Cutting bureaucracy in Pudong
Enterprise representatives receive industry operation permits.
The Pudong New Area is making business licence application easier with a pilot reform for 10 industries.
Under the reform, multiple approval items involving different government authorities are merged into a single permit service for enterprises in 10 industries when they apply for a business operation licence, the Pudong New Area government announced on Wednesday.
The 10 pilot industries are convenience store, sports and fitness venue, hotel, restaurant, small catering, shop for freshly made food, bakery, cafe or tea house, bar and pharmacy.
The approval items are cut by 76 percent on average for each of the 10 industries, and the time of approval is cut by 88 percent on average, according to the Pudong New Area government.
In addition, the amount of application materials is cut by 67 percent.
"The reform significantly cuts the amount of materials submitted and saves enterprises the time of visiting different authorities," said Wu Weiping, Party secretary and director of the Pudong New Area Administration for Market Regulation.
"For instance, it took 38 working days to apply and obtain all permits for opening a supermarket in Pudong in the past and now, it takes five to eight working days."
Three enterprises received the first comprehensive license on Wednesday.
"In the past, we needed to visit more than 10 government departments when opening a new hotel, and it took two to three months," said Sun Mingfeng, executive director of the Shanghai branch of Luneng Group.
"If the materials were not correct, we needed to make frequent visits.
"But now, it only takes about two weeks and it is very efficient. The business environment of the Pudong New Area is good."
Xu Hailan, executive vice president of Suning.com Group, said: "In the past, we needed to apply for five permits such as the food operation licence, wine product retail licence and medicine operation licence when we opened a convenience store.
"We had to prepare five sets of application materials and visited different authorities to submit them, but now, we only need to prepare one set and are able to make online application.
"The time is cut to five working days from 38 in the past, and the number of application materials is reduced to 10 from the previous 42, significantly cutting the administrative cost of enterprises and lifting their operation efficiency."
