Action Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Focusing on Enhancing Enterprises' Experience and Constantly Building a World-Class Business Environment

It is an important task assigned by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to Shanghai Municipality ("the Municipality") for it to take the lead in building a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized first-class business environment. This Plan is hereby formulated with a focus on enhancing enterprises' experience and constantly building a world-class business environment in the Municipality.

I. Intensifying Reforms to Align with World Bank B-READY Standards

1. Market Access

To respond to the issue of repeatedly filling by enterprises the same materials in the forms upon filing for business registration, efforts will be made to promote digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of the "Shanghai Online Business Registration" system in order to strengthen its functions such as intelligent pre-filling of application forms, intelligent generation of application materials, and intelligent pre-checking of the applicant's qualifications, to promote the application of the standardized registration information database for enterprises' domiciles in order to facilitate reform initiatives such as intelligent proposal for enterprises' names, filing of cross-district business premises, and centralized registration of enterprises' branches, and to expand the scenarios when electronic business licenses and business entity identity codes (enterprise QR codes) can be applied. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation)

2. Access to Business Premises

Efforts will be made to strengthen various services and support for the approval of major projects, including providing dedicated personnel, providing whole-process assistance, accepting incomplete submissions while allowing the applicants to provide other required documents, and providing the "service packages" mechanism. Key industrial projects are encouraged to be administered as the major projects. A list of region-specific spatial ecological environment administration and a catalogue of key projects subject to examination and approval are expected to be formulated, and the construction projects that are not included in the aforesaid catalogue but in compliance with the requirements of the aforesaid list may be exempted from the environmental impact assessment that would otherwise be required. The real estate registration procedures will be optimized and the proportion of online real estate registration will be increased. The operation of district-level examination and approval centers will be further enhanced in order to achieve overall coordination through the "one center" and to improve the one-stop and centralized services. Efforts will be made to boost the effect of reform such as "one-stop construction permits" and "one-stop comprehensive acceptance of completed projects". The "architect accountability system" is to be widely applied and the institutional rules and supportive measures for such system will be optimized. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, the Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment)

3. Public Infrastructure Services

Efforts will be made to promote service packages of power access and contract-based power access services, and to construct power infrastructure appropriately in advance in order to facilitate power access. Administrative regulations on information disclosure of water utility companies will be formulated. The construction and management of the supportive communication facilities in industrial parks and commercial buildings will be strengthened to ensure enterprises' voluntary choice of broadband access and to realize synchronized coverage of mobile network. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Water Authority, and Shanghai Communications Administration)

4. Labor and Employment Services

Employment guidance will be provided for platform enterprises and the rights and interests of workers in new forms of employment are to be protected. The Shanghai public employment and recruitment platform will be upgraded to promote the building of "15-minute employment service circle" and to establish 500 high-quality community employment service stations, which may provide employees and employers with services such as supply and demand matching, skills and capability enhancement, aid and assistance, and entrepreneurship guidance. More eligible enterprises are encouraged to carry out independent assessment of skilled talents in light of their actual needs. Efforts will be made to intensify the reform concerning labor administrative supervision and labor dispute arbitration, to explore a pre-filing settlement mechanism, and to promote flexible settlement of labor disputes. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security)

5. Financial Services

More financial institutions are encouraged to participate in promoting more enterprises to disclose their environmental information. Green finance evaluation will be carried out among Shanghai-based banking and other financial institutions. Registration of trust property such as real estate and equity, and its supporting mechanisms will be explored and established. (Responsible units: Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, the Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and Office of Finance Committee of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC)

6. International Trade

The consulting service mechanism concerning international economic and trade rules will be improved, and the industry associations and organizations for promotion of international trade are encouraged to provide convenient and professional services. Efforts will be made to expand the coverage of high-tech cargo subject to preferential treatment under the customs' targeted control and inspection, to optimize the pilot program for importation of items for R&D testing purposes, and to carry out the reform measures such as early declaration, inspection after customs release, telex release, multimode transport, and application of electronic certificates to facilitate customs clearance. Optimized whole-chain services will be provided to enhance the shipping service capacity in Shanghai. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Commerce, Shanghai Customs District, and the Municipal Commission of Transport)

7. Tax Payment

The administrative measures on advance tax rulings will be implemented and the tax services will be further improved. Efforts will be made to optimize the application of the integrated all-in-one function of "paying taxes and fees" and the multi-lingual and multi-channel tax and fee consulting service system. The cross-border taxing service brand "TaxExpress" will be further built in order to provide cross-border taxpayers full-cycle, all-rounded, and whole-process tax-related services. The use of fully digitized electronic invoices will be widely promoted as an active response to the demand for digitalized electronic invoices from trust-worthy and low-risk enterprises, aiming to enhance the facilitated use of invoices by enterprises. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Tax Service)

8. Settlement of Commercial Disputes

Efforts will be made to intensify the development of digital courts in order to empower quality and efficiency in judicial settlement of disputes, to optimize the ad hoc arbitration mechanism, and to strengthen the judicial support for and supervision over arbitration. Efforts will be made to accelerate the cultivation of first-class international arbitral institutions and to promote the establishment with the well-known overseas arbitral institutions and other dispute settlement institutions of cooperation mechanisms, such as those of information exchange, research interaction, and promotion based on mutual benefit. Commercial mediation organizations are encouraged to provide professional dispute resolution services based on a market-oriented operation mode, with a view to improving the supporting systems for commercial mediation and to enhancing the accessibility and professionalism of commercial mediation. (Responsible units: the Municipal High People's Court, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, and Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai)

9. Promotion of Market Competition

A fair competition review system will be strictly implemented and the law will be stringently enforced against the abuse of administrative powers to exclude or restrict competition, in order to eliminate regional protectionism and market segmentation. The whole-process supervision of tender and bid as well as of government procurement will be improved, with the scope of pre-qualified projects expressly specified and with dedicated quotas set aside for small and medium-sized enterprises in government procurement. Efforts will be made to ensure that private construction enterprises will be able to fairly participate in competition, and enterprises' project performance and penalty records outside of Shanghai will be included into the credit rating of construction enterprises. The public services for intellectual property will be optimized by implementing an inclusive public service program for intellectual property, and by upgrading the integrated "one-stop" service platform. (Responsible units: the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and the Municipal Intellectual Property Administration)

10. Handling Bankruptcy Cases

A cooperative mechanism between the people’s governments and the people's courts for handling bankruptcy cases and the supporting systems will be improved to strengthen the administrative coordination in enterprise bankruptcy cases. The restructuring and bankruptcy reorganization mechanism will be improved, encouraging out-of-court restructurings conducted in a market-oriented manner. The platform of whole-process online bankruptcy case-handling will be further optimized in a way of exploring a channel of online sharing with the relevant competent departments of bankruptcy case-acceptance and the other relevant information. The scope of online information regarding bankrupt enterprises available to bankruptcy administrators will be expanded and the access facilitated. (Responsible units: the Municipal High People's Court, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Municipal Tax Service, and the Municipal Data Administration)

II. Improving Comprehensive Services for Enterprises

1. Government Services

(1) Efficiently Providing One-stop Government Services

Guided by the list of priority matters under the State's "Efficient One-stop Services" program, the administration mechanism of priority matters will be improved on a regular basis. A new set of "one-stop services" will be launched with a focus on key fields and high-frequency matters such as the bringing in of talents, policy support, and project approval, in order to create a "one-stop" service system that covers the entire lifecycle of enterprises and individuals. Efforts will be made to promote fully online the "All-in-One business license" program and to establish a mechanism for handling electronic certificate data discrepancies or disputes. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Data Administration, and all district people's governments)

(2) Expanding the Notification-commitment System

Efforts will be made to improve the non-intrusive verification and collection and application of credit information under the notification-commitment system, to reduce the required documents to be submitted by enterprises, and to optimize the work processes. Efforts will be made to explore the integration of the notification-commitment system with other reforms, allowing for "one-stop single commitment and approval" for permitted projects in specific industries and areas. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Bureau of Justice, the Municipal Data Administration, and all district people's governments)

(3) Providing Services in an Intelligent Manner

An "AI + Government Services" initiative will be launched to promote intelligent approval and declaration for government service matters, aiming to achieve the full coverage of "online professional human assistance" for high-frequency matters, and to raise the proportion of pre-filling of declarations, success rate of initial handling, connection rate of online human assistance, first response rate within one minute, and satisfaction rate of handling the matters. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Data Administration, and all district people's governments)

(4) Integration of Online and In-person Services

Efforts will be made to promote the development of standardized, normalized, and facilitated government services, with a view to improving in-person services with the support of the online intelligent service system. With the online and in-person government service channels, one-stop legal services, financial services, talent services, scientific and innovative services, international trade services, and other value-added services will be provided for enterprises and the public. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(5) Facilitating Remote Services

Efforts will be made to reduce repetitive handling of the same matter for enterprises operating cross different regions and to promote the establishment of remote service windows, as needed, at the service venues of governments at various levels to offer remote assistance and services to enterprises and the public with such technologies as remote identity verification, audio and video interaction, and screen sharing, so as to achieve the unified handling of more government service matters within the Municipality and also across the Yangtze River Delta. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Data Administration, and all district people's governments)

(6) Improving Hotline Services

The designated online channel for enterprise services on the 12345 platform will be optimized, and the "DianDianTong" ("with just a click") platform of enterprise edition and information enquiry database will be provided, with a view to facilitating enterprises to efficiently handle their matters, seek help, make complaints, and consult policies. Efforts will be made to strengthen the "online human assistance" services so that the matters frequently applied for by enterprises will be directly channeled to the competent departments for examination and approval, which will boost efficiency in handling the matters for enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Office of Public Complaints and Proposals, General Office of the Municipal People's Government, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

2. Policy Services

(1) Policy Assessment

There will be a macro alignment assessment of economic and non-economic policies to promote normalized assessment of enterprise-related rules and regulations, administrative normative documents, and policies, and to repeal the inconsistent ones, aiming to ensure that they work in concert to support the development of enterprises and industries. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal People's Government, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(2) Policy Formulation

Efforts will be made to satisfy the requirements of fully soliciting the opinions of business entities and the chambers and associations of commerce on the formulation of enterprise-related policies. In principle, the feedback from small and medium-sized enterprises will account for no less than 50% of all feedback when opinions are solicited on an inclusive policy. The comprehensibility of policies will be improved and the new policies benefiting enterprises should be introduced in concise, easy-to-understand, and straightforward language. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(3) Policy Interpretation

The initiative of "Division/Section Chiefs Explaining Policies" will be launched to intensify guidance on key policies benefiting enterprises. A normalized and long-term cooperation mechanism will be established between governments and social organizations, fully leveraging the roles of social organizations and professional institutions such as industry associations, chambers of commerce, and industrial parks to enhance the specificity and timeliness of policy interpretation. Various new methods and platforms may be used to interpret policies benefiting enterprises, such as policy interpretation via short videos, policy live broadcasting, or through platforms such as "public policy briefing" or "policy meeting hall", aiming to expand effective communication of policies. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(4) Policy Notification, Application and Implementation

Efforts will be made to satisfy the requirements that the key reviewing points including application conditions, application materials, and the rules for review are to be fully and accurately annotated before the release of a policy, in order to ensure that intelligent services, such as precise policy notifications and reminders for submission of applications are provided. The platform "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" that provides targeted services related to polices benefiting enterprises will be optimized to promote closed-loop administration, including unified entry for project application, unified code collection, and allocation of funds against codes. Efforts will be made to expand the coverage of policies, based on which the benefits can be "enjoyed without application" and can be "quickly and directly delivered". (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Data Administration, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(5) Policy Guidance

All districts are guided to formulate industrial support policies in a scientific manner, regulate investment attraction activities, promptly rectify unhealthy competitive conduct among different regions, and further enhance the administration and services for cross-district relocation of enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

3. Resource Support Services

(1) Financing Support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Efforts will be made to constantly expand the coverage of policy-based financing guarantee funds, to develop on a regular basis bank-enterprise coordination activities such as "batch loans for members of the chambers of commerce", and to fully implement the policies of seamless loan renewal and loan renewal without principal repayment for micro and small and medium-sized enterprises. The mechanism for clarifying litigation records of enterprises involved in lawsuits and the mechanism for sharing judicial credit data will be promoted to mitigate the risks of the enterprises of suspension or forced early repayment of loans due to their involvement in lawsuits. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Office of Finance Committee of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, and the Municipal High People's Court)

(2) Financing and Credit Enhancement Services

The functions of the municipal financing credit platform will be optimized to improve the long-term mechanism for credit information collection and sharing, to deepen data development and utilization, to encourage financial institutions to innovate in and develop a wider range of credit-based financing products, and to facilitate bank-enterprise coordination and financing matchmaking. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Office of Finance Committee of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Data Administration, the Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, and Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China)

(3) Financing Coordination Services

Efforts will be made to build financing service centers, to optimize financial "policy packages" and "service packages" that benefit enterprises, to attract various types of financial service institutions to settle in the financing service centers, and to comprehensively improve the quality and efficiency of financial services. (Responsible units: Office of Finance Committee of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau, Shanghai Head Office of the People's Bank of China, and all district people's governments)

(4) Talents Services

Efforts will be made to vigorously develop the "Shanghai Talents" summit platform, to intensify the "one-stop" full-cycle talent services, and to optimize the innovation and entrepreneurship ecology for talents. The policies for attracting special talents will be implemented, with the key enterprises empowered to play a leading role in talent attraction and settling down, and with the enterprises allowed to independently identify the various types of talents that are urgently needed for their development. (Responsible unit: the Municipal Bureau of Talents Work)

(5) Vocational Skills Training

A vocational skills training program for Shanghai that involves multiple parties' participation will be formulated, and the catalogues of occupations (types of work) of highly-skilled professionals urgently needed and of new skills training programs will be timely updated, prioritizing the cultivation of urgently-needed skilled talents for key industries. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Municipal Commission of Education)

(6) Renovation of Old Commercial Buildings

Efforts will be made, through making comprehensive use of the supporting policies of planning, land, public finance, tax, industry, and environmental protection, to accelerate the renovation of old commercial buildings in central urban areas with low capacity and high vacancy rates so as to raise the resource matching rate of commercial buildings. (Responsible units: all district people's governments, the Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, and all relevant departments)

(7) Ensuring Rental Housing Supply

With a focus on the obstacles, inconveniences, and difficulties in respect of rental demands faced by new citizens and young people, efforts will be made to improve the supply of multi-level government-subsidized rental housing, increase the supply of talent apartments, rental housing, and transitional hostels for various kinds of talents, to create "homes for urban builders and managers of the new era", and to ensure housing security for talents and front-line employees. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Housing Administration, the Municipal Bureau of Talents Work, and all district people's governments)

(8) Cross-border Data Flow

A negative list and operational guidelines will be formulated for outbound data flow in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Lin-gang Special Area, and enterprises are guided to carry out cross-border data flow, and to launch pioneering initiatives in more fields. (Responsible units: Office of Cyberspace Affairs Commission of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Data Administration, Pudong New Area People's Government (Administrative Committee of Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone), and Lin-gang Special Area Administrative Committee)

4. Foreign-related Services

(1) Shanghai International Service Portal

Multi-lingual business information and foreign-related policies will be released on the "Shanghai International Service Portal" as well as the domestic and overseas media platforms, with visualized and lively policy interpretation available through various forms such as diagrams, videos, and "experts' presentations" to facilitate foreigners' understanding of them. (Responsible units: Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People's Government, General Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Data Administration, and all relevant departments)

(2) Promoting the Implementation of Foreign Investment Projects

Global business campaigns and investment promotion activities such as "Ride the Wave of Rising Shanghai and Invest in Shanghai" will be hosted, and efforts will be made to expedite the implementation and construction of major foreign investment projects. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization)

(3) Expanding Foreign-related Professional Services

Efforts will be made to upgrade the functions of Shanghai as an integrated service center serving the Belt and Road Initiative, and professional service institutions are encouraged to set up "going global" service outlets in countries that take part in the Belt and Road Initiative, optimizing service windows dedicated to consultation services for overseas investment projects. A subdivided talent pool for lawyers handling foreign-related cases will be established, and legal service providers such as law firms are encouraged to expand their overseas network for foreign-related legal services with a view to providing high-quality foreign-related legal services for enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and the Municipal People's Government)

(4) Visa and Entry and Exit Facilitation

Facilitation measures will be optimized concerning the one-stop service centers for foreign nationals at Pudong and Hongqiao international airports, creating premier arriving experience for inbound travelers. The approval process concerning outbound business visits will be optimized, aiming to provide good services for enterprises as well as commerce and trade "going global". (Responsible unit: Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People's Government)

(5) Comprehensive Services for Foreign Nationals

Facilitation measures will be implemented on addressing the challenges and difficulties faced by foreign nationals in doing business, working, and living in Shanghai, including promoting their application of permanent residence identity cards, improving bilingual or multilingual signs at transportation hubs, the city's main roads, important public areas, and key scenic spots. The scope of processing of tax refunds upon departure will be expanded, including "tax refunds at the point of purchase" and centralized refunds. Various kinds of international cultural, sports, and exhibition activities at different levels will be hosted to showcase the charm and attraction of the Municipality. (Responsible units: Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Commission of Transport, the Municipal Tax Service, the Municipal Bureau of Public Security, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Municipal Bureau of Sports, and all district people's governments)

III. Optimizing Enterprise-Related Regulatory Inspections

1. Innovating Regulative Approaches

(1) Promoting Comprehensive Cross-departmental Regulation

The collaborative regulatory mechanism will be optimized to carry out in-depth comprehensive cross-departmental quality regulation in key industries and sectors, such as catering services, pharmaceuticals, hazardous chemicals, gas, special equipment, and construction projects, and to increase the efficiency of regulation. (Responsible units: General Office of the Municipal People's Government, and all relevant departments)

(2) Strengthening Credit Regulation

Efforts will be made to establish a closed-loop credit supervision mechanism encompassing "credit information collection, assessment and utilization", aiming to intensify tiered and category-based supervision in key industries and sectors. The "simultaneous service of two instruments", i.e. a notice of administrative penalties and a credit restoring reminder, will be implemented with a view to assisting enterprises in promptly restoring their credit records. Local standards such as credit risk assessment guidelines for e-commerce platforms will be formulated in order to conduct tiered and category-based credit supervision over the platforms. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, General Office of the Municipal People's Government, and all relevant departments)

(3) Enhancing Lenient and Prudential Supervision

The scope of minor violations eligible for exemption from penalties in fields such as market regulation, transportation, and cultural markets will be expanded in accordance with law, the circumstances subject to mitigated penalties will be specified, and the compulsory measures such as asset seizure and detention will be reduced. Efforts will be made to strengthen supervision over the optimization of services, and to support the development of new business forms such as culture- and tourism-themed fairs and street performances in eligible areas along the Huangpu River and Suzhou River. (Responsible units: the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Municipal Commission of Transport, the Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, and all relevant departments)

(4) Guiding Enterprises in Business Compliance

Efforts will be made, with a focus on key fields, key operation processes, and key matters, to sort out statutory obligations of enterprises, to specify and identify administrative requirements and the common legal issues in production and operation, to compile a business compliance manual and guidelines and to proactively provide business compliance counseling for enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, and all relevant departments)

2. Enhancing Inspection Quality and Effectiveness

(1) Promoting Enterprise-related Administrative "Inspection Code"

The "inspection code" system for enterprise-related administrative inspections will be fully implemented, ensuring that an inspection will not be conducted without a valid code, every inspection requires the display of a code, and that comments may be made after the inspection. Repetitive and overlapping inspections will be avoided, thereby reducing the frequency of enterprise-related administrative inspections while improving the quality of inspections, and ensuring enterprises are not unduly disturbed. (Responsible units: the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Data Administration, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(2) Implementing the Mechanism of "Double No" Lists

Efforts will be made to compile lists of enterprises eligible for "non-intrusive monitoring" and of matters subject to the "no-action unless necessary" across various sectors and fields. Authorities will generally refrain from conducting on-site inspections on the enterprises and matters on these lists and only conduct triggered inspections. (Responsible units: all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(3) Strengthening Tiered and Category-based Inspections

Evaluation models will be optimized with the use of big data and other technologies to conduct inspections with differentiated frequencies and ratios and, in principle, with the enterprises with high comprehensive evaluation scores being under fewer inspections and the enterprises with low scores being under close scrutiny. (Responsible units: all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(4) Expanding Offsite Inspection Approaches

Efforts will be made through the means such as big data screening, automatic patrol inspections, intelligent early warnings, and situation awareness to discover and identify clues for illegalities and irregularities proactively and to reduce the frequency of onsite inspections. On-site inspections will not be conducted where the objectives of administrative inspection can be achieved through offsite inspection and where no violations are discovered. (Responsible units: all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

3. Protecting the Legitimate Rights and Interests of Enterprises

(1) Regulating profit-making professional reporting

Administrative measures will be formulated to strengthen cross-departmental collaboration, and to establish a "blacklist" system to effectively curb malicious abuse of reporting rights by professional claimants. (Responsible units: Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal High People's Court, the Municipal People's Government, and the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation)

(2) Creating a Clean Public Opinion Environment

Online platforms are guided to handle enterprise-related information reporting in compliance with the rules and regulations, and targeted crackdowns will be conducted on the fabrication and dissemination of false information, as well as on the extortion of enterprises under the guise of addressing negative publicity. Efforts will be intensified to combat and penalize illegal and criminal acts of starting and spreading rumors about enterprises, in order to support enterprises to seek development in a secure environment. (Responsible units: Office of Cyberspace Affairs Commission of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Bureau of Public Security, and the Municipal People's Procuratorate)

(3) Strengthening Protection and Application of Intellectual Property Rights

Efforts will be made to improve the mechanism for assisting enterprises in claiming intellectual property rights overseas, and to strengthen cross-regional coordination on intellectual property rights protection and judicial cooperation. A pilot program for innovation in the protection of trade secrets will be promoted, and the investigation and handling of trade secret infringement cases will be strengthened. Efforts will be intensified to combat intellectual property infringements and repeated offenses in key fields and crucial business operations. Universities and research institutes are facilitated to put their patents in stock into commercial use so as to promote the rapid development of patent-intensive products and industries. (Responsible units: the Municipal Intellectual Property Administration, the Municipal Bureau of Public Security, the Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, the Municipal High People's Court, the Municipal People's Procuratorate, the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Municipal Commission of Education, the Municipal Commission of Health, and the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization)

(4) Handling Enterprise-related Cases in Stringent Compliance with Law

The procedures for disposal of assets and property in enterprise-related cases will be strictly implemented, preventing any seizures, detentions, or freezing of such assets and property that exceed legal authority, scope, or duration of time. Acceptance and review of the requests for criminal cases cooperation from cross-regional public security departments will be handled by the relevant competent authorities, and the chambers or associations of commerce and professional legal service providers are encouraged to participate therein so as to foster fairness and justice in cross-regional law enforcement. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Public Security, and the Municipal People's Government)

(5) Strengthening Law-based Protection of Enterprises

Efforts will be made to intensify the integration of the "Shanghai Enterprise Steward" online platform with the "Blue Whale" in-person service stations to improve early warning and preventions of the enterprise-related risks. Judicial protection measures such as the "Procuratorial Protection for a Law-based Business Environment" initiative will be implemented to rectify administrative violations in supervision and law enforcement such as excessive penalties for minor offenses and improper penalties imposed on enterprises. (Responsible units: the Municipal Bureau of Public Security, the Municipal People's Procuratorate, the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal High People's Court, and the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce)

(6) Settling Outstanding Debts Owed to Enterprises

The complaint handling, supervision, and accountability mechanism for outstanding debts owed to enterprises will be improved, and an in-depth investigation will be conducted into the delinquency of debts owed to enterprises by government departments and public institutions. State-owned enterprises are guided to enhance their capability for debt redemption. (Responsible units: the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization)

IV. Consolidating the Community-level Foundation of Business Environment

1. Creating a Business Environment with Regional Features

(1) Creating Differentiated Business Environment for Each District

Special columns on business environment will be launched on the portal websites of governments at all levels to provide service information and promote their unique industrial zones, business buildings, and industrial parks. The districts are encouraged to create "one unique cultural brand for one district", "one unique cultural brand for one sub-district" or "one unique cultural brand for one town" tailed to their respective industrial strengths and the needs of the enterprises, promoting the implementation of the concept of "every request will be responded and no disturbance will be caused". Efforts will be made to promote the exemplary experience of improving business environment initiated at the community level. Support is provided for Pudong New Area, Lin-gang Special Area, and Hongqiao International Central Business District in pioneering business environment reforms through pilot programs. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Lin-gang Special Area Administrative Committee, Hongqiao International Central Business District Administrative Committee, and all district people's governments)

(2) Enhancing an Industry-specific Business Environment

All districts are encouraged to focus on the development of their differentiated industries, to integrate government services, professional services, resource support services, scenario applications, and regulatory services, and to customize industry-specific business environment plans spanning the entire industry chains. Training will be held for enterprise service specialists, the "Service Window + Service Express" mode will be optimized, and the coordination between the business environment and investment facilitation will be promoted. (Responsible units: the relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(3) Expanding Professional Services in Industrial Parks

Guidelines for the development of business environment of industrial parks will be formulated in order to build a number of world-class business environment brands for industrial parks. The industrial parks are encouraged to build high-quality incubators jointly with professional service providers, so as to provide individualized value-added services for enterprises, and create industrial ecology jointly with enterprises that play a dominant role in the industrial chain. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, and all district people's governments)

2. Supporting the Development of Business Environment in Sub-districts and Towns

(1) Conducting Reverse Evaluation

An initiative will be launched to implement the working mechanism of "prompt response by competent authorities at the district and municipal levels to requests by the sub-districts and towns", and to conduct reverse evaluation and collect feedback from sub-districts and towns about the support provided by the municipal and district departments for the development of community-level business environment, aiming to jointly promote the implementation of projects of the sub-districts and towns and address the requests of enterprises. (Responsible units: the relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

(2) Optimizing the Task-assignment Mechanism

For repeated enterprise-related complaints, complicated problems, and problems left unaddressed previously at the sub-district and town levels, the various districts will, when assigning such tasks, identify them based on their categories, and assign them to be handled accordingly; for those involving the powers and responsibilities of the corresponding competent departments, generally, such departments will be given priority to exercise their powers so as to prevent overlapping and inefficient administrative operations at the sub-district and town levels. (Responsible units: all district people's governments, and the Municipal Office of Public Complaints and Proposals)

(3) Fostering Vibrant Communities

The sub-districts and towns are encouraged to explore innovations in terms of supervision, traffic management, and coordination between businesses and residents, so as to develop fairs, outdoor catering services, night-time economy, and other business forms in an orderly manner, to further reduce management costs and burdens on business entities, and to foster vibrant and booming communities. A law enforcement and inspection plan will be formulated in a scientific manner to optimize the inspection and control of street environments such as fairs, roadside stalls, overflow dispersion locations, and control locations, and accordingly adjust the approach of supervision and frequency of inspection. (Responsible units: the Municipal Urban Management and Law Enforcement Bureau, the Municipal Landscaping & City Appearance Administrative Bureau, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

V. Fostering Favorable Social Environment

1. Strengthening Government-Enterprise Communication

Various government-enterprise communication mechanisms at all levels, such as the International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai, foreign-invested enterprise round-table conferences, private enterprise panels, regular visits to key enterprises, enterprise service specialists, and business environment officers, will be fully leveraged. A mechanism of communication and dialogues between the chambers and associations of commerce and the administrative law enforcement departments will be established to jointly promote law enforcement which allows for leniency or severity dependent on the specific circumstances. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People's Government, the Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, and all district people's governments)

2. Addressing Enterprise-Related Requests

Coordinated efforts will be made to improve the efficient and smooth closed-loop mechanism centered on the 12345 hotline for addressing enterprise-related hot issues by creating a "requests submission" function in the "12345 special section" on the Suishenban enterprise service cloud APP, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness in handling enterprise-related matters. A mechanism of business environment monitoring spots is expected to be established by leveraging the roles of the chambers and associations of commerce and professional institutions, such as the Municipal Federation of Enterprises and the Municipal Center for Addressing Foreign-invested Enterprises Complaints to jointly address the enterprises' requests. (Responsible units: the Municipal Office of Public Complaints and Proposals, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and all district people's governments)

3. Disclosing the Implementation Evaluation

Third-party agencies will be engaged in tracking and conducting follow-up evaluation of the effectiveness of the implemented measures and of enterprises' satisfaction with the key tasks and matters, in order to promote the constant optimization of the reformative measures. The business environment assessments in each district will be enhanced to effectively promote improvements through evaluation. (Responsible units: the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, all relevant departments, and all district people's governments)

4. Publicizing Exemplary Practices

Efforts will be made to improve the "media observer" mechanism, to establish a regular and systematic business environment brand promotion matrix, to promote entrepreneurship, to collect business environment best practices, to launch the "Strolling Through Business Environment in Sub-districts and Towns" series of activities, and to publicize "Best Practices in Shanghai" relating to business environment. (Responsible units: Publicity Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee of CPC, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Information Office of the Municipal People's Government, and all district people's governments)