What are the procedures for setting up a company in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ)?

Similar to procedures for setting up a company elsewhere in China, investors in the Shanghai FTZ must first carry out a company registration in order to obtain a business license. To unburden investors from long and tedious administrative approval procedures, the Shanghai FTZ has established a “one-stop application processing platform” for company establishment, which is unique to the zone. Under this platform, all application materials will be submitted and handled through the Administration of Industry and Commerce (AIC) in the FTZ. The approval and filing procedures will be conducted via inter-departmental circulation, after which the various licenses and certificates (including the business license, enterprise code certificate, and tax registration certificate) will be issued to the applicant(s) altogether by the AIC. This means applicants may obtain all necessary documents for company establishment in one place, contrasting with outside the zone where applicants must run around between different authorities for the issuance of various certificate. This effectively reduces the time taken to establish a company in the FTZ.

The one-stop acceptance platform generally works the same way for both domestic and foreign investors. The only difference is that foreign investors are required to check their business scope against the negative list to see which procedure they have to go through. According to the local government, the business license, enterprise code certificate, and tax registration can be issued in four working days once an application is accepted. However, due to the large number of company establishment applications in the FTZ, the actual process may take more than a month.