Recent reform developments
Shanghai's pilot free trade zone (FTZ) was officially
launched on September 29, 2013. The FTZ aims at test-running the
opening up of free trade and economic reforms which will, if
successful, be implemented nationwide. Under the FTZ scheme,
certain restrictions on foreign investments will be eased. Some
relaxations have already been implemented, while other announced
improvements are yet to come.
Facilitated company setups
An implemented improvement is that the procedure to set up
foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) has been eased. To set up an
FIE, only registration, rather than administrative approval, is
required. Outside of the FTZ, company set ups are usually
complicated, involving interaction with various authorities, taking
up copious amounts of time, and expensive. Only enterprises whose
business areas are not on the so-called "negative list"
for foreign investments will benefit from this relaxation. All
business areas not on
