Shanghai issued new measures on the approval and filing of foreign investment projects, largely reducing the number of documents required and cutting red tape to streamline application procedures for foreign investors.
The city government released the “Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Administration of Approval and Filing of the Projects with Foreign investment,” aiming at standardizing the approval and filing of projects with foreign investment, improving government services and facilitating foreign investment. The new regulatory document reflects the combination of new rules on foreign investment, new requirements on fixed asset investment project administration, and new measures of the city’s reform on “streamlining administration and delegating power, improving regulation, and upgrading services.”
These Procedures apply to the newly established or acquired projects of foreign investors and foreign-invested enterprises involving fixed assets investment in Shanghai. Materials required for approval of projects are to be substantially simplified. Duplicate documents will no longer be required as they can be obtained by sharing of data via the government's Online-Offline Shanghai. Foreign investors may make their own decisions and bear their own risks in line with market prospects and economic benefits, and project approval and filing bodies may not illegally infringe upon their investment autonomy, the Shanghai Daily reports.
Paid-in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Shanghai topped a record USD22.551 billion in 2021, a surge of 11.5% year-on-year. A total of 6,708 new enterprises were set up in the city, up 16.6% year-on-year. Total contract value was USD60.391 billion, a 16.9% rise. The actual use of foreign capital in commercial services was USD7.604 billion, increasing 38% from a year earlier, while that in the high-tech services sector reached USD6.569 billion, an increase of 11%. Shanghai also attracted an extra 60 regional headquarters and 25 R&D centers of multinational enterprises, lifting the totals to 831 and 506.
