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Work Plan of Shenzhen for Optimizing Law-based Business Environment (2023-2025)

This work plan is formulated for the thorough implementation of CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important exposition on creating a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, under which equal protection of the property rights and legitimate rights and interests covers all types of market entities. The plan is aimed to form a stable, fair, transparent and predictable business environment under the rule of law.

I. General requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, it is necessary to comprehensively and systematically study and implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, deeply implement Xi Jinping’s thought on the rule of law, deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s spirit as found within his series of important speeches and important instructions to Guangdong and Shenzhen, comprehensively push forward scientific legislation, strict enforcement of the law, fair justice, and compliance with the law by all people, and give better play to the rule of law to consolidate the fundamentals, stabilize the expectations, and facilitate the long-term safeguarding of these principles. The legitimate rights and interests of all kinds of market subjects are equally protected according to the law, high-quality development is guaranteed by the high-quality rule of law, and the construction of an advanced model city of the rule of law with socialism with Chinese characteristics is accelerated, so as to provide a strong guarantee for Shenzhen to accelerate the building of a more globally influential economic center city and a modernized international metropolis, to build a good advanced model area of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and to create a model city of a strong modernized socialist country.

II. Main tasks

(I) Improve the business environment institutional system

1. Strengthen institutional construction in key and emerging areas. Shenzhen will accelerate the establishment of systems and rules compatible with high-standard international rules of investment and trade; seek support to establish and improve institutional systems in key areas such as property rights protection, market access, fair market competition and social credit that are in line with high-standard international economic and trade rules in the Qianhai and Shekou Area of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone; push forward the legislation on strategic emerging industries and future industries, low-altitude economy and other emerging areas; and carry out the revision of laws and regulations to optimize the business environment that will help boost entrepreneurial investment and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. The city will also improve the laws and regulations on maintaining the market economic order, such as investor protection and anti-unfair competition.

(Responsible units: Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Congress, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shenzhen Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Local Financial Supervision Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Transport Bureau and Qianhai Authority, among others)

2. Comprehensively sort out regulations related to the business environment. The city will improve the review system on fair competition, work to revoke laws, regulations and government documents that are inconsistent with the market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment, and regulate public biddings and government procurement procedures. Shenzhen will improve regulations on approval and fee-charging, public services, and data security and sharing, and institutionalize the regular evaluation of regulations and rules on administrative licensing, deposits, financial incentives and subsidies involving market players. Shenzhen will improve the post-implementation assessment system for administrative normative documents.

3. Facilitate the convergence of intra- and extra-territorial rules and mechanisms. Shenzhen will push forward the establishment of a coordinated mechanism for building a business environment based on the rule of law in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; and work out relevant procedures, standards and rules on the application of extra-territorial laws, to equally safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of cross-border business entities. The city will work to promote the convergence of the rules of Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao, the convergence of litigation and mediation between the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, and the mutual recognition and enforcement mechanism of mediation agreements of the three sides. Shenzhen aims to deepen the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Arbitration Center, to make it a primary choice for resolving commercial disputes among Chinese and foreign business entities. The city will also boost the collaboration of Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao in the enforcement of intellectual property rights-related cases, and establish a coordinated rapid response mechanism for the investigation and handling of IPR infringement cases.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, Qianhai Authority, and Shenzhen International Arbitration Court)

(II) Promote standardized and civilized supervision and law enforcement

4. Establish and improve a new credit-based regulatory mechanism. Shenzhen will build a comprehensive evaluation system on the credit status of enterprises by strengthening the collection and assorting of credit information to build an information database of enterprise risk, and by establishing a credit evaluation scoring and ranking system. Based on the credit risk results of market entities, the city will carry out spot checks at dynamically adjusted proportion and frequency, and boost the in-depth integration of “double random, one open” supervision and credit supervision. Shenzhen aims to implement off-site supervision such as remote supervision, mobile supervision, and early warning, prevention and control in key areas of food and drug, as well as safety production, among other areas by 2024.

(Leading unit: Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau; participating units: all relevant administrative law enforcement units at city and district levels)

5. Implement the “one comprehensive check” system. Shenzhen will formulate annual administrative inspection plans, under which combined inspections or joint inspections will be organized for the same market entities. Enterprises with high credit ratings, those involved in multi-departmental inspections and key enterprises in emerging industries and new business forms will be included in the “one comprehensive check” list and subject to dynamic management, as the city aims to maximize the effectiveness of supervision, optimize the cost of supervision, while at the same time minimize interference with market players.

(Leading unit: Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau and Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau; participating units: relevant administrative law enforcement units at municipal and district levels)

6. Work out an “observation period” law enforcement system. The city will introduce an “observation period” law enforcement system in the emerging industries that are in line with national, provincial and municipal policy guidance. The city will work to adopt flexible law enforcement methods such as giving out reminders, advisories, warning and alerts, administrative notices, guidance and summons in the above-mentioned industries excluding those prohibited by laws, rules and regulations and other circumstances that may jeopardize public safety and people’s lives and health.

(Responsible units: all relevant administrative law enforcement units)

7. Comprehensively build friendly but clear political and business relations. The city will release a list of non-acceptable government-business interactions, to help build a new type of government-business relationship between Party and government officials and entrepreneurs and enterprise executives that is cordial and clear. The city authority will work out a list of powers and responsibilities, and implement dynamic management and supervision. Shenzhen will also speed up the construction of an administrative law enforcement supervision system, and a more scientific and effective supervision mechanism for administrative law enforcement to address the issues of unreasonable administrative charges and fines. The city aims to establish the work procedures for promptly handling business-related consulting concerns and complaints upon receiving them no later than the end of 2023, and addressing enterprises’ demands in a timely manner. The city will improve its coordination mechanism for the implementation of government integrity litigation, implement third-party testing and evaluation of government integrity systems and publish the results for public scrutiny.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Municipal Discipline Inspection and Supervisory Commission , Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Service Bureau, Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce, and Shenzhen Municipal Government Services Data Bureau)

8. Strengthen the substantive resolution of administrative disputes. The city will further improve the administrative reconsideration module of the “iShenzhen” platform, which makes available online application services for administrative reconsideration, online submission of evidence and materials, and online hearings. Shenzhen will improve the transparency of administrative reconsideration, and disclose online administrative reconsideration decisions. The city will strengthen efforts to correct errors in administrative reconsideration cases involving enterprises, and supervision on administrative organs in administrative law enforcement procedures, and issue opinions and recommendations on administrative reconsiderations involving enterprises in accordance with the law. The city will improve the mechanism for the person in charge of an administrative organ to appear in court, and ensure that the person in charge that is served by the court will appear in court “as much as possible.”

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau and all districts)

(III) Implement strict, fair and efficient justice

9. Strengthen the protection and utilization of intellectual property rights. The city will reinforce the crackdown on unfair market competition, with a focus on illegal practices including infringement on trade secrets, commercial defamation, false advertising, unfair competition via the Internet, and enhance the protection of corporate technology and commercial secrets. Shenzhen will ensure that the property rights and interests of digitized intellectual property are properly protected, and that intellectual property rights of key industrial areas and crucial technologies are covered by judicial protection. The city will implement a punitive damages system. By 2024, the city will set up a mechanism for early warning and prevention against overseas intellectual property disputes and for the coordination and resolution of such disputes, and offer heightened guidance for responding to overseas intellectual property disputes. The city will also improve the risk compensation mechanism of intellectual property rights pledge financing and the pledge disposal model.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, Shenzhen Office of National Administration of Financial Regulation)

10. Properly resolve financial disputes in accordance with the law. Shenzhen will improve its financial disputes resolving mechanism by giving full play to the role of representative litigation and model litigation mechanisms, and enhance the efficiency of resolving financial disputes by strengthening supervision. The Shenzhen financial court will be responsible for hearing all civil, criminal and administrative cases related to securities and futures, with standardized adjudication criteria of financial lending and borrowing cases in terms of interest, penalty interest, and liquidated damages, so as to reduce the cost of financing for enterprises. The city will make every effort to maintain the order of investment and financing in the capital market, and crack down, in accordance with the law, on illegal behaviors such as covering up financial risks, circumventing financial regulation, and engaging in systemic arbitrage in the name of financial innovation.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Local Financial Regulatory Bureau, Shenzhen Central Sub-branch of the People’s Bank of China, Shenzhen Office of National Administration of Financial Regulation, and Shenzhen Municipal Securities Regulatory Bureau)

11. Ensure proper handling of bankruptcy affairs. Shenzhen will give full play to the government-institution joint mechanism and the role of the administrator in handling bankruptcy affairs, and establish a mechanism for rapid liquidation and rapid reorganization of small and micro-sized enterprises. The city will allow relevant rights holders of bankrupt enterprises to recommend bankruptcy administrators, and ensure bankruptcy administrators properly perform their duties, as well as establish an online information sharing mechanism for credit repair during the bankruptcy and reorganization process. In 2024, Shenzhen will work out management standards for dealing with personal bankruptcy affairs, performance guidance of personal bankruptcy administrators and the personal bankruptcy supervision and management system. The city will work to make basic enterprise information inquiries as simple as one click on the single platform of the Shenzhen credit (credit collection) service platform. Shenzhen will set up an online exchange platform for bankruptcy administrators in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and deepen the construction of a cross-border insolvency assistance mechanism between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, Shenzhen Tax Service of State Taxation Administration, and Shenzhen Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Management Commission)

12. Offer convenient and efficient litigation services. Shenzhen will unify its court filing service standards, which requires court staff to complete filing procedures for cases that meet the conditions without having the plaintiffs coming over for a second time, and make clear to the plaintiffs all missing documents they need to provide when filing a case. The city adopts a “zero-tolerance” policy for disguised non-filing. Shenzhen will improve online filing, online payment, cloud court hearing, electronic service and other litigation services, to enhance the litigation service level. The city will adopt flexible measures to support the reasonable replacement and preservation of property. The city will also optimize the “One hotline service” mechanism to address people’s judicial demands by launching the service hotlines of 12368 for the court and 12309 for the procuratorate, as well as the public security bureau’s “Director’s Mailbox.”

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, and Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau)

13. Protect the rights and interests of market players who have won their cases. Shenzhen will comprehensively implement pre-filing supervision and settlement performance mechanisms, and protect the rights and interests of market players who have won their cases by setting up a system to prevent and stop the circumvention of the implementation of court rulings, and by carrying out in-depth penetrating reviews of property declarations. The city will work to improve coordinated law enforcement, through building an information-based enforcement linkage platform, to help address the difficulty in “searching for people and finding things” during enforcement, so as to shorten case handling periods. Shenzhen will criminalize refusals to execute court judgments and rulings, optimize the transfer procedures for such crimes, and severely punish them in accordance with the law.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, and Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau)

14. Protect lawyers’ rights to practice law. Shenzhen will enhance its construction of information technology to enable online booking and remote interviews, and aim to put all online interview rooms and seats for lawyers into service no later than the end of 2023, to offer convenience for lawyers’ interviews to the greatest extent. The city will set up a regular liaison mechanism between the political and legal authorities and the city’s lawyers association, and protect lawyers’ rights to know, to meet with clients, to read documents, to investigate and obtain evidence, among other concerns. The city will remove all obstacles to lawyers’ exercise of their rights to practice law, and smooth out the channels for remedying their rights.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau)

15. Strictly review criminal cases involving enterprises. The city’s public security authorities will make extra efforts in dealing with economic crimes, and are strictly prohibited to employ criminal investigation means to intervene in economic disputes. Shenzhen will not let any criminal activities that violate the legitimate rights and interests of private enterprises by its employees go unpunished, and will make every endeavor to protect the property rights of private enterprises and the rights and interests of entrepreneurs in accordance with the law. Shenzhen will further standardize the procedures for coordination among public security organs of other cities in the handling of law enforcement cases in Shenzhen. The city will give full play to the legal supervision functions of the procuratorial organs to prevent illegal filing of cases, illegal collection of evidence, and seizure, detention and freezing of property involved in cases in excess of the authority, scope, amount and time limit. Shenzhen will smooth the channels for appealing and retrials of cases involving enterprises, and effectively prevent and correct unjust and wrongful cases. The city will strengthen the review, supervision and coordination when dealing with applications to conduct business activities outside of Shenzhen by people with a suspended sentence; and those serving a temporary sentence outside prison, specifically those with serious illnesses requiring medical parole; pregnant women or women breastfeeding their own babies; those who are unable to take care of themselves and whose application of a temporary sentence outside prison will not jeopardize society; those who have been released on parole; and those who have been deprived of their political rights and are serving their sentences in society.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau)

16. Improve the mediation mechanism for conflicts and disputes. Shenzhen will set up a non-litigation dispute resolution platform for the governance of litigation sources in key industrial areas, and provide more convenient judicial services for enterprises. The city will introduce and foster more professional mediation organizations, standardize the management of industry associations and chambers of commerce, and give better play to the role of off-site industry associations and chambers of commerce. Shenzhen will set up legal working committees in more off-site chambers of commerce, to enhance the success rate of the resolution of complex commercial disputes related to finance, intellectual property rights, corporate rights and interests, and foreign-related commercial matters. Shenzhen will pilot mediation programs for specific types of disputes, and expand the scope of small claims procedures, to lower the time cost of resolving civil and commercial disputes.

(Responsible units: Shenzhen Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau, and Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce)

(IV) Improve the public legal service system

17. Smooth legal service channels. Shenzhen will construct a high-quality legal service system to better service the city’s high-quality development, by setting up a long-term mechanism for lawyers to serve private enterprises, and smoothing the channels for law firms, notary offices, arbitration institutions, mediation organizations and other legal service institutions to provide precise legal services for various types of enterprises. Shenzhen will push forward the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Notary Alliance, with enhanced communication, coordination and information sharing.

(Leading unit: Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau; participating units: Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shenzhen Municipal Science, Technology and Innovation Commission, Shenzhen Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Management Commission, and Shenzhen Federation of Industry and Commerce)

18. Optimize enterprise-related legal services. Shenzhen will give full play to the role of legal advisers of the Party committees and governments, and let them assist enterprises to prevent legal risks in corporate decision-making. The city will accelerate the construction of enterprise compliance demonstration zones and strengthen compliance governance in key areas. Shenzhen will introduce public legal services into industrial parks and business districts to provide enterprises with one-stop professional legal services such as legal counseling, notary services, and dispute mediation. The city will encourage enterprises to enhance corporate awareness of rule of law, and carry out “rule of law examination” in enterprises on a regular basis, to help private enterprises strengthen risk prevention and management, and encourage them to set up risk management systems. Shenzhen will provide high-quality legal services for the innovation and development of private small and medium-sized enterprises, and help them establish protection mechanisms for trade secrets.

(Leading unit: Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau; participating units: Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court, Shenzhen Municipal Procuratorate, Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, and all district authorities)

19. Nurture rule-of-law personnel. Shenzhen aims for the high-quality development of legal education, and will provide on-the-job training of rule of law catering to specific professions, and address the shortage of rule-of-law talents in the fields of foreign-related law, intellectual property rights, bankruptcy, finance and corporate compliance. Shenzhen will recruit a number of Hong Kong and Macao talents with a legal background in both Chinese and international law to serve in State-owned enterprises and public institutions. Shenzhen will build high-quality legal think tanks and improve the evaluation mechanisms of such think tanks.

(Responsible units: Organization Department of the CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Shenzhen Municipal Office of Public Sectors Reform and Work on Civil Servants, Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau, and Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau)

20. Encourage public participation, supervision and evaluation. Shenzhen will improve its information disclosure system, releasing enterprise-related policies and incentives on the municipal government’s portal website, the “深i企” service platform and other platforms, to address market players’ needs to access information. Shenzhen will set up a business environment government service evaluation mechanism, to collect public feedback and opinions, enhance the service level of the platform for responding to the demands of market subjects, and continuously improve its services for market subjects.

(Responsible units: General Office of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Government Services Data Bureau, Shenzhen Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau, and all district authorities)

III. Supporting measures

(I) Strengthen organizational leadership. Party committees and governments at all levels should make the construction of a law-based business environment a priority on their agendas. The municipal business environment optimization reform leading group will strengthen organizational leadership and overall planning, while personnel in charge at other government departments are responsible for making sure that all work is carried out in accordance with this work plan, and refining implementation measures and detailed work proposals by working out an agenda , a roadmap, a timetable, and an accountability mechanism during implementation.

(II) Enhance coordination. The office of the leading group for the reform of optimizing business environment, in conjunction with the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Committee, will establish and improve a regular communication mechanism with enterprises for the collection and notification of the implementation of this work plan, timely coordination and resolution of problems, and supervision of relevant government agencies at the district level to perform their respective responsibilities in the management and cohesion of work to optimize the rule-of-law business environment.

(III) Increase publicity and promotion. All relevant government departments should do a good job in the policy publicity and interpretation of the optimization of the rule-of-law business environment, refine the innovative initiatives and experience, highlight good supporting measures for the construction of a law-based environment for the development of all types of businesses, stabilize the development of the private economy, and create a good environment that involves the whole society in the construction of the business environment.