The Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology issued a notice on April 30 regarding high-tech enterprise accreditation in 2026.

I. Accreditation application

A. Application time

The application period for high-tech enterprise accreditation in Shanghai runs from April 30 to Oct 10.

B. Eligibility

Enterprises applying must meet all accreditation conditions for high-tech enterprises as stipulated in Article 11 of the Measures for the Administration of High-tech Enterprise Accreditation.

C. Application procedures

Shanghai's accreditation process involves online registration on the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website (http://www.innocom.gov.cn/), online submission of materials through the Government Online-Offline Shanghai service platform (http://zwdt.sh.gov.cn), preliminary review by the acceptance points, online expert evaluation, public notification of the accreditation results, and submission of hard-copy materials.

1. Self-evaluation

Enterprises should conduct a self-assessment against the accreditation criteria. (https://zwdt.sh.gov.cn/qykj/shell_oc/techIndex/technology)

2. Registration

Enterprises that believe they meet the accreditation criteria after self-evaluation should proceed as follows:

a. Enterprises that have never registered since 2008: Log in to the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website (http://www.innocom.gov.cn/) and complete the enterprise registration, ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the basic enterprise information.

b. Previously registered enterprises: Enterprises that have registered since 2008 must update their basic enterprise information. If a high-tech enterprise changes its name during the validity period, it must submit a name-change application. The name-change application will be accepted by the Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Office (referred to as "the Accreditation Office"), and the enterprise may apply for re-accreditation after the data is synchronized. Detailed procedures are available in the high-tech enterprise name-change application guidelines.

3. Online submission

Applicant enterprises must complete the High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Application Form through the unified application system on the Government Online-Offline Shanghai service platform. Applicants should log in to the Government Online-Offline Shanghai service platform with a valid "Legal Person Certificate USBKey", complete the High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Application Form, and submit the following application materials through the online system:

a. The Notification and Commitment Letter, signed by the legal representative and affixed with the official company seal, must be scanned in color and uploaded. Enterprises eligible for the "notification and commitment system" are exempt from providing business licenses, patent certificates, and other registration and intellectual property certification materials. At the same time, the accreditation agency is authorized to query and use the enterprise's tax-related data from the tax authorities to verify the authenticity and accuracy of the enterprise's application materials.

b. The High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Application Form (submitted online and also printed, signed by the legal representative, stamped with the official company seal, scanned in color, and uploaded as an attachment along with other supporting materials).

c. Intellectual property-related materials

- Intellectual property certificates (for authorized invention patents, utility models, design patents, software copyrights, integrated circuit layout designs, and plant variety rights that can be directly identified by the application system, enterprises do not need to upload certificates; for new drug certificates and other intellectual property rights, enterprises need to upload relevant certificates or authorization notices and payment receipts) and supporting materials reflecting the technical level, participation in the formulation of standards, etc.

- Project approval documents for scientific research projects (for projects that have been accepted or completed, the acceptance or completion report must be attached).

- Proof of commercialization of scientific and technological achievements (an itemized description of the overall situation, the commercialization methods, and the application results).

- Research and development organization and management (a detailed description of the overall situation and compliance with the four indicators), and other relevant materials.

d. Detailed descriptions of the key technologies and technological indicators of the enterprise's high-tech products (services), as well as relevant production approvals, certifications, qualification certificates, and product quality inspection reports.

e. Explanatory materials on the enterprise's employees and scientific and technical personnel, including the number of full-time, part-time, and temporarily employed personnel, the educational background of the personnel, a list of scientific and technical personnel and their job positions, etc.

f. Special audit or attestation reports issued by qualified intermediary agencies that meet the relevant conditions outlined in the Guidelines for the Administration of the Accreditation of High-tech Enterprises on the enterprise's R&D expenses for the last three accounting years (or the actual operating years if the operating period is less than three years, the same below) and the income from high-tech products (services) for the last accounting year, along with a description of R&D activities, R&D expense accounting and auxiliary accounting accounts.

g. Financial reports for the last three accounting years of the enterprise (including financial statements, notes to financial statements, etc.) certified by qualified intermediary agencies.

h. Annual enterprise income tax returns for the last three accounting years (including the main form and attachments).

4. Acceptance and review

After the applying enterprise officially submits the application online, each acceptance point can accept the application. After reviewing and determining that the application materials are complete and authentic, the acceptance point will complete the online receipt of the materials. After accepting the application materials, the high-tech enterprise review agencies in each district will classify the enterprise's application materials according to technical fields and organize relevant experts to conduct an online review.

5. Accreditation filing

After the expert evaluation, the high-tech enterprise review agencies in each district will comprehensively review the application materials of the applying enterprises in combination with the expert group's evaluation opinions (on-site verification of some enterprises may be conducted as appropriate), and submit the review opinions to the Accreditation Office.

The Accreditation Office, in accordance with the Administrative Measures for the Accreditation of High-tech Enterprises, will work with the review agencies in each district to conduct random checks and special inspections of the applicant enterprises. For the applicant enterprises that meet the accreditation conditions, the Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Guidance Group will review and approve the accreditation and publicize it, and submit it to the Office of the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Leading Group for formal filing.

6. Publicity and announcement

The list of enterprises that have passed accreditation review and been submitted for filing will be publicized on the Shanghai Science and Technology website and the High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website for 10 working days. If there are no objections, the high-tech enterprise list will be announced by the Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Guidance Group after being approved by the Office of the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Leading Group, and the uniformly printed High-Tech Enterprise Certificate (with the seal of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Finance, and the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service) will be issued to the passing enterprises. The accreditation time is subject to the national announcement time, and the list of passing enterprises will be announced on the High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website.

If an objection is raised against an enterprise during the public notification period, a written real-name report must be submitted to the high-tech enterprise review agency, and the review agency and the Accreditation Office will jointly organize verification and handling.

7. Submission of hard-copy materials

Enterprises that pass the accreditation must submit a complete set of hard-copy materials to the relevant acceptance point with the High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Application Form (signed and sealed) and related attachments bound into a book (the electronic text and the hard-copy text are consistent). The submission time for hard-copy materials will be notified separately.

8. Supervision and management

As required for accreditation management, the Accreditation Office will organize experts to conduct key or special inspections of high-tech enterprise accreditation management work in each district in accordance with the Administrative Measures and take corresponding action.

II. Name change application

Enterprises can log in to the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website (http://www.innocom.gov.cn/) to submit a name change application. If the enterprise only changes its name, does not involve major changes, and meets the high-tech enterprise accreditation conditions, the Accreditation Office will publicize it on the Shanghai Science and Technology website for 10 working days. If there are no objections, the Accreditation Office will reissue the accreditation certificate, with its number and validity period remaining unchanged.

III. Relocation application

A.Application for the relocation of high-tech enterprises accredited in other provinces or cities to Shanghai

After obtaining a business license issued by Shanghai's market regulation authority, high-tech enterprises relocating to Shanghai from other areas should log in to the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website (http://www.innocom.gov.cn/) and submit their valid High-Tech Enterprise Certificate and relevant certification materials issued by the city's registration authority confirming completion of the relocation. For enterprises that have completed an overall relocation to Shanghai, the Accreditation Office will issue a new high-tech enterprise certificate, and their high-tech enterprise qualification and certificate will continue to be valid, with the number and validity period remaining unchanged. The relocation will be announced on the National High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation website.

B. Application for cross-regional relocation of accredited high-tech enterprises in Shanghai

Enterprises should submit a cross-regional relocation application through the high-tech enterprise accreditation application system on the Government Online-Offline Shanghai website and state the reasons for the change, and upload the certification documents confirming that the tax registration has been transferred to the district (PDF format). The cross-regional relocation is completed upon review and approval by the acceptance points of the district (industrial park) from which the enterprise relocates and the district (industrial park) to which it relocates. Cross-district relocation for the purpose of obtaining subsidies is not supported.

IV. Other matters

A. Notes for enterprise application

1. Applying enterprises should establish an awareness of independent application and regard the application and accreditation process as an important opportunity and way to improve the enterprise's scientific research management level and enhance its core competitiveness, and support the enterprise's internal training of professional teams and full-time personnel to coordinate the enterprise's internal management and accreditation application work. Enterprises should apply in good faith and be responsible for the authenticity, validity, and legality of the materials. Once a false application is found and verified, the enterprise's qualification will be revoked in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Administrative Measures, and the enterprise will be included in the adverse credit record; any unlawfully obtained tax reductions or exemptions will be recovered, and cases involving violations of law will be transferred to the relevant competent departments for handling.

2. Enterprises involving confidential information must remove or sanitize confidential content from their application materials for high-tech enterprise accreditation to ensure information security.

3. Enterprises must compare the financial data of the high-tech enterprise accreditation application with the tax settlement data. If the data is inconsistent, the enterprises should upload a Description of the Difference in Financial Data Comparison.

B. Notes for intermediary agencies and related reports

1. Intermediary agencies are the primary parties responsible for the authenticity and legality of special audit reports or attestation reports (hereinafter collectively referred to as "special reports"), and must strictly abide by laws, regulations, and professional ethics, and issue special reports based on facts.

2. Special reports should be issued by intermediary agencies that meet the following conditions, and enterprises should choose prudently:

a. Possess independent practice qualifications, have been established for more than three years, and have no adverse records in the past three years.

b. The number of certified public accountants or tax agents undertaking accreditation work in the current year must account for no less than 30 percent of the average monthly number of employees for the year, and the average monthly number of employees on staff for the year must exceed 20.

c. Relevant personnel should demonstrate strong professional ethics, understand national science and technology, economic and industrial policies, and be familiar with the relevant requirements for high-tech enterprise accreditation.

3. Intermediary agency information can be found through official platforms such as the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants website (http://www.cicpa.org.cn) and the China Certified Tax Agents Association website (http://www.cctaa.cn). Among them, accounting firms should have no bad records such as administrative penalties, public reprimands, and regulatory warnings in the past three years, and in principle, the cumulative credit score of tax agent firms in the previous year (referring to the "tax professional service credit score" in the Measures for the Administration of Credit Evaluation of Tax-related Professional Services (Trial) issued by the State Taxation Administration) should not be less than 200 points. Tax agent firm credit scores can be checked at: https://12366.chinatax.gov.cn/sszyfw/bulletinBoard/main.

4. According to relevant regulations, audit reports issued by accounting firms must have a QR code and report code filed with the Ministry of Finance's unified supervision platform (http://acc.mof.gov.cn/) from Oct 1, 2022; tax-related business reports issued by tax agent firms must have a QR code filed with the China Certified Tax Agents Association Service Platform (http://wz.cctaaedu.cn/) from July 1, 2023. Applying enterprises must retain invoices for the payment of audit report fees for future reference. Relevant reports that have not been assigned a code will not be accepted.

5. Intermediary agencies that meet the conditions and issue relevant special reports for enterprises in Shanghai should, when submitting the special reports, also submit the Commitment Letter of Intermediary Agency, a copy of the business license, a copy of the practice certificate, a copy of the certified public accountant (tax agent) practice qualification certificate, the average monthly number of employees for the year, the number of certified public accountants (tax agents), and other relevant certification materials, and fill in information such as the audit personnel's certificate number in the attachment form of the accreditation application form.

C. Administration, support services, and other matters

1. Review agencies in each district should enhance coordination with relevant administrative departments, strictly follow the guidelines, and carry out thorough accreditation reviews of high-tech enterprises in Shanghai. They should rigorously screen and assess enterprises within their jurisdiction and maintain a dynamically updated reserve database of high-tech enterprises.

2. Enterprises are encouraged to actively participate in the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Points reporting system (https://www.startup-sh.cn/hkjf). The growth profiles of high-tech enterprises will be continuously improved through the Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Points system, providing enterprises with targeted and diversified support and services. Accredited high-tech enterprises must strictly comply with relevant regulations when benefiting from supportive policies. Enterprises involved in serious violations of laws or regulations will be disqualified from receiving corresponding supportive policies and held accountable.

3. The Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Office, reviewing agencies, and acceptance points have not authorized any organization or individual to act as an agent for matters related to high-tech enterprise accreditation and application. Every stage of the high-tech enterprise application process is entirely free of charge. Should enterprises encounter any issues during the application, they may consult their respective acceptance point.

4. Address of Shanghai High-Tech Enterprise Accreditation Office: Room 318, Building 1, No 100 Qinzhou Road.

Business consultation and technical consultation for online form filling: 800-820-5114 (landline), 400-820-5114 (mobile phone).

Note: The English version is for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, the official Chinese document shall prevail.

Source: Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology