Applications made easy: Single credit report to replace 'no criminal record' certificates

A single credit report will replace the 'no criminal record' certificates issued by over 40 local departments in Shanghai. The move aims to reduce the burden on enterprises during their government application process, especially for listing, refinancing, acquisitions and issuing bonds, according to the city's Justice Bureau.

Companies spend months, sometimes years, collecting proofs of no criminal record from different departments. After the measure is put into effect from Wednesday, the credit report can be accessed on the city government's website http://credit.fgw.sh.gov.cn/ within seconds.

It can show whether a company, including the Shanghai-based branch of a foreign firm, an individual business or an agricultural cooperative, has a criminal record across any field in Shanghai since 2020, Liu Yanhao, deputy head of the bureau, said on Tuesday.

According to the program issued by the Shanghai government this month, the measure will be launched on Wednesday in the first batch of 23 fields, including business affairs, public security and ecological environment. The rest of the 18 fields such as education, civil administration and intellectual property will be included next year.

These 41 fields basically cover the needs of enterprise applications for finance, business operation and administration, noted Li Qiang, managing partner of Grandall Law Firm.

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It is one of the measures in the city's improvement of the business environment. It is also listed among the top 10 law programs that people are looking forward to the most, Liu said.

It was piloted in the Pudong New Area last year. Thanks to the reform, Shanghai-based Sino Ic Technology Co only spent 38 days applying for stock issue on the Beijing Stock Exchange. It broke the record for the fastest application and review in the history of A shares.

The measure is based on big data from the city's public credit information platform. All local companies' administrative punishment information in different fields issued by various departments have been collected and shared since 2019.

On July 1, Shanghai will pioneer the use of QR code for the credit report. It will be shown on the Suishenban app, the city government's public service platform, and companies don't need to print the report for application.

Liu said the city is steadily developing a world-class business environment with effective trade and investment, high administrative efficiency, standardized government service and an excellent legal system.

"We wish the measure can be launched in more domestic places to cut the cost of transregional enterprises," Grandall Law Firm's Li said.