It is reported that apart from blazing the trail of reform in finance and trade, the Shanghai FTZ is tasked by central authorities with exploring reforms that simplify market entry for domestic and foreign investors and strengthening supervision.
The market-entry registration of 74 enterprises, such as opening a grocery store or travel agency, can be completed on the internet.
"Even coming to the hall to process the procedures is much easier than before," said Li Wenpeng, who made his way to the hall to file records for his cosmetics import business.
Previously, Li needed approval from at least the industrial and commercial administrative department and customs and taxation authorities to apply for a cosmetics import license. He had to go one by one to each of the departments, which are at different corners of the city.
A conventional practice of starting a business is to obtain all certificates or qualifications-the most time-consuming process-before applying for a license. What the Shanghai FTZ has streamlined is how listed industries can directly apply for a license, and then just provide certain materials to keep the authorities informed of what they are doing.
Yet, an easy entry does not mean the quality of their products and services can be compromised, as these businesses must be subjected to meticulous supervision.
The goal "is to form a dynamic supervision system featuring the market subject's self-discipline, transparent operation, credit record keeping and the authorities' increasingly frequent spot checks," said Zhang Jianhua, deputy director of the Pudong market supervisory and administrative bureau. "It is almost impossible for business operators to take advantage of loopholes to evade supervision."
The bureau is extremely "sensitive and responsive" to consumers' complaints, and it maintains a rating system on every business in its jurisdiction that is based on multiple indicators, he added.
Thanks to the easy entry reform, more than 49,000 enterprises were founded in the Shanghai FTZ in Pudong during the first three quarters of 2017, and 40 percent of them are innovative businesses. That is 1.36 times the number of enterprises set up in the area over past 20 years.
More than 100 institutional reforms piloted by the Shanghai FTZ have been implemented nationwide. The FTZ has become a test field driving China's reform and opening-up. (Source: China Daily)
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