Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on the Conference and Exhibition Industry

(March 19, 2020)

Chapter I  General Regulations

Article 1

With a view to promoting the development of the conference and exhibition industry, standardizing the conference and exhibition events, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of all parties involved in the conference and exhibition events, serving and supporting such events as China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as the Import Expo), shaping the international conference and exhibition metropolis, further optimizing business environment, and pushing the construction of Shanghai into “five centers” (the international economic, financial, trade, shipping, and scientific and technological innovation centers), these Regulations are formulated in accordance with relevant laws and administrative rules, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2

These Regulations apply to the promotion, service and standardization of the conference and exhibition industry within the administrative area of this Municipality.

Where the State has otherwise provisions on the administration of the conference and exhibition industry and events, such provisions shall prevail.

Article 3

The conference and exhibition industry as said herein means the comprehensive industry that promotes the development of such fields as trade, science and technology, tourism, culture, sports and education by holding conference and exhibition events.

The conference and exhibition events in these Regulations mean the hosting units exhibit objects, technologies and service in a certain place and within a certain period by way of inviting exhibition partners, or provide, in the form of holding conferences relevant to the exhibition theme, the participants with services in such commercial activities as promotion, negotiation and exchange, with the exception of on-spot retail sales activities.

Article 4

The development of this Municipality’s conference and exhibition industry shall abide by the principles of market operation, government’s guidance, fair competition, and industry self-discipline, adhere to the orientation of internationalization, professionalism, branding, and informatization, strengthen industrial linkage, upgrade city  functionality, and promote high-quality economic development.

Article 5

The Municipal People’s Government shall strengthen the overall planning of the conference and exhibition industry, perfect the public service system of conference and exhibition events, and organize relevant municipal departments and all district people’s governments to implement the promotion, service and support measures of all kinds.

The Municipal People's Government shall establish a mechanism for consultation and coordination of the development of the exhibition industry, coordinate the formulation of major policies for the promotion and development of the conference and exhibition industry, coordinate the major matters in the development of the conference and exhibition industry, and coordinate the work of ensuring the services of major exhibition activities.

The district people's governments shall, in accordance with the actual economic and social development of their respective administrative areas, take measures to support and guide the development of the conference and exhibition industry.

Article 6

The Municipal Commission of Commerce is the competent department for the conference and exhibition industry of this Municipality, and shall be responsible for such work as the comprehensive coordinating, regulating and guiding, and service guaranteeing of the conference and exhibition industry. The district commerce departments shall do well relevant work of the conference and exhibition industry within their respective administrative areas according to their functions and duties.

The departments of development & reform, economy and informatization, finance, public security, emergency response, firefighting, market regulation, education, science and technology, human resources and social security, planning and resources, housing and urban-rural development administration, transportation, culture and tourism, health, statistics, sports, greening and city appearance, intellectual property, urban administration law enforcement, and customs, and the international trade promotion institution shall do well relevant work to promote the development and standardization of the conference and exhibition industry according to their respective functions and duties.

Article 7

Industry associations and promotion organizations related to the conference and exhibition industry in this Municipality (hereinafter referred to as "conference and exhibition industry organizations ") shall strengthen industry self-discipline and credit construction, carry out market research, standard-setting, business training and related evaluation and appraisal, promote information exchange and cooperation in the industry, guide members to standardized operation, and promote fair competition and orderly development of the industry.

Chapter II  Promotion and Development

Article 8

The municipal commerce department shall prepare this Municipality’s development planning for the conference and exhibition industry jointly with relevant municipal departments, include it into this Municipality’s national economic and social development planning upon submitting for approval by the Municipal People’s Government, publicize it and organize its implementation

Article 9

The municipal commerce department shall prepare the layout planning for conference and exhibition venues jointly with the municipal department for planning and resources, and include it into the corresponding spatial planning for state land upon submitting it for approval according to the provided procedure.

The municipal departments for housing and urban-rural development administration, transportation, commerce, culture and tourism, and economy and informatization shall, as required by the layout planning for conference and exhibition venues, support the construction of venues compatible with the city orientation and industry characteristics, and perfect the construction of supporting facilities such as transportation, catering, accommodation and communication near the venues.

Article 10

The municipal and district people’s governments shall include the expenditure for promoting the development of the conference and exhibition industry into the fiscal budget of the same level, and with emphasis on supporting the work of brand conference and exhibition cultivation, conference and exhibition industry publicity and popularization, and linkage between the conference and exhibition industry and relevant industries.

The relevant municipal and district special funds may guide and support the development of the conference and exhibition industry of this Municipality, so as to promote the high-quality development of the industry.

Article 11

Social capital is encouraged to provide fund support for the agglomeration of the conference and exhibition industry and the development of relevant service industries by such means as establishing investment funds for the conference and exhibition industry.

Article 12

Domestic and foreign hosting units, venue units and conference and exhibition service units are encouraged to establish headquarters in this Municipality and shall be given support in the aspects of customs clearance procedures, talents introduction, fund settlement, investment facilitation, and personnel entry and exit according to the provisions.

This Municipality shall establish a linkage mechanism for international conference and exhibition introduction and hosting. The departments of commerce, and culture and tourism, and the conference and exhibition industry organizations shall strengthen international exchange and cooperation, and actively introduce international well-known conference and exhibition industry organizations and events.

Article 13

The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall formulate policies and measures to cultivate model enterprises with market competitiveness, support enterprises to   develop, in market-oriented ways such as acquisition, merger and joint operation, into large main market players of the conference and exhibition industry with international competitiveness.

Article 14

The conference and exhibition industry organizations of this Municipality shall strengthen guidance over the hosting units, the venue units and the conference and exhibition service units, and encourage them to join internationally renowned conference and exhibition industry organizations; support the conference and exhibition projects of this Municipality to obtain international certification and improve their capability of global radiation and service, and enhance the international influence of the conference and exhibition brands of this Municipality; cultivate overseas self-run exhibition projects actively, and raise the capability of overseas exhibition   organizing and hosting.

This Municipality shall support overseas institutions to independently host outbound economy and technology exhibitions in special conference and exhibition venues.

Article 15

The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall formulate policies and measures to build a resource sharing platform, push the interactive development of the conference and exhibition industry and such industries as manufacturing, commerce and trade, tourism, culture, and sports, and expand the  spillover effect of the conference and exhibition industry.

Article 16

The hosting unit of conferences and exhibitions of this Municipality shall be encouraged to host series of exhibitions in such areas as the Yangtze River delta (hereinafter referred to as the YRD) and push, in the form of brand cooperation and management cooperation, the regional interaction of the conference and exhibition industry.

The conference and exhibition industry organizations shall be encouraged to establish a working mechanism for interactive development of the conference and exhibition industry in such regions as the YRD, build the exhibition platform with characteristics of regions such as the YRD, and host conference and exhibition events with the theme of regional interaction.

Article 17

The municipal commerce department shall, jointly with the municipal human resources and social security department, establish and perfect the market-oriented mechanism for conference and exhibition talents use and appraisal compatible with the construction of the international conference and exhibition metropolis, and formulate relevant policies and measures.

The hosting units, the venue units and the conference and exhibition service units shall be encouraged to introduce urgently-needed high-level conference and exhibition talents from home and abroad via the market mechanism.

Relevant departments of the municipal and district people’s governments shall, according to relevant provisions, provide convenience for the introduced urgently-needed high-level conference and exhibition talents in the aspects of household registration, residence card handling, and housing support.

Article 18

The municipal education department shall support this Municipality’s institutions of higher learning to, in light of the development needs of the conference and exhibition industry, optimize the major setup and talents cultivation structure of the disciplines relevant to the industry, and cultivate high-caliber versatile talents in conference and exhibition. Institutions of higher learning where conditions permit are encouraged to conduct the cultivation of versatile talents in the conference and exhibition major.

The municipal commerce department shall, jointly with the municipal education department, build a service platform for institution and enterprise cooperation, guide the institutions of higher learning and the hosting units, the venue units and the conference and exhibition service units of this Municipality to strengthen institution-enterprise cooperation, set up bases for conference and exhibition education and training, and push talents cultivation cooperation between the institutions and the enterprises.

Article 19

The hosting units, the venue units and the conference and exhibition service units are encouraged to apply modern information technology to carry out service and management innovation, promote the development of new industry forms such as online conferences and exhibitions, and realize the organic integration of online and offline conference and exhibition events.

The conference and exhibition venue units are supported to promote the construction of intelligent venues, integrate the safeguard measures and conference and exhibition service resources of all kinds by means of informatization, and improve the technical level and service function of the conference and exhibition events.

The municipal departments of commerce, and economy and informatization, and the district people’s government of the locality of the conference and exhibition venue shall promote the intelligentization of the support and public service for the conference and exhibition events.

Article 20

This Municipality shall abide by the principles of amount reduction, reutilization and recycle, actively develop green conferences and exhibitions, formulate and perfect relevant standards of  green conferences and exhibitions, popularize the application of energy-conserving and consumption-reducing appliances and equipment of all kinds, and encourage the hosting units, the venue units, the conference and exhibition service units and the exhibition participating units (hereinafter referred to as parties of the conference and exhibition events) to adopt green raw materials and low-carbon environment-friendly technologies.

Chapter III  Service and Guarantee

Article 21

This Municipality shall establish a unified conference and exhibition service window on the integrated online platform of government service (hereinafter referred to as the platform service window). The commerce department shall strengthen cooperated handling jointly with the departments of public security, fire-fighting, greening and city appearance, and planning and resources, and optimize the procedure of government service.

The hosting units, the venue units and the conference and exhibition service units may, by such means as the platform service window, apply for administrative licensing and filing and other relevant administrative affairs relevant to conference and exhibition events such as the safety, fire-fighting, outdoor advertisements, map audit in respect of large mass activities. In the case of applying for licensing of relevant administrative affairs via the platform service window,  a feedback of administrative license decision or the otherwise results of such application shall be given uniformly, through the platform service window.

The municipal commerce department shall, via the platform service window, provide the public with such public service as information inquiry of conference and exhibition event according to law, guarantee information safety  in accordance with relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, and keep confidential the involved trade secrets.

Article 22

When hosting a conference or exhibition event, the hosting unit shall file such information as the name, time and place of the event with the municipal commerce department before issuing the information of event invitation.

As for the filed conference and exhibition event, the hosting unit may apply to the customs and commerce departments for such service as convenience for customs clearance of exhibits entry and guarantee for large conference and exhibition events.

The specific procedures for the filling of conference and exhibition event information shall be separately formulated by the municipal commerce department.

Article 23

The customs shall optimize the customs clearance procedures and surveillance procedures for exhibits of conference and exhibition events, and improve the convenience of customs clearance; extend the time limit for temporary entry of relevant exhibits according to the provisions; and allow compliable temporary outbound exhibits to enter the special surveillance areas of the customs and bonded surveillance areas, and permit the cancellation after verification.

The entry-exit administrative department shall provide entry-exit convenience for relevant personnel of all parties of a conference and exhibition event who have a good credit.

Article 24

The local district commerce department of a conference and exhibition event shall strengthen work cooperation with the departments of public security, emergency response, fire-fighting, market regulation, urban administration law enforcement, and health, conduct on-spot joint inspection over the conference and exhibition event, and maintain the normal order of the event.

The local district people’s government of an event venue shall establish a mechanism of emergency response for the conference and exhibition event and promptly organize relevant departments to handle the emergencies.

Article 25

The municipal and district people’s governments shall establish a guarantee mechanism for large conference and exhibition events, and organize relevant departments to carry out such work as security guarantee, transportation coordination, personnel evacuation, and emergency handling.

When hosting a conference and exhibition event with an estimated stream of people over 50,000 a single day, the hosting unit may file an application for guarantee to the local district commerce department of the event venue. Where the said department deems it necessary, it shall apply to the district people’s government for launching the district-level guarantee mechanism.

Where the district people’s government deems relevant event beyond the district-level guarantee capability, it shall apply to the Municipal People’s Government for municipal-level guarantee mechanism in a timely manner.

Article 26

The Municipal People’s Government shall perfect the mechanism for intellectual property protection of conference and exhibition events, and give a full play to the role   mediation, arbitration and other diversified ways of intellectual property dispute resolution.

Relevant administrative departments of intellectual property shall strengthen guidance over the protection of intellectual property of conference and exhibition events and handle the violations of laws on intellectual property in conference and exhibition events rapidly.

This Municipality shall strengthen judicial protection of intellectual property in conference and exhibition events, perfect the case-handling mechanism for intellectual property proceedings, and enhance the compensation for infringement damages according to law.

Article 27

The hosting unit shall, according to relevant provisions, set up an institution for intellectual-property-related complaint for the conference and exhibition event. The said institution shall be made up of personnel of the hosting unit, professional technical personnel of relevant fields and legal professionals. When necessary, relevant administrative department of intellectual property may dispatch personnel for guidance as requested by the hosting unit.

Where the hosting unit or the institution for intellectual-property-related complaint for the conference and exhibition event set up thereby preliminarily judges an exhibit constitutes infringement, the hosting unit may, as agreed on in the contract, take such measures as covering or removing off shelves the exhibit or cancelling the qualification for exhibition participation, and according to relevant provisions, transfer the case to relevant municipal administrative department for intellectual property to handle according to law.

Article 28

The municipal departments of commerce and standardization shall perfect the standardization system of the conference and exhibition industry, enhance the implementation and supervision of the industry standards, and raise the industry quality and level.

The municipal standardization department and relevant departments shall organize the formulation of relevant local standards of the conference and exhibition industry, and strengthen publicity of the local standards and the promotion of their implementation.

The conference and exhibition industry organization and all subjects of conference and exhibition events are encouraged to participate in the work on standardization and formulate the organization and enterprise standards of venue management, operation service, energy conservation and environment protection, and safety operation.

Article 29

The municipal statistics department shall, jointly with the municipal departments of commerce, culture and tourism, establish the statistics system of the conference and exhibition industry, perfect the statistical indicator system, optimize the survey method, establish a statistical database of the conference and exhibition industry, carry out big data analysis, and monitor and assess the development of the conference and exhibition industry.

Chapter IV  Standardization and Administration

Article 30

The Municipality shall guarantee fair competition among all parties involved in the conference and exhibition events according to law. Venue units and hosting units shall not abuse the dominant position of the market or attach unreasonable trading conditions.

Article 31

The municipal commerce department shall, jointly with the municipal departments of market regulation, public security, and intellectual property and other departments, formulate relevant model texts of contracts for the conference and exhibition events, and guide all parties of the events to use them.

Article 32

The name, logo and theme of a conference or exhibition event shall comply with relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, and shall not harm the state or social public interests, go against public order or good custom, or produce other bad influence.

When using the name and logo of an event, the hosting unit shall not have a confusing act which misleads people to consider it as an event by another hosting unit or being connected to it.

This Municipality shall encourage the hosting unit to protect such intangible assets as the name of the event by such means as applying for a registered trademark.

Article 33

The hosting unit shall issue in its own name the information of conference and exhibition invitation, which shall comply with the filed event information, and shall not issue false or misleading information.

Where the name, place, time and area of a conference and exhibition event change, the hosting unit shall change the filed information in advance, notify the exhibition participating units in time, and make it publicized.

Article 34

The venue unit shall establish rules on venue safety management, be staffed with security personnel according to law, set up monitoring, fire-fighting and emergency response facilities and equipment and safety signs in the venue, and guide the hosting units, the exhibition participating units and the event service units to ensure relevant work on safety management is well done.

Article 35

The hosting unit shall do well the advance safety risk assessment of the conference and exhibition event, take corresponding personal, object and technical prevention measures according to relevant standards, and be responsible for the safety of the event held thereby.

The hosting unit shall sign a safety agreement with the venue unit to define both parties’ safety responsibilities and obligations, and formulate security measures and emergency response preplans.

When putting up temporary facilities for the event, the hosting unit and the exhibition participating unit shall entrust the unit with the corresponding qualifications to make the design and construction, and comply with relevant provisions on safety management and technical specification standards.

Where a safety risk or an emergency happens during the conference and exhibition event, the hosting unit shall take emergency measures, and report to the public security and relevant departments immediately. All parties of the event shall cooperate in handling the emergency response well.

Article 36

The hosting units and the venue units shall, according to the requirements of relevant administrative licensing, set up outdoor advertising facilities, install equipment for waste collection according to law, strengthen garbage classification, recycle and reutilization for the conference and exhibition event, demolish the outdoor advertising facilities in a timely manner when the event is over, and dispose of the wastes properly.

The departments of greening and city appearance, ecological environment, and urban management law enforcement shall guide, standardize and administrate such acts as the setting up of outdoor advertisements, the classification and collection of wastes, and the prevention and treatment of environment pollution in the conference and exhibition events.

Article 37

The exhibits that enter the national border exhibited by the exhibition participating unit shall go through the customs clearance procedures and be subject to the surveillance of the customs.

Before a conference and exhibition event, the hosting unit shall check the intellectual property certificate and the customs clearance documents of relevant exhibits and the map content approval number of the map exhibits of the exhibition participation units.

Article 38

The exhibition participating unit shall not display forged and fake exhibits or exhibits that infringe upon others’ intellectual property rights or violate laws, rules or regulations, or display exhibits that do not comply with the theme or engage in other activities that do not comply with the theme in violation of the contract.

Where the exhibition participating unit has an act provided in the preceding clause in the conference and exhibition event, the hosting unit may take such measures as covering or removing from shelves the exhibits or cancelling its qualification for exhibition participation as agreed on in the contract.

Article 39

Where the hosting unit, the venue unit and the conference and exhibition service unit collect the exhibition participating unit’s and the visitors’ information, they shall explicitly express their purpose, method and scope of collecting and using the information, and obtain the consent of those whose information is collected.

The information collecting party shall take effective measures to prevent information disclosure and shall not use relevant information beyond the scope agreed by the collector.

Article 40

This Municipality shall encourage such legal service institutions as law firms, arbitrary institutions, mediation organizations and notarization institutions to provide efficient and professional service for dispute resolution in conference and exhibition events.

The hosting unit shall set up dispute resolution institutions on the spot of the conference and exhibition event, or entrusts legal service institutions to resolve disputes on the spot.

Article 41

Where the commerce department finds any party to a conference and exhibition event has  violated the provisions of these Regulations, it may interview jointly with the market regulation department the chief person-in-charge of relevant unit, and require the latter to take effective measures to make rectification.

Article 42

All relevant departments shall, according to relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, collect the discredit information of all parties to the conference and exhibition event in the said event for the public credit information service platform of this Municipality, and take punishment measures against the discreditable parties according to law.

Where any party to a conference and exhibition event has any of the following acts, which causes serious consequences or severely bad social impact, it shall be included in the name list of serious discreditable participants, the information of the legal representative liable for the serious discreditable act, the chief person-in-charge, and other persons directly liable shall be marked, and all that shall be publicized via the public credit information service platform of this Municipality:

1. Infringing upon deliberately others’ intellectual property rights or the hosting unit is fully aware that an exhibition participating unit infringes upon others’ intellectual property rights but makes no handling;

2. A liability accident in work safety or environment pollution occurs; or

3. Other acts that seriously undermine the fair competition order of the conference and exhibition market or seriously infringe upon others’ legitimate rights and interests.

The municipal commerce department shall publicize the name list of serious discreditable parties and meanwhile make public the inclusion and removal conditions of the name list and the remedy approaches.

Relevant departments shall impose joint punishment on the legal representative, the chief person-in-charge, and other persons directly liable who are liable for a serious discreditable act.

Chapter V  Service Guarantee for the Import Expo

Article 43

The Municipal People’s Government shall implement the national strategy, and under the leadership of the Import Expo Organizing Committee, jointly with relevant national departments, strengthen organization and coordination, implement the measures for service guarantee, and host the Import Expo at a high level.

Article 44

The Municipal People’s Government shall, according to the deployment of the Import Expo Organizing Committee, establish a city service guarantee mechanism for the Import Expo, implement the support scheme for major events, strengthen such city service guarantee work as security, transportation, energy, and telecommunication, and ensure the Import Expo is held as an international first-rate expo.

Relevant municipal departments and the district people’s governments shall, according to their respective functions and duties, do well the city service guarantee work for the Import Expo.

Article 45

The customs shall, according to the requirements of convenience, safety and efficiency for customs clearance, simplify relevant procedures for customs clearance of the Import Expo exhibits, improve the customs clearance efficiency of the exhibits, and facilitate their post-exhibition handling; and support the normalization of perennial bonded exhibits transaction.

Article 46

The municipal and district people’s governments shall strengthen coordination, continuously enlarge the spillover driving effect of the Import Expo, open wider to the outside world, push the development of the industry, upgrade the city quality, promote the construction of the Hongqiao international open hub, and give play to the role of the normalized international trade service platform.

Article 47

The municipal and district people’s governments shall, by relying on the Import Expo platform, strengthen cooperation and interaction with other provinces and cities in the Yangtze River delta, and enhance cooperation in guarantee in such major fields as security, port customs clearance, environment protection, and intellectual property protection; promote the interactive development of the conference and exhibition industry with other industries in the Yangtze River delta, and push Shanghai to become an import and export commodity collecting and distributing center linking the Yangtze River delta, serving the whole country and radiating the Asia-Pacific region.

Chapter VI  Legal Liability

Article 48

Where the hosting unit, uses the name and logo of an event, in violation of the provision of Paragraph 2 of Article 32 of these Regulations, and commits an act of confusion, which misleads people to consider it as an event by another hosting unit or being connected to it, thus violating the provisions of laws, rules or regulations on unfair competition, the market regulation department shall impose punishment thereon.

Article 49

Where the hosting unit, in violation of the provision of Paragraph 1 of Article 33 of these Regulations, issues false or misleading information, which violates the provisions of laws, rules or regulations on unfair competition or  advertising, the market regulation department shall impose punishment thereon.

Article 50

Where the exhibition participating unit, in violation of the provision of Paragraph 1 of Article 38 of these Regulations, displays an exhibit that does not comply with the theme or engages in other activities that do not comply with the theme in a conference and exhibition event, which disturbs the order of the event and constitutes a violation of public order administration, the public security organ shall impose a public security administration penalty according to law.

Article 51

Where any party to a conference and exhibition event infringes upon others’ legitimate rights and interests in a conference and exhibition event, it shall bear corresponding civil liability according to law.

Article 52

Where the personnel of the commerce department or other relevant departments do not perform their duty of supervision and inspection in the administration of conference and exhibition events according to the provisions of these Regulations, which causes bad influence, punishment shall be imposed thereon according to law.

Chapter VII  Supplementary Provisions

Article 53

The promotion, service and standardization of non-profit exhibition events may take reference of these Regulations.

Article 54

The meaning of the following words of these Regulations:

1. The hosting unit means the unit that is responsible for formulating and implementing a plan for a conference and exhibition event, and coordinating, organizing and arranging the event.

2. The venue unit means the unit that provides a venue and relevant services for a conference and exhibition event;

3. The conference and exhibition service unit means the unit that mainly provides all parties such as the hosting unit, venue unit, exhibition participating unit and  visitors with professional service such as construction, logistics and catering; and

4. The exhibition participating unit means the unit that exhibits or exchanges commodities, technologies and services in a conference and exhibition event.

Article 55

These Regulations shall be effective as of May 1, 2020.