On Aug. 18, 2019, the Central Government unveiled a detailed guideline on supporting Shenzhen in building a pilot demonstration area of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We are publishing a series of reports on what Shenzhen is doing to implement the strategy.
Adhering to the principle of advancing reforms with the rule of law, Shenzhen has been consistently optimizing its business environment with high-quality legislation, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.
The city’s regulations on optimizing the business environment officially became effective Jan. 1, 2021. The new set of regulations focuses on six areas which include the key links in the life cycle of market entities, providing efficient and convenient government services, creating a level playing field for businesses, innovating modes of financing, improving the efficiency of supervision and law enforcement, and improving the rights and interests protection mechanism.
Focusing on creating a first-rate business environment characterized by marketization, legalization and internationalization, Shenzhen continued to issue documents such as “20 measures on business environment,” annual key points of optimizing business environment reform and the action plan for building an international first-class business environment reform and innovation experimental zone.
Additionally, the city launched a key task list and a supplementary list for optimizing the business environment reform last year, and implemented 275 key specific reforms targeting key areas and links.
Shenzhen has also accelerated legislation in emerging areas. The city’s regulations on scientific and technological innovations have established the “same shares but different rights” system of listed companies, and a number of other pioneering system designs.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen is also actively promoting legislation in special areas such as data management, social credit, as well as cutting-edge areas, including cell gene therapy and intelligent Internet-connected vehicles.
Last year, Shenzhen revised its regulations on intellectual property rights protection and took the lead in China in introducing punitive damages into the legal system.
The city also enacted the country’s first personal bankruptcy regulations last year, which have filled the gap of the exit system for market players at the individual level.