district level shall be coordinated, resolved and implemented by this Municipality’s Serving Enterprises Joint Meeting mechanism.
Article 43 An enterprise can apply for deregistration through this Municipality's Integrated Registration Service system, and the departments of market regulation, taxation, human resources and social security shall conduct categorized dealing and simultaneous processing, and conclude the relevant matters once and for all.
The expedited deregistration procedures may apply to those who have not carried out business activities after obtaining a business license, and have not incurred creditor's rights and debts or have completed the liquidation of creditor's rights and debts before applying for deregistration. An enterprise can make announcements through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. The time limit for announcements is 20 days. If there is no objection during the announcement period, the registration authority may conduct the deregistration for the enterprise.
Chapter IV Public Services
Article 44 The municipal economy and informatization department shall organize the establishment of a city-wide enterprise service system, realize the unified release of enterprise-related policies, co-location of professional service agencies, and the centralized acceptance of enterprises’ requests on Shanghai Enterprise Service Cloud.
The municipal and district economy and informatization departments shall establish service centers for small and medium-sized enterprises, accept various requests by the enterprises, and improve the mechanism for rapid processing and feedback of requests. General issues shall be settled within five working days and complicated issues within fifteen working days. Where the issue is impossible to be concluded, explanations shall be given to the enterprise.
Each district shall establish a grid-based enterprise service model, designating specific people in villages, towns, sub districts, industrial parks, and business buildings to respond to enterprises’ requests.
Article 45 The municipal economy and informatiztion department shall, together with the municipal finance department and other departments, establish a unified application system for the municipal fiscal funds based enterprise-benefiting policies , to provide enterprises with one-stop service of online search, subscription, matching, and application.
All districts shall establish service windows for fiscal funds based enterprise-benefiting policies, and comprehensive service windows for enterprise-benefiting policies can be established in districts where the conditions permit.
Article 46 This Municipality shall establish a communication mechanism between the government and enterprises, where the government shall, through various forms such as survey, discussion, questionnaire survey, and new media, listen to and respond to reasonable requests of market participants in a timely manner.
This Municipality shall establish an Advisory Committee on Optimizing Business Environment, which is responsible for collecting and reporting the requests of the market participants on Business environment, providing decision-making advice for the reform of Business environment, and promoting precise implementation of the policies for optimizing Business environment.
Article 47 This Municipality encourages public utility units of electricity, water supply and drainage, fuel gas, network and others to provide whole-process agent services to market participants. Public utility enterprises are encouraged to fully carry out online business operations, set up special service windows on the general portal of “Integrated Online Platform” to optimize the procedure, and reduce the application materials and the processing time.
Public utility units shall promote the standardization of access and services, ensure the openness and transparency of access standards and service standards, and provide related extended services and one-stop services. Public utility enterprises shall clearly mark the price of chargeable items and perform the obligations of reporting and disclosing cost information in accordance with regulations.
Where public utility units make simultaneous application for multiple municipal accesses, the government departments such as planning and resources, landscaping and city appearance, and transportation shall provide support and convenience.
Article 48 This Municipality shall implement a unified movable collateral registration system, promote market participants to conduct movable collateral registration through the Movables Financing Registry System of PBOC, and to provide financing convenience for market participants.
Financial institutions are encouraged to provide unsecured credit loans to small and medium-sized enterprises operating in good faith, support the provision of complete life-cycle financial services for science and technology-oriented enterprises, intensify the cultivation of science and technology-oriented enterprises, and encourage qualified science and technology-oriented enterprises to be listed on STAR market.
Article 49 This Municipality shall establish a policy-based financing guarantee fund for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, establish and improve a financing guarantee system, and provide credit enhancement services for the financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The municipal finance department shall establish a credit risk compensation and reward mechanism together with local financial department and other relevant departments in this Municipality.
This Municipality shall promote the opening of public data and Big Data Inclusive Financial Applications, share with financial institutions the government data related to, among others, market regulation, taxation, real estate registration, environmental protection, and public utility data such as electricity, water supply and drainage, fuel gas, network and so on, and protect business secrets and personal information in accordance with laws.
Article 50 This Municipality shall support the construction of industrial parks and promote the integrated development of industries and cities. Relevant government departments shall set up government service windows in industrial parks as needed. The management and operation units of various industrial parks are encouraged to set up a one-stop enterprise service acceptance office to provide policy consulting and agency services such as enterprise start-up, project construction, and talents services.
Where the management and operation unit of the park provides services, such as certification and guarantee, to the park enterprises by means of recommendation letters, the relevant government departments shall be supportive.
Article 51 This Municipality shall support the construction of innovation and entrepreneurship clusters, and support the development of various types of innovation and entrepreneurship carriers such as science and technology-oriented enterprises incubators and makerspaces. For qualified innovation and entrepreneurship carriers, tax incentives and financial support shall be granted in accordance with relevant provisions.
Universities and scientific research institutes are encouraged to develop technology transfer services by building professional teams and entrusting third-party service agencies, and to promote the transfer and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
Article 52 This Municipality shall implement the catalogue-based administration of major industrial projects with dynamic adjustment on a regular basis. The municipal and district people's governments shall establish a major project contact system and a coordinated handling mechanism to provide whole-process service guarantee for enterprises.
The municipal economy and informatization department shall promote the construction of a municipal investment promotion platform, formulate and publish an industrial map of Shanghai, promote the construction of information database and carrier resource database of key projects, and promote the precise matching of projects and industrial maps.
The municipal commerce department shall push forward the improvement of the overseas investment attraction network.
Article 53 This Municipality shall accelerate the construction of a public legal service system, integrate public legal service resources such as lawyers, notaries, and judicial authentication, and improve the quality and level of public legal services with public legal service centers and public legal service hot-lines as carriers.
Lawyers are encouraged to innovate the legal service model and help small and medium-sized enterprises to effectively prevent legal risks through professional legal services, and resolve various disputes in a timely and efficient manner.
This Municipality shall continue to optimize the notary services, and realize the “Self-service, Online Handling, and One-off Handling” of simple notary matters and notary information inquiry.
Authentication institutions are encouraged to optimize the authentication procedure and improve the authentication efficiency. Where there is an agreed time limit with the client, the authentication shall be completed within the agreed time limit; where there is no agreement, the authentication shall generally be completed within thirty working days, except for cases with great complexity or as specifically provided by laws, rules and regulations.
Chapter V Regulation and Law Enforcement
Article 54 The relevant government departments shall, in accordance with the principle of encouraging innovation, implement tolerant and prudential regulation of new technologies, industries, forms of business and models, among others, and formulate and implement corresponding regulatory rules and standards by categories according to their nature and characteristics, and leave room for development while ensuring quality and safety, and may neither impose prohibition nor simply deny regulation.
This Municipality shall establish and improve a system of tolerant and prudential regulation of a market participant’s business practice with trivial violations of laws and regulations, clarify the specific circumstances of business practices with trivial violations of laws and regulations, and impose no administrative punishment in accordance with the law.
Article 55 The municipal approval and reform department shall, together with the relevant administrative departments, compile a list of regulatory items catalogue, specifying, among others, the regulators, supervisees, regulatory measures, disposition methods, and disclose the above to the public. The list of regulatory items shall be dynamically adjusted.
This Municipality shall implement differentiated and categorized regulation and management upon market participants based on the supervisees’ credit status and risk level. All departments shall establish corresponding mechanisms of incentives, early warnings, and punishments based on the categorization results. Blanket and whole-process key regulation shall be implemented on special industries and key areas directly involving public safety and masses’ lives in accordance with the law.
The departments implementing categorized regulation and the organizations performing corresponding public affairs management functions shall formulate detailed implementation rules for categorized supervision and disclose them to the public.
Article 56 Relevant administrative departments shall make full use of credit information, grant convenient services such as processing with priority and simplified procedures to the trustworthy participants in the process of implementing administrative permits, and synchronously strictly regulate the determination of the list for joint punishment as well as carry out joint punishment on dishonesty according to laws and regulations.
This Municipality shall establish and improve the credit repair mechanism, and define the conditions, standards, procedures and other elements of repairing dishonesty information. For the eligible repair application, the unit that provides the dishonesty information shall, within the prescribed time limit, provide feedback in writing to the Municipal Public Credit Information Service Center, and shall delete the said information from the inquiry interface of the Municipal Public Credit Information Service Platform. Each department shall simultaneously delete the publicity information on the relevant websites. The unit providing the dishonesty information shall inform the applicant of the disposition.
This Municipality shall, based on the characteristics of the industry, explore the establishment of a system for determining the criteria for relatively large sum of fines in the record of major violations in government procurement field, and improve the joint punishment mechanism in the government procurement field.
Article 57 This Municipality shall comprehensively implement the administrative law enforcement publication system, the whole process recording system of law enforcement and the legal review system for major administrative law enforcement decisions. This Municipality shall promote strict, well-regulated, impartial and civilized enforcement of administrative law through manners such as evaluation, periodic reports, coordinated guidance, and law enforcement data sharing.
Each administrative law enforcement department shall, based on needs of regulation, strengthen law enforcement collaboration, clarify joint efforts procedures, and improve the effectiveness of joint law enforcement across departments and fields.
This Municipality shall deepen the reform of comprehensive administrative law enforcement, promote the relatively concentrated exercise of administrative punishment power, and coordinate the allocation of administrative law enforcement resources.
Article 58 This Municipality shall rely on the Internet plus Regulation system to promote the interconnection of the regulation systems of various departments, strengthen the collection, sharing and application of regulatory information, and conduct off-site regulation such as remote regulation, mobile regulation, early warning and prevention, to provide support for carrying out “regulation of random selection of inspection objects and inspectors and timely public disclosure”, categorized regulation, credit regulation, and joint law enforcement. The business secrets of market participants involved in the course of regulation shall be kept confidential by all departments according to law.
Article 59 Apart from special industries and key areas directly involving public safety and masses’ lives and health, relevant departments in the field of market regulation shall, in the process of regulation, conduct administrative inspections by randomly selecting inspection objects and randomly selecting law enforcement inspectors.
The frequency and probability of random inspection shall be linked to the credit rating and risk level of the inspection objects. Multiple items subject to inspection concerning the same inspection object shall be integrated or be included in the scope of cross-department joint random inspection.
Relevant departments in the field of market regulation shall promptly disclose to the public the random inspections and the results of inspections and disposition through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and other platforms.
Article 60 Where administrative coercion shall be implemented by an administrative law enforcement department, it shall follow the principles of lawfulness, appropriateness, and the combination of education and coercion. If the purpose of administrative management can be achieved by non- coercion means, administrative coercion shall not be carried out; if an illegal act is trivial or of insignificant social harm, administrative coercion may not be required; if administrative coercion is compellingly required, such coercion shall be executed within the necessary limits, with the impact on the normal production and operation activities of the market participants being reduced to the least.
The relevant departments of the Municipal People's Government may explore to create a list of items not necessarily subject to administrative compulsory measures.
Article 61 Relevant departments of the Municipal People’s Government shall, in accordance with the provisions at the national and municipal level, scientifically normalize the discretion over administrative penalty, practice dynamic management of the criterion for discretion over administrative penalty, and formulate, revise and repeal such criterion in a timely manner based on the adjustments made to laws, rules and regulations and in the law enforcement practices. All administrative law enforcement units shall normalize the application of the criterion for discretion over administrative penalty in accordance with relevant provisions of this Municipality.
Article 62 The municipal and district people’s governments and their respective departments shall not take such measures as requiring market participants to generally suspend production and operation in relevant industries and sectors or in relevant regions, unless such measures involve the safety of life of the masses, or are taken in the occurrence of grave or serious accidents or to hold major national activities, and are filed with competent authorities for approval. The enterprises shall be notified in writing beforehand or a public announcement shall be made for the adoption of measures such as general suspension of production and operation, unless otherwise provided by laws and regulations.
Chapter VI Safeguard by Rule of Law
Article 63 In formulating local laws, rules and regulations, and administrative normative documents that are closely related to the production and operation activities of market participants, this Municipality shall solicit opinions openly from the public through newspapers or networks among others, listen to the opinions of market participants, industry associations and chambers of commerce extensively, and establish a sound feedback mechanism for the adoption of opinions.
Local laws, rules and regulations, and administrative normative documents involving the rights and obligations of market participants shall be published in a timely manner in a way that facilitates public awareness. Administrative normative documents shall be entered into the unified database of administrative normative documents of this Municipality. When local laws, rules and regulations, and administrative normative documents are published, publicity and interpretation shall be carried out synchronously. With respect to any local laws, rules and regulations and administrative normative documents closely related to foreign investment, corresponding English translations or abstracts shall be provided.
Article 64 When formulating normative documents, policies and measures that are closely related to the production and business activities of market participants, the people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments of this Municipality shall conduct a legitimacy review and the formulating authorities shall carry out collective deliberation.
In drafting or formulating local laws, rules and regulations, normative documents and other policies and measures that involve the economic activities of market participants, fair competition review shall be conducted in accordance with relevant provisions. The participation of third-party institutions in the society in fair competition review is encouraged.
Any entity or individual may report any policies and measures suspected of violating the criterion for fair competition review. The formulating authorities shall establish and improve a mechanism for accepting and responding to complaints and reports concerning fair competition review, and promptly correct policies and measures that exclude or restrict competition; policies and measures formulated by applying exceptions shall be submitted to the joint meeting of fair competition review at the same administrative level for record.
Article 65 The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments of this Municipality shall, when formulating policies and measures that are closely related to the production and business activities of market participants, allow for a necessary adaption period for market participants, except where national security is involved and failure to implement forthwith upon promulgation will hinder implementation.
Article 66 This Municipality shall actively improve a diversified dispute resolution mechanism with smooth convergence and inter-coordination of mediation, arbitration, administrative adjudication, administrative review, and litigation, give full play to the functions of the non-litigation dispute resolution centers at the municipal and district levels, support the establishment of dispute resolution institutions in professional sectors such as the financial sector, and provide market participants with efficient and convenient dispute resolution approaches.
This Municipality supports arbitration and mediation institutions to join the “one-stop” international commercial dispute resolution platform, and to jointly create a fair, just, transparent and convenient law-based international Business environment.
This Municipality supports well-known arbitration and dispute resolution institutions from abroad to conduct arbitration and mediation with respect to civil and commercial disputes in international commercial, maritime, investment and other fields in accordance with relevant provisions in Lingang New Area.
Article 67 This Municipality supports the people’s courts at all levels to conduct fair trial of various cases involving market participants in accordance with the law, and to equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of various market participants and supports the people’s procuratorates at all levels to exercise legal supervision over the trial activities of the people’s courts.
According to the unified deployment at the national level, this Municipality shall strengthen the construction of international commercial dispute trial organizations, support international commercial dispute trial organizations in connecting with international commercial common rules, and accelerate the formation of a trial system and mechanism that meets the needs of international commercial dispute resolution in Shanghai.
This Municipality shall strengthen the institutional construction of source control over difficulties in enforcement, promote and improve the coupling mechanism for enforcement, and support the people’s courts to strengthen and improve enforcement. Relevant government departments, people’s procuratorates, non-governmental organizations, enterprises and public institutions, and financial institutions shall strengthen the cooperation and coordination with the people’s courts in carrying out enforcement, and coordinate in promoting the quality and efficiency of enforcement in this Municipality.
Article 68 This Municipality shall implement a system of prior confirmation of address for service of legal documents and responsibilities undertaking by enterprises. When attending to registration formalities such as incorporation, corporate changes or record-filings or annual report filings in this Municipality, after being informed by the market regulation department of matters such as prior confirmation of the address for service of legal document and undertakings of relevant responsibilities, the enterprise may, through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity system, fill in its address for service of the legal documents online, and undertake to be responsible for the authenticity of the address filed and the timely and effective acceptance of the legal documents served by the people’s courts and administrative departments of this Municipality at all levels.
Article 69 The people’s courts at all levels in this Municipality shall strengthen the construction of an online litigation services platform, promote the case handling model in which the whole process is conducted online, and strictly abide by the laws and judicial interpretations on regulating the extension of time limit for concluding a trial and postponement of court hearings for civil and commercial cases. The party that submits the complaint materials by filing the case online does not need to submit the hard copies.
The Municipal High People’s Court shall establish and improve the rules and standards for the selection, evaluation and assessment of intermediary agencies engaged in judicial authentication, asset evaluation, auditing and price review, make the same public, and notify relevant departments of the assessment and evaluation results of intermediary agencies on a regular basis.
Relevant departments shall establish an information sharing mechanism with the people’s court, support the people’s court to inquire about information on the identity, property rights, market transactions etc. of relevant market participants, and support the people’s court to conduct online investigation and control on, and disposal according to law of, real estate, movables, bank deposits, equity, intellectual properties and other property rights involved in the case, in order to improve the efficiency of property investigation and control and compulsory enforcement.
Relevant departments shall strengthen synergy with the people’s courts to include the person concerned who has refused to perform the duties determined by the effective judgment into the list of dishonesty disciplinary punishment, and strengthen the punishment for the dishonesty person subject to enforcement.
Article 70 This Municipality shall promote and improve a market-oriented and rule-of-law bankruptcy system, support the people’s courts in exploring the establishment of bankruptcy rescue mechanisms such as reorganization recognition and pre-reorganization, and explore a mechanism for separation of complicated and simple bankruptcy cases and quick trial of summary bankruptcy cases to streamline bankruptcy procedures.
This Municipality shall establish a coordination mechanism for enterprise bankruptcy jointly led by the Municipal People’s Government and the Municipal High People’s Court and joined by relevant departments to collectively propel the advancement of handling enterprise bankruptcy, support market-oriented debt restructuring in accordance with the law, and promptly communicate and solve problems occurred in the process of enterprise bankruptcy.
The people’s courts at all levels in this Municipality shall, in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and judicial interpretations, establish a mechanism for creditors or shareholders whose rights and interests are adjusted or affected to participate in the voting of draft reorganization plan, and promote the timely acquisition of reorganization relief by ailing enterprises with operational value.
Article 71 This Municipality shall establish a coupling mechanism for assets disposal in bankruptcy cases. The Municipal High People’s Court shall, in conjunction with the municipal planning and resources, public security and other relevant departments, unify the rules for disposal of bankrupt enterprise’s land, real estate, vehicles, etc., and improve the efficiency of disposing bankruptcy assets.
This Municipality shall establish a mechanism for safeguarding the rights and interests of employees of bankrupt enterprises. Human resources and social security departments at all levels shall coordinate and resolve matters such as the transfer of employees’ social security relationship to protect the legitimate rights and interests of employees.
After the bankrupt enterprise fulfills the relevant obligations in accordance with relevant regulations, the abnormal account status of the enterprise shall be automatically removed. Revenue of debt restructuring obtained by the enterprise as a result of reorganization shall be subject to relevant corporate income tax policies in accordance with relevant national regulations. The tax authority shall, according to law, reduce or exempt real estate tax and urban land use tax of the bankrupt enterprise.
Article 72 Disposal of significant assets of the bankrupt enterprise by the bankruptcy administrator shall be approved and adopted by the creditors’ meeting item by item.
The bankruptcy administrator has the right to enquire about the registration materials, contribution of social insurance premiums, bank account opening information and deposit status, as well as information on real estate, vehicles, intellectual properties of the bankrupt enterprise, and relevant departments and financial institutions shall render cooperation.
If a bankruptcy administrator files an application in accordance with ruling of the people’s court on termination of bankruptcy procedures, or a liquidation group files an application in accordance with the ruling of the people’s court on the termination of compulsory liquidation, the market regulation department shall handle the deregistration of the enterprise according to law.
The Municipal Association of Bankruptcy Administrators shall strengthen industry self-regulation, enhance the training for bankruptcy administrators, and improve the bankruptcy administrators’ abilities to perform their duties.
Article 73 This Municipality shall establish a complaints and rights protection mechanism for Business environment. Any unit or individual may make complaints and report on issues relating to Business environment through the “12345” citizen service hotline, Shanghai Enterprise Service Cloud, small and medium-sized enterprises service center, and “Integrated Online Services Platform”.
Relevant departments shall keep the feedback channels for complaints and reports unblocked to ensure that market participants’ reasonable and legitimate requests are responded to and handled in a timely manner. If such requests cannot be resolved, notification and explanation shall be given in a timely manner.
Article 74 This Municipality shall explore the establishment of an internal whistleblower system in areas such as ecological environment and resource protection, food and drug safety and public health to give full play social supervision, and shall reward the meritorious persons who have reported serious violations of law, violations of regulations and major hidden risks and dangers, and put them under strict protection.
Article 75 This Municipality shall establish a Legal Community of Safeguarding Optimizing Business Environment joined by government organs, professional institutions, social organizations etc., and ensure unimpeded design, implementation, feedback and communication channels of policies and systems, with a focus on unblocking and coordinating the institutional bottlenecks and systematic and mechanism issues in the construction of Business environment, so as to provide intellectual support to various districts and departments to propel the construction of Business environment according to law.
Article 76 This Municipality shall explore and create a new model of rule of law publicity suitable for market participants, and adopt methods such as citing cases to interpret the law and scene interaction to improve the effectiveness of rule of law publicity.
This Municipality shall follow the principles of “the one who enforces the law popularizes the law” and “the one who serves popularizes the law”, and shall explore to incorporate the publicity of rule of law in optimizing Business environment in the assessment of law popularizing responsibility system.
Article 77 The standing committees of the municipal and district people’s congresses shall strengthen the supervision of the optimization of Business environment within their respective administrative area by hearing special work reports and conducting law enforcement inspections.
The standing committees of the municipal and district people’s congresses shall give full play to their deputies’ role in organizing deputies to the congress to carry out special surveys and inspections on optimizing business environment, collecting and reporting the opinions and suggestions of various market participants, and urging relevant parties to implement various work on optimizing Business environment. .
Chapter VII Legal Liability
Article 78 Where the laws and administrative regulations have provided for penalties for violation of the provisions of these Regulations, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 79 The people’s governments at all levels and relevant departments and their respective functionaries of this Municipality, if committing any of the following acts in the work of optimizing Business environment, shall be ordered by relevant departments to make corrections; in case of gross violation, the wrongdoer shall be held accountable according to law:
1. limiting the channels for market participants in violation of the requirements of “Integrated Online Services”;
2. refusing to make rectification for real-name negative reviews with clear descriptions and reasonable complaints;
3. illegally setting obstacles to an enterprise changing its domicile;
4. obstructing the bankruptcy administrator from performing its duties according to law; or
5. other nonperformance of the responsibility to optimize business environment or damaging Business environment.
Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions
Article 80 These Regulations shall be effective as of April 10, 2020.