The English version is for reference only. If there is any inconsistency or conflict between the English and Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.

The Regulations of the Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Construction of the International Trade Center, as adopted at the 37th Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth People’s Congress of Shanghai Municipality on November 21, 2012, are hereby issued and shall come into force on January 1, 2013.

Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress

November 21, 2012

Regulations of the Shanghai Municipality on Promoting the Construction of the International Trade Center

(as adopted at the 37th Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth People’s Congress of Shanghai Municipality on November 21, 2012)

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 In order to implement the national strategy for establishing the Shanghai international trade center, improve market openness and the level of trade facilitation, accelerate the construction of a modern market system and create a good environment for trade development, these Regulations are formulated in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations, and in the light of the actual circumstances of this Municipality.

Article 2 These Regulations apply to the work of promoting the construction of the Shanghai international trade center in this Municipality.

Article 3 This Municipality shall promote the construction of the Shanghai international trade center by following the arrangements of the State and respecting international trade rules and practices, and build Shanghai into an international trade center that matches China’s economic and trade status with both domestic and international market resource allocation functions, a complete market system, concentrated trading subjects, a reasonable regional layout, a complete infrastructure and a fair and orderly market environment.

Article 4 The Municipal People’s Government shall organize the preparation of Shanghai’s planning for the construction of an international trade center, strengthen the leadership over the work relevant to promoting the construction of the Shanghai international trade center in this Municipality and deepen the collaboration mechanism of this Municipality with the Ministry of Commerce and other relevant departments of the State.

The deliberation and coordination agency for promoting the construction of the Shanghai international trade center set up in this Municipality shall be responsible for coordinating work relevant to promoting the construction of the Shanghai international trade center, and organize relevant departments to formulate and carry out the phase targets and measures of all kinds.

Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, development and reform, economic informationization, finance, taxation, construction and transportation, land planning, industry and commerce, quality and technical supervision, human resources, financial services, port services, and cooperation and exchange with district and county people’s governments shall strengthen coordination and cooperation, and specifically implement each item of work of promoting the construction of the Shanghai international trade center.

Article 5 This Municipality shall promote cooperation and exchanges in the trade field between the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions and other parts of the State, and improve the linkage mechanism of the economic and trade cooperation with the Yangtze River Delta region.

This Municipality shall strengthen exchanges with other international trade center cities, encourage trade enterprises, trade promotion institutions, investment promotion institutions, trade research institutions and other institutions to conduct international cooperation and exchanges, and support them in their setting up of overseas trade marketing, promotion, research institutions and other institutions.

Article 6 This Municipality shall optimize, perfect and promote the treasury funds investment mechanism for the construction of the Shanghai international trade center, with the focus on supporting the construction of a trade platform, the creation and improvement of the trade environment, the introduction of trade institutions and the promotion of trade activities, and bring into play the guidance and incentive role of treasury funds.

Chapter II Market System Construction

Article 7 The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall take measures to encourage enterprises to optimize the trade structure of import and export of goods, promote the transformation and upgrading of processing trade enterprises, enhance the distribution function of the Shanghai port, promote the development of entrepot trade and offshore trade, and cooperate with relevant departments of the State in supporting import and export enterprises in carrying out cross-border trade settlement in RMB.

The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with other departments of this Municipality, support enterprises in establishing a country-specific imported goods centre, promote the exhibition, negotiation and trading of imported goods and support the development of foreign trade transformation bases of all kinds.

Article 8 Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, development and reform, economic informationization, industry and commerce, financial services and quality and technical supervision shall, under the guidance of the relevant departments of the State, regulate and support the construction of a bulk commodities trading market with agglomeration effect and transaction size, achieve the information, pricing, trading and clearing functions in the field of bulk commodities, and perfect logistics, finance, information, technology and other services.

The commerce department of this Municipality shall guide and support relevant industry associations, research institutions, enterprises and others in preparing and issuing price, climate and risk indices in key bulk commodity fields such as iron and steel, chemicals and non-ferrous metals.

Article 9 The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with other departments of this Municipality, formulate and issue service trade promotion guidance catalogues on a regular basis, and support those service trade operators and projects included in the service trade promotion guidance catalogue.

The departments of this Municipality in charge of statistics and commerce shall, in conjunction with other departments of this Municipality, establish a statistical index and system of service trade, and perfect the measures for statistical survey. The commerce department of this Municipality shall regularly carry out comprehensive assessment and analysis on service trade, and issue assessment and analysis reports to the public.

Article 10 The commerce department of this Municipality shall, under the guidance of the relevant departments of the State, make use of existing international and domestic resources to promote the construction of a technology imports and exports trading platform serving the country and facing the world, and achieve the functions of information concentration, resources coordination and integration, and technology trade promotion.

The commerce department of this Municipality shall support technology imports and exports promotional institutions in developing trading rules, standards and measures to promote centralized transactions of technology imports and exports.

Article 11 The departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, land planning, economic informationization, industry and commerce, tourism and others shall, as required by the harmonized development of commerce and tourism and culture industries, develop CBD commerce, new town and suburban commerce and community commerce in an overall way, focus on building landmark commercial centers and characteristic commercial districts, and promote the common development of mass consumption and high-end consumption, and commodity consumption and service consumption.

The Municipal People’s Government shall cooperate with relevant departments of the State in exploring the implementation of departure tax rebate policies and in selecting sites to establish duty-free goods shops.

Article 12 This Municipality shall promote the development of an e-commerce market, encourage e-commerce technology innovation, business model innovation and service innovation, promote the harmonized development of e-commerce and information, finance and logistics and promote the extensive application of e-commerce.

The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall promote the construction of an e-commerce public service platform and supporting service system, support enterprises in the development of a self-run, third-party, professional service e-commerce platform, foster the development of a large-scale e-commerce platform, guide operators of various types of e-commerce platforms to standardize their operations, and optimize the development environment of e-commerce.

The commerce department of this Municipality shall cooperate with relevant departments of the State in exploring solutions to import and export Customs declarations, foreign exchange settlement, cross-border settlement, tax rebate and other issues, and support the development of cross-border e-commerce.

Chapter III Trade Subject Construction

Article 13 This Municipality shall encourage domestic and foreign enterprises to set up procurement centers, distribution centers, marketing centers, settlement centers, logistics centers, brand development centers and other trade headquarters with trade operations and management functions in Shanghai. The trade headquarters identified by the commerce department of this Municipality shall enjoy preferential policies in accordance with the provisions in aspects of Customs clearance processes, talent introduction, funds settlement, investment facilitation, personnel entry and exit and other aspects. The departments of this Municipality in charge of development and reform, finance, cooperation and exchange shall provide assistance and cooperation.

With respect to the certification standards and preferential measures for trade headquarters, the commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with the departments of this Municipality in charge of development and reform, finance, cooperation and exchanges and others, formulate specific measures and submit the same to the Municipal People’s Government for approval before implementation.

Article 14 The departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, development and reform, finance and others shall take measures to encourage enterprises in this Municipality with advanced technology, brand advantages, large-scale strength or market foundation to carry out cross-border operations, support the establishment of overseas branches and research and development centers to expand overseas business and develop international marketing network.

The departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce and development and reform shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and this Municipality, simplify enterprises’ overseas investment project approval procedures to promote the facilitation of overseas investment.

Article 15 The departments of this Municipality in charge of economic informationization and commerce shall take measures to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the development of commercial circulation, trade services and other industries, support their development in wholesale and retail, chain operations, logistics, exhibition services, advertising agencies, creative branding, marketing and planning, and other businesses to expand domestic and foreign markets.

Article 16 This Municipality shall support industry associations in carrying out industry services to guide enterprises to develop new markets and participate in trade friction response, industry assessments, standards development and other work in accordance with law.

This Municipality shall support the development of trade-related professional service institutions concerning consulting, exhibition, brokerage, accounting, law and tax. Professional service institutions shall regulate their operations, improve professional standards and service capabilities, and enhance industry self-discipline.

This Municipality shall encourage domestic and foreign trade promotion institutions, trade associations, chambers of commerce and other institutions to set up their headquarters or resident representative offices in Shanghai, support them in carrying out business activities in accordance with law, and promote the development of trade.

Chapter IV Regional Layout and Infrastructure Construction

Article 17 The municipal, district and county people’s governments shall plan the construction of various types of trade agglomeration zones according to Shanghai’s planning for the construction of an international trade center, and relying on the development advantages of key development zones along both sides of the Huangpu River, Hongqiao business district and comprehensive bonded zones and other areas.

When organizing the preparation of regulatory detailed planning and annual land use plans, the municipal land planning department and the district and county people’s governments shall guarantee the land demand for the construction of trade agglomeration zones based on this Municipality’s overall urban planning and overall land use planning, combined with the requirements of the planning for Shanghai’s construction of the international trade center.

Article 18 The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall, under the guidance of relevant departments of the State, promote the innovation, transformation and upgrading of the functionality of the special Customs supervision areas, encourage a harmonized development of trade and finance, shipping, logistics, manufacturing and exhibition and others, and explore the establishment of a free trade zone in line with international practices; and in the Waigaoqiao Bonded Area boost national import trade, promote the construction of innovation demonstration zones, and expand offshore trade and other new trade services.

The administrative institutions of this Municipality’s specially supervised Customs areas of all kinds shall, under the guidance of relevant departments of the State, support the establishment of such businesses as the bonded exhibition of international bulk commodities, foreign high-tech products and imported consumption goods.

Article 19 The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with the municipal land planning department and district and county governments, organize the preparation of commercial network layout planning according to this Municipality’s economic and social development planning and combined with regional development and population size, and submit the same to the Municipal People’s Government for approval before being included in corresponding urban and rural planning.

This Municipality’s construction of commercial networks and any change of existing commercial networks in purpose of use or type of business shall conform to the commercial network layout planning.

Article 20 Relevant departments of this Municipality and the district and county governments shall, according to trade development needs, reasonably plan the layout for logistics facilities, guarantee land for the construction of warehousing, allocation, transportation, distribution and other facilities, promote the construction of key logistics parks and logistics bases, and build a modern logistics service system with a combination of port logistics, manufacturing logistics, urban distribution logistics and e-commerce logistics.

Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of economic informationization and commerce shall support enterprises in establishing the transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding and third party logistics information management systems, and enhance the level of information technology application in the logistics industry.

Chapter V Trade Facilitation and Trade Promotion

Article 21 This Municipality shall perfect the trade facilitation joint conference system, promote the establishment of an efficiency index system of trade facilitation, and regulate the workflow of trade facilitation.

Article 22 This Municipality shall encourage district and county governments and industrial park management institutions to set up centralized service places for trade facilitation, organize port inspection institutions and relevant units to station in the joint office, and establish a day-to-day operational coordination mechanism to facilitate enterprises’ handling of Customs clearance reporting and relevant taxation, foreign exchange, finance, freight forwarding and other businesses.

Article 23 The departments of this Municipality in charge of port service and finance shall, under the guidance of relevant departments of the State, strengthen Customs clearance co-ordination services, support port inspection institutions in optimizing the Customs clearance process and service, speed up the innovation of port supervision modes, and promote the facilitation of Customs clearance for import and export goods.

This Municipality shall support port inspection institutions and port operating units in improving information applications in aspects of Customs declaration, inspection, release, follow-up supervision and others.

Article 24 The departments of this Municipality in charge of financial services and others shall, under the guidance of relevant departments of the State, encourage financial institutions to launch financial innovation based on trade financing needs, focus on developing supply chain financing and import and export trade financing and related financial services, and promote the construction of cross-border trade RMB settlement and a financial business center.

Article 25 This Municipality shall encourage the development of the exhibition industry to attract international exhibition resources and to promote Shanghai’s development into an international exhibition centre city. The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with other relevant departments of this Municipality, develop relevant standards for the exhibition industry, establish a classified management system based on the integrity of exhibition enterprises, and perfect an intellectual property protection system in exhibitions and other relevant systems.

Relevant departments of this Municipality and the district and county governments shall plan the layout and construction of exhibition venues of this Municipality in an overall way, construct state-level international exhibition venues, and perfect surrounding supporting facilities. The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with relevant departments of this Municipality, conduct analysis and assessment on the operational conditions of exhibition venues on a regular basis, and the assessment results shall be the basis for the layout of exhibition venues and the completeness of surrounding supporting facilities.

Article 26 The department of this Municipality in charge of quality and technical supervision shall, in conjunction with the departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce and others, guide enterprises to participate in the study and formulation of relevant international, national, industry and local standards and adopt advanced domestic and foreign standards, encourage enterprises to carry out trade service standardization demonstration pilot construction of all types and at all levels, and guide enterprises and industry associations to develop overseas certification, conformity assessment and other standardization work.

Article 27 This Municipality shall implement fiscal and tax policies which promote the development of trade and do a good service job in export tax rebate based on the principles of “being conducive to the concentration of trade subjects and mobilizing the enthusiasm of all parties,” and in accordance with the provisions of the State.

Article 28 The department of this Municipality in charge of human resources shall, in conjunction with the departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, education and others, formulate plans for assembling and developing trade talents and plans for training and introducing them, implement an international trade talent development plan, and establish and perfect a market-oriented trade talent employment and assessment mechanism appropriate for the construction of the Shanghai international trade center.

Relevant departments of this Municipality and the district and county governments shall facilitate the handling of household registration and residence permits, housing, health care, schooling for children of high-level trade talents in short supply who are introduced. For introduced overseas trade talents, the entry and exit administrative departments shall simplify entry and exit procedures in accordance with relevant provisions of the State.

Relevant departments of this Municipality shall commend or reward those trade talents of all kinds who have made contributions to the construction of the Shanghai international trade center.

Article 29 The commerce department of this Municipality shall collect and summarize the information of the State and this Municipality on industrial policies, product standards, supporting measures, industry trends and procedures concerning trade development, and release such information collectively on the China (Shanghai) International Trade Center Web. Relevant departments and units of this Municipality shall assist in providing relevant information.

This Municipality shall support providers of commercial and financial information in building a finance and economics information platform which is linked to overseas securities, futures, foreign exchange, gold, and other markets to provide international trade information services on finance and economics for trade participants and to form an international economic and trade information port and a global trade information service market.

Chapter VI Trade Order Maintenance and Legal Environment Construction

Article 30 Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce, finance, development and reform, economic informationization, industry and commerce, and quality and technical supervision and the district and county people’s governments shall strengthen cooperation, carry out fair trade briefing and review relevant policies and measures on a regular basis, strengthen import and export fair trade public services, and support industry associations, chambers of commerce, enterprises and professional service institutions in carrying out the coordination of trade friction, trade adjustment assistance, industrial damage early warning and other fair trade work.

Article 31 Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce and finance shall, in conjunction with relevant departments of this Municipality, guide enterprises and relevant industry associations and chambers of commerce to cope with trade friction cases on anti-dumping, anti-subsidy, safeguard measures, intellectual property rights and technical trade measures in accordance with international trade rules and practices, and strengthen statistics and analysis on the impact of relevant foreign measures on the import and export trade, guide industries and enterprises impacted by imported products to apply to relevant departments of the State for trade remedies, and track and analyze the remedy effects of relevant measures on industries.

Article 32 The commerce department of this Municipality shall actively assist industries or enterprises which suffer material losses due to increased imports or the transfer of industries to formulate development and revitalization planning, conduct research on switch of production, carry out the research and development of new products, optimize marketing, improve management, launch personnel training, and conduct resettlement and other trade adjustment projects.

Article 33 The commerce department of this Municipality shall cooperate with the relevant departments of the State in carrying out industrial damage early warning work, collect data on the amount and price of imported and exported products, and the production and operation conditions of the same kinds of domestic products on a regular basis, improve industrial security database, and by analysis and assessment reflect information on industries, trade and market supervision of this Municipality in a timely manner. Relevant departments and units of this Municipality shall assist in providing relevant data.

Article 34 The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall improve the long-term mechanism of trade-related intellectual property rights protection, establish a public intellectual property assistance service platform, and investigate and punish violations of intellectual property rights in accordance with law.

The commerce department of this Municipality shall, in conjunction with relevant departments of this Municipality, support enterprises in launching registration of intellectual property rights overseas, establish a working mechanism of aiding enterprises’ protection of intellectual property rights overseas, and strengthen guidance and assistance in enterprises’ protection of rights overseas.

This Municipality shall establish an incentive mechanism for reports and complaints of intellectual property rights violations to strengthen the social supervision of intellectual property rights violations.

Article 35 Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of economic informationization, commerce, industry and commerce, quality and technical supervision, and food and drug supervision shall establish and perfect a commerce credit information collection system recording credit information of trade subjects on their obtaining of administrative licenses and punishments for their violation of regulations and laws, establish a credit information sharing mechanism, and perfect a credit information disclosure mechanism and query services.

Article 36 This Municipality shall encourage credit service institutions to develop credit products, support their legitimate business activities, and promote the development of credit service market.

Relevant departments of this Municipality in charge of commerce and economic informationization shall support credit service institutions in conducting credit guarantee, credit rating, commercial credit reporting, commercial factoring, small and medium-sized enterprises’ financing and other development and innovation on credit products.

The Municipal People’s Government and its relevant departments shall support trade enterprises in their use of credit products to guard against operational risks in such activities as signing contracts and performing contracts, and encourage trade enterprises to improve the level of credit management.

Article 37 The people’s courts at all levels within this Municipality shall improve trial mechanisms for trade disputes and intensify enforcement efforts in cases on trade disputes.

Arbitration institutions within this Municipality shall perfect arbitration rules according to laws, rules, regulations, and international practice, and improve the professional level and internationalization of arbitration of trade disputes.

This Municipality shall support all kinds of professional commercial dispute mediation institutions in adopting a variety of forms to resolve trade disputes in accordance with international practices.

Chapter 7 Supplementary Provisions

Article 38 These Regulations shall come into force as of January 1, 2013.

II. Administration for Industry and Commerce

Opinions of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Supporting the Construction of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (No. 147 [2013] of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce)
Policy Interpretation of the Opinions of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Supporting the Construction of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Reply of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Approving the Trial Implementation Plan of New Business License in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (No. 148 [2013] of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce)
Circular of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Authorizing the Administrative Authority of Foreign-Invested Enterprises Registration to the Branch of Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce in the Free Trade Zone
Circular of the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce on Issuing the Provisions on Registration Administration of Enterprises in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone
Interpretation of the Provisions on Registration Administration of Enterprises in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone

Provided by Lawyers Working Committee of Pudong New Area