One-stop services
Record-filing has replaced registration for the establishment of foreign-invested enterprises. A service promotion platform was established for risk monitoring, in-event control and subsequent supervision.
By the end of June, 2,620 business projects had been launched in the free trade zone. The "negative list" that restricts foreign investment has been shortened from 190 items in 2013 to 45 this year.
The free trade zone also released a negative list for the services sector last month, for the first time in China, to further open market access for foreign participation in sectors such as transport, insurance and communications.
The move means overseas services and service providers investing in areas not listed will now be treated the same as domestic companies, reducing red tape and other restrictions.
Special regulations governing investment by foreign entities, such as requiring a Chinese joint venture partner, will continue to apply to those sectors on the negative list. Based on the list, a total of 159 special administrative measures involve 31 industries in 13 sectors.
The free trade zone also provides one-stop services for domestic companies to invest overseas. An overseas investment service platform was established to provide services such as legal advice, accounting, assessment, taxation, financing, insurance and agency services.
By the end of June, the free trade zone had filed 2,043 overseas investment cases involving US$55.62 billion, accounting for 50 percent of the city's total.
Domestic companies set off from the Shanghai free trade zone to merge and acquire high-tech or high-end enterprises overseas in fields such as mobile Internet, biomedicine, medical devices, information technology, the Internet of Things and high-end manufacturing.
The free trade zone issued 25 rules in June to test the ground for further liberalization of the financial sector.
Under the rules, commercial banks would be allowed to form financial asset investment and management companies without any cap on foreign ownership, and foreigners would be allowed to take majority stakes in domestic life insurance companies based in the zone.
Meanwhile, the free trade zone is promoting the construction of spot markets of bulk commodities in the metals, energy, chemical industry, mining and agricultural products fields to enhance global competitiveness.
Six markets of such kind have debuted online involving nearly 500 traders. The transactions last year reported nearly 40 billion yuan (US$5.77 billion).
The free trade zone also piloted parallel car imports. Nearly 3,000 vehicles were imported this way last year. In the first half of the year, nearly 4,000 vehicles were imported.
