The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is among five pilot free trade zones and free trade ports approved by the general offices of the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Commerce for China's first batch of pilot programs for independent opening-up in standardization.

Led by the Shanghai FTZ, the three-year pilot will cover all of Pudong New Area.

Why Shanghai?

Established in 2013 as China's first pilot FTZ, Shanghai's zone accounts for more than half of the 485 FTZ institutional innovations replicated nationwide.

Pudong also boasts a strong industrial base. Its GDP reached 1.88 trillion yuan ($281.45 billion) in 2025, covering major industries including integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and biomedicine.

In terms of standardization, Pudong has developed 21 joint enterprise standards, with participation from Fortune Global 500 foreign-invested companies and overseas enterprises. Since 2021, it has led the development or revision of 58 international standards.

What will the pilot focus on?

Advancing high-standard trade and economic rules

Shanghai will accelerate the development of international rules in areas such as electronic documents and promote international cooperation on digital identity authentication for government services related to business establishment.

The pilot will implement the security management framework for outbound data transfers and establish an operational international cooperation platform to promote mutual recognition of testing and certification results with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Building an open and inclusive innovation ecosystem

Shanghai will further develop its joint enterprise standards system and encourage overseas organizations and foreign experts to participate in developing international joint enterprise standards.

The pilot will promote the overseas application of association standards and explore establishing an international standards organization specializing in artificial intelligence. Consumers in China and abroad will have channels to participate in international standards development.

Expanding overseas participation in standards development

The pilot will open locally based domestic standardization technical organizations, secretariats of international standards organizations, and domestic technical counterpart bodies to highly qualified foreign experts.

It will also support overseas organizations in participating in the development of domestic and international standards to improve the international compatibility and technical advancement of Chinese standards.

Deepening international standardization exchanges and cooperation

Shanghai will collect information on overseas market access requirements and industry policies, and compare Chinese and foreign standards in key sectors to help enterprises manage compliance risks when expanding overseas.

The pilot will also promote the overseas application of Chinese standards to support industrial and trade cooperation. It will organize international standardization events and strengthen technical exchanges and standards alignment with overseas organizations and experts.

Establishing a one-stop standardization service platform

Shanghai will provide direct access to standards services, training for standardization professionals, intelligent standards data services, and a dedicated channel for international standards coordination.

It will also establish a mechanism to accelerate the practical application of standards-related results.

Targets for 2029

By 2029, Shanghai aims to establish new mechanisms for greater openness in standardization that align with international practices.

The pilot will seek to develop high-quality international standards, produce examples of international mutual recognition of testing and certification results, foster standards innovation alliances in key industries, and demonstrate the overseas application of Chinese standards.

Shanghai also aims to attract standardization professionals from China and abroad and promote the integration of Chinese approaches into the global standards system.

Source: Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation