Shanghai Issues Document to Advance Construction of Jing’an Linkage Innovation Zone of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone

On March 10, 2026, Shanghai Jing’an District Development & Reform Commission released the Implementation Plan for Advancing the Construction of the Jing’an Linkage Innovation Zone of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (the “Implementation Plan”), which took effect upon issuance.

The Implementation Plan puts forward specific measures in five major areas: trade, finance, professional services, sci-tech innovation, and factor mobility. In the field of trade, it emphasizes optimizing departure tax refund services, innovating the “bonded + consumption” model and bonded display and trading, improving the inspection mechanism for first-import consumer goods and supervision of customized cosmetics, and promoting new business forms such as interoperability of cross-border electronic invoices, AEO certification, and offshore trade and economic activities, as well as bonded R&D. In terms of financial opening-up, it clarifies simplified arrangements for registration of reinvestment by foreign investors, improves the facilitation of cross-border RMB settlement under the CIPS and FT account systems, and advances integrated domestic and foreign currency cash pools for multinational corporations, one-off registration of foreign debt, and facilitation of foreign debt quotas for financial leasing. In the sectors of professional services and sci-tech innovation, it proposes relaxing foreign investment access restrictions in areas such as medical services and joint operations of Chinese and foreign law firms, optimizing the layout of platforms for outbound investment and “going global” services, building a blockchain evaluation center, a trusted data space, and an ultra-HD audiovisual technology standards system, and promoting the lump-sum management mechanism for scientific research funds, the commercialization of sci-tech achievements, and diversified financing such as intellectual property and movable property pledges. In terms of factor support, this involves exploring a negative list for cross-border data flow, facilitating the introduction of foreign and local talent as well as visa and residence procedures, optimizing mixed-use land and floor area ratios in industrial parks, and innovating the approval system - such as integrating the two construction project permits, and merging the licensing and filing processes for medical devices.