Draft law opens up Shanghai to world exhibition organizers

A draft law being mulled in the city’s legislature will enable overseas companies to host trade shows in Shanghai without teaming up with local companies.

According to the current national rules, which were introduced in 1998, overseas companies can hold international trade shows in China only by commissioning or joining a local company to do so.

Hua Yuan, director of Shanghai commerce commission, told legislators on Tuesday that Shanghai hopes to blaze a trail in this regard as the city opens up its exhibition industry and intends to bring more globally renowned exhibitions to the city.

The law being mulled, called “Shanghai Exhibition Industry Regulation,” will be the first law in this regard in the city. The law defines exhibitions as business events where products, technologies or services are presented and which offer road shows, B2B meetings and business exchanges.

The draft law also has stipulations to enable fast exhibition applications, ensure public security of large-scale events, provide convenience to foreigners who attend the events, and to secure efficient intellectual property right protection.

It asks the government to establish an online portal where companies that intend to hold exhibitions can submit applications to all relevant administrations via the Internet.

Zhang Zhen, vice office director of the finance and economy committee of Shanghai People’s Congress, said this will be the first time government administrations aggregate their services at a “single window” for a thematic economic activity.

“It usually takes half a year for an application to clear all red tapes, and the new online service is expected to significantly reduce the trouble for the organizers of the exhibitions,” he said.

The draft law also stipulates that exhibition organizers can request security and other necessary services from the government for events which are expected to draw more than 50,000 visitors per day.

It also asks the exit-entry administration to provide exit-entry convenience to “relevant people in major bodies of the exhibition organizers who have a good credit record.”

The draft law draws on practices in the industry which are already in force, including some covering intellectual property right protection.

A total of 1,032 exhibitions were held in Shanghai with the entire floor space of 18.8 million square meters, a jump of 61 and 134 percent respectively from 2010, according to the commerce commission.

Shanghai tops all cities in China with 42 exhibitions of floor space of over 100,000 square meters and leads the world’s major exhibition hubs with 12 exhibitions listed among the top 100 exhibitions around the world, the commission said.