1. What the World Bank's Business Ready (B-READY) mainly assesses:

• Supervisory framework: Efforts to support the implementation of sound supervisory practices in international trade, which include the adequacy of legal frameworks concerning international trade, the digital and sustainable trade, and the cooperation of international trade; and to follow regulatory restrictions in terms of international cargo trade, international services trade and digital trade.
• Public services: Digital and infrastructural facilities, which consist of their transparency, information utility, online systems, service interoperability, and trade-related infrastructural projects; border management, which covers risk management, the coordination of border management, and projects of border institutions.
• Convenience: The time and cost of importing and exporting goods, including digitally ordered exports.

2. Key points, cases, and relevant legal policies (Coming soon)

3. What efforts have been made in Shanghai:

• The official website of General Administration of Customs has covered policies and laws relating to international trade, commodity categorization and taxation, and international trade deals. Additionally, Shanghai Customs has regularly published such information as customs clearance time at its official website in a move to increase the information transparency of customs clearance.
• Continuously expanding and improving the function of China International Trade Single Window, Shanghai has created a public information platform of aviation logistics to further bolster the efficiency of air-related import and export, expanded the standard payment scale of "single-window" public services, adopted one-stop integrated customs clearance to allow the public to track their logistics information, and opened specific service columns of trade policies, border charge items and import & export procedures to further increase information transparency.
• Shanghai has established port of entry coordination meetings, for both airport and sea entries, which convene twice a year to gather input from private sector entities such as ship agents, freight forwarders, and cargo owners. These meetings provide decision makers with valuable insights for port and airport policies and information regarding infrastructure development.
• The General Administration of Customs sought public feedback on proposed changes to the Customs Law, notably introducing "risk management" as a formal principle for the first time. This includes a dedicated chapter outlining a comprehensive system covering information collection, risk assessments, warnings, and tailored risk mitigation measures, in order to strike a better balance between trade facilitation and security.
• Shanghai has promoted the approval and renewal of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) through "single-window" online public service for international trade so as to further simplify relevant application and renewal procedures. The city has exempted high-level AEO holders from providing guarantees in the fields of batch-based import & export and centralized applications when they are located in comprehensive bonded areas.
• Shanghai has strengthened the interconnection of its "single-window" public services with other independent economies, which are expected to reach 15 by 2025. The city has scaled up its cross-border cooperation and exchanges and adopted safer and more convenient clearance measures in collaboration with international partners.
• Shanghai has consistently lowered import & export compliance time, promoted the practice of paper-free commodity delivery, and further shortened import compliance time as well as cost.

4. What Shanghai has achieved:

• According to the World Bank's Doing Business 2020 study, China ranked 56th in terms of cross-border trade. Shanghai's cross-border trade got 87.2 points, equal to the score of Ireland at 52nd place, and finished fifth in a list of comparable maritime economies.
• Shanghai's Yangshan Port was ranked first among 348 container ports worldwide in terms of operating efficiency in the World Bank's 2022 Container Port Performance Index (CPPI).
• China took 20th place in the World Bank's 2023 Logistics Performance Index.