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Shanghai is speeding up efforts to roll out a plan aimed at enhancing the city’s business environment, focusing on reducing burdens on companies and clarifying regulations and services.
This initiative, centered around ten key tasks, is built upon the latest version of the earlier plan launched earlier this year. During a press conference today, Liu Jian, the deputy secretary-general of the city government and head of the municipal development and reform commission, emphasized the importance of quick implementation and tangible results of these measures.
A new “circuit breaker” system has already been put into effect, designed to minimize disruptions caused by administrative inspections. Under this system, any inspection requests will be automatically blocked if the interval between checks is less than one month, if the number of inspections exceeds the annual limit, or if onsite inspections are scheduled for issues deemed as “no disturbance without cause.”
In situations where the circuit breaker does not apply, a rigorous approval process must be followed. Notably, last year, the number of administrative inspections related to businesses in the city decreased by over 40 percent compared to the previous year.
The local Market Supervision Administration stated that the 2026 inspection checklist now includes 85 categories and 688 scenarios, with about 64 percent classified as “no disturbance without cause.”
Regarding policies that benefit businesses, a total of 826 projects across municipal and district levels have been designated for “automatic approval,” removing the need for application. The emphasis this year is on fostering collaboration between different government levels and across industry chains to ensure policies are rolled out more smoothly.
The plan also addresses issues related to artificial intelligence use. The city’s Cyber Affairs Commission aims to combat the creation and spread of false AI-generated information that could mislead consumers or damage competitors’ reputations.
Platforms are being encouraged to improve their technical detection and manual review processes. To date, authorities have addressed 1,665 false information items and 89 related accounts. Nearly 100 cases involving false AI-related information concerning companies have been investigated by public security agencies this year.
For the first time, improving conditions within industrial parks has been incorporated into the ten key priorities. New guidelines are set to establish a “one-stop” service center for businesses in these parks. Additionally, the city seeks to streamline regulatory approvals for emerging sectors like short-form video content, aiming to boost efficiency.
In the first quarter of this year, Shanghai’s gross domestic product increased by 5.9 percent compared to the previous year, outpacing the national average by 0.9 percentage points and marking the fastest growth in the first quarter in five years.
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