Tianfu New Area powering province's innovation in investment facilitation

Sichuan Tianfu New Area in Southwest China's Sichuan province is launching in-depth reforms and innovations for investment facilitation as an inland gateway shouldering the mission to promote high-level opening-up.

The newly registered Chengdu TSQ E-commerce Company, wholly owned by the Turkish national post office PtteM, became the first foreign-funded enterprise registered in the Tianfu New Area by Turkiye.

The related departments of the Tianfu New Area established a project team to provide customized services. From one-time approval to immediate document issuance, these efforts helped the company quickly complete the registration process.

The Turkish company staff members were impressed by the speed of the administrative approval. They expressed their hope that they will be able to live and work in the area if conditions permit.

The fast registration and establishment of the company is attributable to the upgraded business environment in the Tianfu New Area, officials said. As a national-level new area, the Tianfu New Area has introduced a total of 461 diverse policies and reform measures over the years, aimed at achieving a market-oriented, lawful and internationally recognized business environment.

Innovative mechanisms

Complicated administrative procedures and excessive document requirements were once challenges for enterprises when dealing with administrative approval and government services.

Through reform measures such as cutting down processes, time limits and costs, and optimizing workflows, the area's administration strives to provide efficient services throughout the whole lifecycle for enterprises.

"For this licensing process, the completion time was 15 days earlier than our company's original plan, greatly accelerating the project progress," said Wang Xun, a project manager who applied for planning permits at the Sichuan Tianfu New Area.

Some city planning bureaus of Sichuan Tianfu New Area recently implemented optimized review process for planning proposals. Since its implementation, the approval time has been shortened from 38 working days to 30 working days in average.

Wang said this not only saved the cost in time and expense but also elevated the project turnover efficiency, which can bring tangible benefits to enterprises.

The Sichuan Tianfu New Area Business Environment Innovation and Reform Action Plan issued in July proposed a number of measures in fields such as land inventory management and optimization of planning. These measures are based on the actual needs of enterprises and aimed at realizing innovative work mechanisms and saving the operating costs of enterprises, officials said.

In terms of government services, Tianfu New Area has achieved instant approval and processing for 100 matters and streamlined certificates or licenses needed in the processing of 100 matters. No material is needed in the processing of 50 matters. There are 182 matters that can be processed in any location in the province. It is implementing "one-stop services for one matter" principle in 70 matters and strictly following a 4-hour mechanism for enterprise registration.

A highland for legal service

Tianfu New Area integrates legal service resources within the region and has built the country's first provincial-level legal service agglomeration zone — Tianfu Central Legal Services District — that aims to become a first-class legal service highland based in Sichuan.

"Thank you for your warmhearted actions and considerate services; you are the reliable partner for enterprises" reads a plaque that hangs on the wall of the office of the intellectual property rights assistance center in Tianfu Central Legal Services District. It was donated by business owners involved in lawsuit filed by a Shanghai catering company.

On Jan 13, 2022, the highly anticipated second trial verdict of the Sichuan pepper case announced the judgment that the Wenjiang Wuapo was deemed to have legally used "Green Pepper" as its trademark and its use did not constitute trademark infringement.

A small Sichuan pepper has become a vivid footnote to the continuous improvement of the business environment with the assistance of the rule of law.

Thanks to the help of Tianfu Central Legal Services District, the legitimate rights and interests of Sichuan merchants have been protected.

As of now, the Tianfu Central Legal Services District has gathered nearly 300 legal service institutions. With the high-level opening-up of Tianfu New Area, the ability to provide foreign affairs-related legal services in the district is also improving.

In November, the Tianfu New Area management committee signed a cooperation agreement with DeHeng Law Offices (Hong Kong) LLP, committing to helping the district become a preferred place for settling foreign affairs-related commercial disputes in Western China.

Data show that from Jan 1 to Nov 30, there were 23,212 market entities newly launched in the Tianfu New Area, showing a year-on-year increase of 20.32 percent.

Financial service reform

In October, Bank of China's branch in China (Sichuan) Pilot Free Trade Zone carried out financial reform by promoting the landing of the first online forex trading business for corporate currency trading in the Tianfu New Area, marking the first attempt of online forex settlement and sales service of the bank in the whole province.

This service helps enterprises overcome the limitations of space distance as the whole process of online forex purchase and payment can be completed via a smart phone. The time-consuming process that used to take at least half a day has been shortened to one to two hours.

"It's so convenient that we don't need to stamp a bunch of documents or have to go out in awful weather. It has made things much easier for our company," said a member of the finance personnel from a company in the Tianfu New Area recently.

The Tianfu New Area has carried out cross-border registration reforms for foreign-funded enterprises. After completing a certain verification and approval process through technical means remotely, overseas enterprises can complete the whole process of company registration, taxation and bank account application electronically.

The Tianfu New Area is also accelerating the construction of cooperation platforms with diverse countries and regions. Cooperative zones such as those between China and Italy, and between Sichuan and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region have been put into use. It is building an international technology transfer and transformation platform and has established a cooperative relationship with 32 countries and regions, connecting more than 200 overseas enterprises.

Formally approved as a national-level new area nine years ago, the Tianfu New Area's GDP has hit 453.2 billion yuan ($63.5 billion).From January to October, the Tianfu New Area achieved a total foreign trade volume of 12.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.64 percent.