Issue 67

Shanghai Weekly Bulletin

No.4, October 2024

Shanghai Weekly Bulletin is an information service presented by the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal People's Government in collaboration with Wolters Kluwer to foreign-funded enterprises, foreign-related institutions as well as people from overseas living in Shanghai. Covering major national and Shanghai foreign-related news, event information, policy Q&A and interpretations in the past week, it keeps you up-to-date with the latest foreign-related policies and developments in Shanghai.

Laws and Regulations

【National】

1. Regulations on Export Control of Dual-use Items to Take Effect on December 1

【Keywords:Dual-use Items; Export Control】

China has recently issued the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Export Control of Dual-use Items, which will take effect on December 1, 2024. The document removes the registration system of exporters for dual-use items in the chapter for trade facilitation measures, implements license management for export of dual-use items, and tightens the management of end users and usage of dual-use items. It also refines the control list system and establishes a watch list system. 

Source:Website of the Chinese Government

2. China Issues Document to Improve Carbon Emission Accounting System

【Keywords:Carbon Emission; Statistical Accounting】

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and other seven government departments recently issued the Work Plan for Improving the Carbon Emission Statistical Accounting System, which outlines 23 key tasks in eight aspects. 

Source：NDRC

【Shanghai】

1. Lin-gang Issues Document to Support Development of Equity Investment Cluster

【Keyword:Equity Investment】

The Administration of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone Lin-gang Special Area recently issued the Guidelines for Supporting the Development of an Equity Investment Cluster in the Lin-gang Special Area, which introduce 20 policy measures in five aspects, including building a demonstration zone, promoting the connection between finance and the real economy, boosting the development of the entire chain of fundraising, investment, management and exit, improving the supporting environment for equity investment, and taking guarantee measures. 

Source:International Services Shanghai

2. Pudong Releases Rules on Administrative Adjudication of Copyright Infringement Disputes

【Keywords: Copyright; Infringement Disputes】

The People's Government of Pudong New Area, Shanghai recently issued the Several Provisions on Administrative Adjudication of Copyright Infringement Disputes in Pudong New Area, which stipulate that administrative adjudication of copyright infringement disputes should follow the principles of legality, voluntariness, fairness, convenience and efficiency. In case of a dispute, the parties involved may apply with the district's copyright authorities for administrative adjudication or file a lawsuit with a local court. These provisions will come into effect on November 15, 2024 and remain valid until November 14, 2029.

Source:People's Government of Pudong New Area

One Week in Shanghai

【Latest News】 

1.China Expands Foreign Access to Value-added Telecommunications Services 

【Keywords:Value-added Telecommunications Services】

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) recently initiated the pilot work of expanding foreign access to value-added telecommunications services in Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan and Shenzhen. Under the pilot arrangement, foreign-invested enterprises can operate, through wholly-owned entities, telecommunication services such as Internet data centers (IDCs), online data processing and transaction processing in the pilot areas, and deeply engage in China's computing power and cloud services to jointly boost the digital economy. 

Source:MIIT

2. Shanghai Introduces Instant Departure Tax Refund Service for Overseas Travelers

【Keywords:Buy Now, Refund Now; Departure Tax Refund】

Since October 22, passengers who purchase goods at duty-free shops within the departure area at Shanghai Pudong International Airport can apply for a tax refund through the Intelligent Self-service Declaration Terminal. After customs officers remotely verify the tax refund application and shopping invoices uploaded by passengers, as well as the purchased items they present, they can enjoy "buy now, refund now" service.

Source: International Services Shanghai

3.Shanghai International Reinsurance Exchange Inaugurated

【Keywords: Shanghai International Reinsurance Exchange】

The 2024 Shanghai International Reinsurance Conference themed on "Global Cooperation for Win-win Openness" was recently held in Lingang Special Area. The Shanghai International Reinsurance Exchange, which was inaugurated at the conference, aims to establish an institution clustering center, a business transaction center, a risk management center, and a unified registration service system.

Source:Shanghai Lingang

【Forum & Exhibition】

1. The 7th CIIE to Be Held

【Keywords: CIIE】

The 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE) will be held under the theme "New Era, Shared Future" in Shanghai from November 5 to 10. The Hongqiao International Economic Forum will be held concurrently. This year's CIIE will continue to maintain an ultra-large exhibition area of more than 360,000 square meters, with a total of 3,496 exhibitors from 129 countries and regions. A record number of 297 Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders will participate in the exhibition, and 186 companies and institutions will be full attendance participants. 

Source:Shanghai Release 

2. 2024 World Cities Day China Observance (Shanghai) and 2024 SDG Cities Global Conference to Be Held

【Keywords: World Cities Day】

The 2024 World Cities Day China Observance (Shanghai) and 2024 SDG Cities Global Conference will be held on October 31 in Shanghai. The theme of the event is "Building People-centered Cities for Better Life".

Source:World Cities Day

【Culture & Art】

1. 6th Shanghai International Artwork Trade Week to Open Next Month

【Keywords:Artwork Trade Week】

The 6th Shanghai International Artwork Trade Week, which is themed on "Global Art in Shanghai", will run from November 7 to 11. It will feature the CIIE's exhibition area for cultural relics and artworks, the Shanghai International Art Book Fair, and the 9th "Shanghai Dialogue" Summit Forum. In the week, there will be more than 100 art activities, covering five art fairs and auctions of cultural relics and artworks. 

Source:Pudong Release

2. Long Museum to Present Four Exhibitions Next Month 

【Keywords: Painting Exhibition】

The Long Museum (West Bund) will present four exhibitions in November, including 50-90: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, the last production of the series of tenth anniversary exhibitions, Light Within Ink: Portraits of Wu Guanzhong Through Chua Soo Bin's Lens & Works by Wu Guanzhong, Wang Yuyang: Painting, and Daniel Crews-Chubb: Immortals, which is the British artist's solo exhibition in the world.

Source:Long Museum

3. 2024 Shanghai Chrysanthemum Exhibition Opens 

【Keywords:  Chrysanthemum Exhibition】

The 2024 Shanghai Chrysanthemum Exhibition opened at the Shanghai Gongqing Forest Park on October 26. This year's exhibition features three display areas, namely outdoor scenic sports, fine chrysanthemums and flower arrangement art, exhibiting a total of 180,000 pots of chrysanthemum flowers from more than 500 species, and showing the ecological and cultural charm of chrysanthemums through diversified exhibition techniques.

Source:Shanghai Release

【Corporate Activities】

1.Hyundai Motor Inaugurates Advanced Technology R&D Center in Huangpu

【Keywords: Hyundai Motor】

Hyundai Motor recently inaugurated its Advanced Technology R&D Center in Huangpu District, Shanghai. The center is dedicated to the research on autonomous driving, smart cockpit, shared mobility, interconnected technology and electrification, aiming to establish a forward-looking R&D system centered on China, so as to fuel Hyundai's transformation towards digitalization in China and in the global market. 

Source:Shanghai Huangpu

2. Shanghai Otsuka Foods Completes Factory Expansion Project

【Keywords: Otsuka】

A ceremony was held on October 23, 2024 to celebrate the completion of Shanghai Otsuka Foods Co Ltd's factory expansion project. The new factory in Minhang District marks a comprehensive upgrade of the company's hardware facilities. After being put into use, the factory will further increase the company's production capacity, enhance its technologies, drive urban renewal in the southern area of Meilong, and contribute to the sustained growth of the local economy.

Source:Minhang Today

Q&A

Q1: Relevant officials with Shanghai answered questions at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the preparations for the 7th China International Import Expo (CIIE). The CIIE is a large platform for China's high-standard opening-up, and a series of opening-up measures have been released. Shanghai is the forefront of China's opening-up, what new progress has it made in seizing opportunities of the CIIE and deepening and promoting high-standard opening-up?

A1: The CIIE is held in Shanghai every year. It is a large platform and a large window for China's high-standard opening-up. It has played an important role in promoting Shanghai to deepen high-level institutional opening-up in accordance with national requirements. Shanghai has resolutely implemented a series of major strategic deployments of the central government for opening-up, benchmarked against the highest international standards and best practices, and carried out a series of explorations and practices.

Firstly, we will accelerate construction of a new high ground for institutional opening-up. The Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Lingang Special Area have produced remarkable results. Among the 302 institutional innovation achievements of the pilot free trade zones that have been replicated and promoted at the national level, 145 were first initiated in Shanghai or were piloted in parallel. Since the Lingang Special Area was established five years ago, its industrial output value has increased by an average of 34.6% per year, and the actual use of foreign capital has increased by an average of 45.3% per year. The area has become the locomotive and new engine of Shanghai's economic growth. We are accelerating the construction of an important test field for national institutional opening-up, benchmarking against CPTPP and DEPA. Since the end of last year, we have been implementing the overall plan for high-level institutional opening-up of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. Currently, 72 of the 80 measures have been implemented, and the rest are being advanced. We have accumulated some institutional results from open stress testing. 

Secondly, we will create new carriers of open cooperation. Construction of the first "Silk Road E-commerce" cooperation pilot zone in China has been progressing smoothly under the guidance and support of the Ministry of Commerce and other national ministries and commissions. We have achieved 10 institutional innovation results, including "one-time declaration, bilateral customs clearance" and cross-border electronic invoice interoperability, and produced five replicable experiences, including cross-border commodities traceability. 24 partner countries have set up national pavilions in Shanghai. The construction of the Hongqiao International Open Hub has come to a new stage. 100 of the 104 key tasks outlined in the Overall Plan for the Construction of the Hongqiao International Open Hub have been completed. The economic density of the "one core and two belts" has reached RMB 400 million per square kilometer. Hongqiao International Central Business District has attracted more than 500 headquarter enterprises. Recently, 33 measures have been rolled out to support the business district to build a new platform for the international trade center. The development of Shanghai Oriental Hub International Business Cooperation Zone is also progressing in an orderly manner. The international proposal solicitation for regional planning has been completed, and the construction of key functional carriers in the pilot launch area has been kick-started to ensure that the pilot launch area will become operational by the end of 2025, and basic functions will be available by then. 

Thirdly, we are speeding up efforts to incubate fresh momentum for foreign trade development. Cross-border e-commerce has been developing rapidly in Shanghai. The total value of import and export through cross-border e-commerce increased 42% last year. From January to August 2024, the export volume of cross-border e-commerce cargo by air at Shanghai Pudong Airport increased more than 30% year-on-year. The air transport of cosmetics, live and weak magnetic goods for cross-border e-commerce has been facilitated, and the cross-border e-commerce cargo collection (9610 mode) for express service to Japan and the west coast of the United States has been opened. Service trade has led trade growth in Shanghai. In the first half of this year, the city's service imports and exports reached US$117.76 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%; the proportion of digital trade in service trade has reached nearly 50%. We have accelerated construction of the Shanghai DEPA Cooperation Zone and carried out five cooperation projects with DEPA member countries in the fields of electronic bills of lading and electronic payments. We have also built an international data economy industrial park, signed more than 40 key projects, and established data cooperation and exchange workstations in such countries as Brazil and Chile. Offshore trade has grown significantly. The stamp duty exemption on offshore trade has been implemented, and the construction of offshore trade information platforms such as "Offshore Link" and "Cross-border Link" has been advanced to provide support for credible offshore trade business. From January to July 2024, Shanghai's offshore trade revenue increased 105.7% year-on-year. 

In the next stage, Shanghai will continue to play the role of the CIIE as a large platform for opening-up to the outside world, amplify the spillover effects of the CIIE, and make greater contributions to China's push for higher level of opening-up to the outside world.

Source: State Council Information Office

Expert Perspective

MIIT's No. 107 Document Brings New Opportunities to FIEs in China

By: Chen Jihong, Sun Ruxi (Zhong Lun Law Firm)

On April 10, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the Circular of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Piloting the Opening-up of Value-added Telecommunications Services (MIIT’s No. 107 Document in 2024), launching a pilot program for the opening-up of value-added telecommunications services in four pilot regions. The document aims to stimulate competition in the telecommunications market to promote service improvement, enhance foreign investment environment, and share the dividends of China's digital economy development with the world. The document has brought new opportunities for foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) to develop their business in China.

I. Explain Main Points of the Document 

(1)Pilot regions 

According to the document, value-added telecommunications services will be piloted in four regions: 

(2) Pilot services

The document will scrap the upper limit on foreign ownership in certain value-added telecommunications services (Foreign shareholding could be up to 100%).