In 2025, Shanghai will further align its reforms with World Bank standards, enhance the enterprise experience, and advance its efforts to create a world-class business environment.

I. Aligning reforms with World Bank B-READY standards

Optimize intelligent pre-filling and pre-inspection features for business registration.

Utilize information databases to enable intelligent reporting for the standardized registration of enterprise addresses, and centralize the processing of cross-district filing for business premises and the registration of business branches.

Improve the approval procedures for major projects.

Formulate a checklist for regional ecological environment management and a catalog of key projects pending approval. For eligible projects, environmental impact assessment procedures may be waived in accordance with regulations.

Enhance the efficiency of the "one-stop" services provided by district-level approval and review centers.

Promote electricity access service packages and contract-based electricity services, establish regulations for information disclosure by public water supply companies, and ensure that enterprises have the autonomy to choose broadband resource access.

Provide guidance for platform enterprises on workforce management and protect the rights and interests of workers in new employment forms.

Advance the construction of "15-minute employment service circles" and establish 500 high-quality employment service stations in communities.

Explore a pre-resolution mechanism for labor inspection and arbitration cases.

Encourage financial institutions to promote the disclosure of environmental information by enterprises.

Explore the establishment of a registration system and supporting mechanisms for trust assets, such as real estate and equity.

Refine the counseling service mechanism for international economic and trade rules.

Expand the range of high-tech goods eligible for the targeted control and inspection model and optimize the pilot program for importing R&D and testing materials.

Effectively implement reform measures such as advance declarations to better facilitate customs clearance.

Optimize end-to-end services to elevate Shanghai's shipping service capacity.

Optimize the one-stop "tax payment" service and develop a multilingual, multi-channel tax and fee counseling service system.

Boost the development of the TaxExpress brand for cross-border tax services, and actively address the demand for electronic invoices from trust-worthy and low-risk enterprises.

Advance the development of digital courts, optimize the ad hoc arbitration system and mechanisms, accelerate the cultivation of world-class arbitration institutions, and support the market-oriented operations of commercial mediation organizations.

Strictly implement the fair competition review system to address local protectionism and market segmentation.

Clearly define the scope of prequalification for bidding and government procurement, and ensure that dedicated quotas are set aside for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in government procurement projects.

Ensure that private construction enterprises can fairly participate in competition, and that the credit evaluation of construction enterprises includes their project performance and penalty records outside of Shanghai.

Launch an intellectual property public service program that benefits all.

Improve the government-court coordination mechanism and supporting systems for handling bankruptcies and strengthen administrative coordination in enterprise bankruptcy cases.

Improve the mechanisms for restructuring and bankruptcy reorganization and support out-of-court restructurings conducted in a market-oriented manner.

Expand the scope of online information regarding bankrupt enterprises available to bankruptcy administrators.

II. Optimizing comprehensive services for enterprises

1. Government services

Introduce a new set of "one-stop" reform initiatives to create a comprehensive "one-stop" service system that covers the entire lifecycle of enterprises and individuals.

Strive to implement fully online the "All-in-One business license" program.

Improve the non-intrusive verification, collection and application of credit information under the notification-commitment system.

Explore the integration of the notification-commitment system with other reforms, allowing for "one-stop single commitment and approval" for projects in specific industries and areas.

Launch an "AI+ Government Services" initiative to provide online professional human assistance for all high-frequency matters.

Leverage an online intelligent service system to improve offline services, providing enterprises and the public with one-stop value-added services.

Reduce the repetitive handling of identical tasks for enterprises operating across different regions. Promote the establishment of remote service windows at government service venues at various levels as needed, offering remote assistance to enterprises and the public. More government service items can be processed with the same standards anywhere in the city and even across the Yangtze River Delta.

Optimize the dedicated online channel for enterprise services on the 12345 platform, strengthen the "online human assistance" service and support enterprises in efficiently handling their affairs.

2. Policy services

Assess the macro alignment of economic and non-economic policies to ensure they work in concert to support the development of enterprises and industries.

Ensure that SMEs account for no less than 50% of the feedback received on inclusive policies.

Strive to introduce new policies benefiting enterprises in concise, easy-to-understand and straightforward language.

Launch a "Division/Section Chiefs Explaining Policies" initiative and use various methods to interpret policies benefiting enterprises, aiming to enhance the pertinence and effectiveness of policy interpretations.

Provide intelligent services such as precise policy notifications and application reminders.

Optimize the platform providing targeted services related to policies benefiting enterprises under "Government Online-Offline Shanghai" and expand the coverage of policies that can be "enjoyed without application" and "quickly and directly delivered".

Regulate investment attraction activities, promptly rectify unhealthy competitive behaviors among regions and further enhance the management and services for the cross-district relocation of enterprises.

3. Resource support services

Continuously expand the coverage of policy-based financing guarantee funds and fully implement seamless loan renewal policies for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), such as loan renewal without principal repayment.

Foster mechanisms for clarifying litigation records of enterprises involved in lawsuits and sharing judicial credit data to mitigate their lending risks.

Enhance the city's financing credit platform and encourage financial institutions to innovate in and develop a wider range of credit-based financing products, facilitating efficient matchmaking between banks and enterprises.

Refine the financial "policy package" and "service package" for enterprises and attract various financial service institutions to the financing service centers.

Vigorously develop the "Shanghai Talent +" competition and summit platform, advance the "one-stop" reform for full-cycle services for talent and empower key enterprises to play a leading role in talent attraction, allowing them to independently identify the types of talent that are urgently needed for their development.

Develop a vocational skills training program that involves multiple stakeholders, prioritizing the cultivation of in-demand skilled professionals for key industries.

Accelerate the renovation of old commercial buildings in central urban areas with low capacity and high vacancy rates.

Increase the supply of diverse housing options, including talent apartments, rental housing and transitional hostels, creating "homes for the urban builders and managers of the new era".

Establish the negative list and operational guidelines for cross-border data transfers in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Lin-gang Special Area.

4. Foreign-related services

Communicate business information and foreign-related policies in multiple languages through the International Services Shanghai portal and both overseas and domestic media platforms providing visualized and lively policy presentations.

Host global campaigns, such as the "Ride the Wave of Rising Shanghai" Global Investment Promotion Season, and expedite the launch of major foreign investment projects.

Support professional service institutions in establishing "going global" service outlets in countries taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative, optimizing windows dedicated to consultation services for overseas investment projects.

Optimize the International Services Shanghai one-stop service centers for foreign nationals at Pudong and Hongqiao international airports, creating premier arrival experience for inbound travelers.

Implement facilitation measures to address the challenges and bottlenecks faced by foreign nationals in work and daily life.

III. Optimizing enterprise-related regulatory inspections

1. Innovating regulatory approaches

Carry out in-depth, cross-departmental comprehensive supervision in key sectors such as food service, pharmaceuticals, hazardous chemicals, gas, special equipment, and construction quality.

Establish a closed-loop credit supervision mechanism encompassing credit information collection, assessment and utilization.

Assist enterprises in promptly restoring their credit, and conduct tiered and category-based credit supervision of e-commerce platforms.

Expand the scope of minor violations eligible for exemption from penalties in fields such as market supervision, transportation and cultural markets, in accordance with the law, and reduce the use of compulsory measures such as asset seizure and detention.

Support the development of new business formats, such as culture- and tourism-themed markets and street performances, in eligible areas like those along the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek.

Compile a business compliance manual and provide proactive compliance counseling to enterprises.

2. Enhancing inspection quality and effectiveness

Implement an "inspection code" system for enterprise-related administrative checks across the board, ensuring that inspections will not be conducted without a valid code, every inspection requires the display of a code and enterprises can evaluate the inspection process afterwards.

Eliminate redundant and overlapping inspections, thereby reducing the frequency of enterprise-related administrative inspections while improving their quality, and ensuring that enterprises are not unduly disturbed.

Compile lists of enterprises eligible for "non-intrusive monitoring" and matters subject to the "no action unless necessary" principle across various sectors. For enterprises and matters on these lists, authorities generally refrain from conducting on-site inspections under normal circumstances, limiting checks to situations where specific triggers occur.

Strengthen tiered and category-based inspections, conducting fewer inspections for enterprises with high comprehensive evaluation scores and strict scrutiny for those with low scores.

On-site inspections will generally be waived if administrative inspection objectives can be achieved through non-on-site methods and no violations are detected.

3. Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises

Establish a "blacklist" system to effectively curb the malicious abuse of reporting rights by professional claimants.

Create a clean public opinion environment by conducting targeted crackdowns on the fabrication and dissemination of false information, as well as the extortion of enterprises under the guise of addressing negative publicity. Intensify efforts to combat and penalize illegal activities related to starting and spreading rumors about enterprises.

Strengthen cross-regional collaboration on intellectual property protection and judicial cooperation.

Intensify efforts to combat intellectual property infringements in key sectors and crucial operations and repeated offenses.

Promote the rapid development of patent-intensive products and industries.

Take strict measures to prevent seizures, detentions, and freezing of assets that exceed legal authority, scope, or duration.

Unify the intake and review of requests for criminal case collaboration from public security departments in other jurisdictions, fostering fairness and justice in cross-regional law enforcement.

Advance the integration of the "Shanghai Enterprise Steward" online service platform with the "Blue Whale" offline service stations to comprehensively protect the legal rights and interests of enterprises.

Implement judicial protection measures, such as the "Procuratorial Protection for a Law-based Business Environment" initiative.

Rectify excessive penalties for minor offenses and improper penalties imposed on enterprises.

Improve the complaint handling, oversight and accountability mechanism for outstanding payments. Conduct a thorough investigation into delays in payments to enterprises by government agencies and public service institutions.

IV. Strengthening the community-level foundation of business environment

1. Creating differentiated business environment for each district

Support all districts in creating unique business environment at the district, sub-district and town level tailored to their respective industrial strengths and enterprise needs.

Support Pudong New Area, Lin-gang Special Area and the Hongqiao International Central Business District in pioneering business environment reforms through pilot programs.

Support all districts in customizing industry-specific business environment plans spanning the entire industrial chain for their signature industries.

Establish guidelines for improving the business environment within industrial parks and support them in collaborating with professional service institutions to build high-quality incubators.

2. Supporting the development of business environment in sub-districts and towns

Collect feedback from sub-districts and towns on the support provided by municipal and district departments for community-level business environment development.

Optimize the task assignment mechanism to prevent overlapping and inefficient administrative operations at the sub-district and town levels.

Foster vibrant communities by encouraging sub-districts and towns to orderly develop fairs, outdoor food services and the nighttime economy and further reduce management costs and burdens on business entities.

V. Fostering favorable social environment

Give full play to various government-enterprise communications mechanisms at all levels.

Enhance the 12345 closed-loop solution mechanism for enterprise-related requests, and improve the effectiveness of solving similar issues.

Explore the establishment of a system of business environment monitoring points.

Track and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented measures and publicize collected feedback from enterprises to optimize business environment assessments across districts and promote improvements through evaluations.

Refine the "media observer" mechanism, collect outstanding business environment cases, and launch the "Strolling through Business Environment in Sub-districts and Towns" series of activities.

 

Source: Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission