Shanghai makes great strides in improving business environment

A total of 535,500 new market entities were registered in Shanghai in 2023, up 29.1 percent year-on-year, according to a white paper released by Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation on Thursday.

By the end of December, Shanghai was home to more than 3.4 million market entities, among which nearly 2.9 million were companies. There were 116.8 companies to every 1,000 Shanghai residents, with the ratio overtaking all the other provincial administrative divisions in China, according to the white paper.

The local administration for market regulation introduced 43 sets of policies and measures last year to further optimize Shanghai's business environment.

Many first attempts highlighted Shanghai's efforts in 2023 to make its business environment more amiable.

In late May, Shanghai launched the online company registration system integrating various services, the first of its kind in China. Up to 360,000 registration businesses were made with the online system for the entire registration process. Nearly 90 percent of the new companies completed their registration online.

Meanwhile, Shanghai was the first in China to start the pilot program of "one business site serving two operational uses" for food research and development, which took effect in early September. Under the new program, a total of three food R&D centers obtained food production permits, with another three of the same kind being incubated.

The exemption management measures for Compulsory Product Certification, the first of its kind in China, took effect in Shanghai in early June. This allows six different categories of imports, including maintenance parts, test samples for scientific researches and commercial demonstration. The new measures benefited over 25,000 batches of maintenance parts imported by more than 500 integrated circuit companies last year, accounting for over 70 percent of the country's total. The average import period for integrated circuits parts was shortened by three days. The total logistics and warehousing costs were lowered by more than 10 million yuan ($1.4 million).

In July, Shanghai issued China's first guidelines for internet platforms' competition and compliance evaluation. In January 2023, the city rolled out the country's first permit and supervision plan for the production of precooked dishes.