Notice of the General Office of Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Transmitting the Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Use and Management of Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade Made by Three Departments Including the Municipal Commission of Commerce

(November 21, 2012)

SMPG GO G [2012] No.64

Attention: all District and County People's Governments, and all relevant Commissions, Offices and Bureaus (Administrations) of the Municipal People's Government:

The Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Use and Management of Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade made by the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Development & Reform Commission and the Municipal Finance Bureau have been approved by the Municipal People's Government. We hereby transmit them to you and request you to implement them conscientiously.

Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Use and Management of Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade

Article 1 (Purposes and Basis)

With a view to promoting the development of service trade in this Municipality, regulating the use and management of special financial fund, improving the efficiency of financial fund, and further bringing the guiding and leading role of financial fund into play, these Procedures are formulated in accordance with the Cooperation Agreement Between the Ministry of Commerce and Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Jointly Promoting the Development of Service Trade in Shanghai, the Notice of Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Printing and Distributing the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Overall Development of Service Trade in Shanghai (SMPG [2009] No.48), and the Notice of Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Printing and Distributing the Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Use and Management of Guide Funds for the Development of Service Trade (SMPG G [2009] No.24). 

Article 2 (Fund Sources)

The Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade in Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as the Development Fund) shall be arranged in the municipal guide funds for the development of service trade. Each district/county is encouraged to arrange supporting funds, by integrating with the actual circumstances of the locality and in accordance with the requirements of SMPG G [2009] No. 24 document, for enterprises (units) and projects that have obtained the support of the Development Fund.

Article 3 (Scope of Use)

The Development Fund is mainly used in the major areas and key links of the development of service trade, so as to promote the scale expansion and level enhancement of service trade. The Development Fund is mainly used in the following aspects:

1. Encourage service trade enterprises (units) of this Municipality to apply for various kinds of national promotion fund for the development of service trade, and provide corresponding supporting funds according to the provisions of the State. 

2. Mainly support those defined as the priority fields for development by the Cooperation Agreement Between the Ministry of Commerce and Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Jointly Promoting the Development of Service Trade in Shanghai, including international logistics, information technology, culture, and professional services, and support the traditional Chinese medicine service according to the requirements of the Opinions on Promoting the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Trade (CST G [2012] No.64) jointly issued by 14 departments including the Ministry of Commerce, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and gradually expand the scope of pilot areas. Multiple subsidies including performance support, authentication subsidy, training subsidy for senior professionals, support for the construction of network marketing platform (foreign language website) for exploring international market, and subsidy for employing foreign experts shall be provided to those eligible enterprises (units), and translation subsidy shall be provided to those eligible cultural enterprises (units). 

3. Support promotion activities for service trade including domestic and international exhibition of service trade. 

4. Support the statistic work of service trade with the fund mainly used to establish the service trade statistic platform and other systems. 

5. Other items where support is needed.

Article 4 (Qualifications for Application Subject)

The enterprises (units) applying for Development Fund must meet certain conditions.

1. The basic conditions that an enterprise (unit) applying for Development Fund must meet are as follows:

1) registered in this Municipality, having independent corporate qualifications and, fixed working place, with the operation time of not less than three years;

2) engaged in commercial activities of cross-border service trade in accordance with the law; and

3) having a sound financial control system, and good tax and accounting credit. 

2. Other conditions that must be met by enterprises (units) in various fields applying for the Development Fund shall take reference to the Guide for Applying for the Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade annually announced. 

Article 5 (Supporting Modes and Standards)

Free financing is adopted as the supporting mode of the Development fund. The annual subsidy obtained by each applying enterprise (unit) from the Development Fund shall not be more than two million yuan.

1. Performance support. A lump-sum support of not more than 300,000 yuan shall be given to an enterprise (unit) that has made outstanding contributions in the service trade exports, according to its service trade export performance of the previous year (the annual exchange earnings shall not be less than USD100,000).

Those enterprises (units) that had obtained the performance support of the Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade in the previous year shall not, in principle, apply for the performance support of the current year.

2. Authentication subsidy. A lump-sum subsidy shall be given to those service trade enterprises (units) that had passed the ISO series authentication and series authentication of other international management systems in the previous year, and the maximum rate of subsidy is 30% of the actual authentication fee. The maximum number of items of authentication subsidy of each individual enterprise (unit) is 5, and the maximum accumulative amount of subsidy is one million yuan. 

3. Training subsidy for senior professionals. A training subsidy of not more than 50% of related training expenses shall be given to those service trade enterprises (units) that conducted business trainings (not including academic education and the overseas training) for senior professionals (with bachelor degree or above, and the post of project manager or above) related to foreign-related business. The maximum training subsidy for each person per year is 30,000 yuan, the maximum number of persons of an individual enterprise (unit) that can receive the training subsidy per year is 20, with the maximum total amount of subsidy of not more than 500,000 yuan.

4. Subsidy for employing foreign experts. Encourage trade service enterprises (units) of this Municipality to employ foreign experts to improve key links and major areas of service trade, and improve the international competitiveness of service export, and the subsidy shall be provided to cover certain expenses paid by the enterprises (units) to foreign experts in the previous year. The subsidy rate shall not exceed 50% of the actual expenses for each person per year, and the maximum amount is 50,000 yuan. The total amount of such subsidy obtained by each enterprise (unit) shall not be more than 300,000 yuan.

The following professionals with foreign nationality that have signed a relevant project service agreement (with a service term of not more than three years) with major service trade enterprises (units) of this Municipality, and met one or more of the following standards may be taken as the foreign experts.

(1) enjoy certain reputation within the industry, and have obtained relevant awards or honor in international activities of related fields;

(2) publish, within the industry, relevant research achievements, or relevant representative works have certain international influence;

(3) work as consultants or have certain leadership positions in international trade organizations;

(4) achieve the standards of senior professionals in related fields (including professional titles equivalent to associate professor, associate researcher, associate senior editor [translator], and art director, or above); or

(5) have special expertise, and are engaged in fields urgently needed by our country.

5. Support for service trade promotion activities. Mainly subsidize the enterprises (units) of this Municipality to participate in relevant activities of promoting the development of service trade identified by the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Development & Reform Commission, and the Municipal Finance Bureau, and provide support to cover certain expenses such as registration fee, booth fee (including exhibits arrangement fee, special-equipment construction fee, and facility rental fee), and publicity and promotion fee needed by relevant enterprises (units) in participating relevant exhibition activities of promoting the development of service trade. The maximum financial support rate is 50% of relevant expenses incurred including registration fee, booth fee, and publicity and promotion fee, and the subsidy amount shall not be more than 100,000 yuan.

6. Support for the construction of network marketing platform (foreign language website) for exploring international market. Provide support to cover certain expenses paid by the enterprises (units) in the previous year on purchasing and installing equipment, and purchasing software for the construction of network marketing platform, where the supporting rate shall not exceed 30% of the total investment for the construction of such platform, and the total supporting amount for the construction of a single platform is not more than 500,000 yuan. Each enterprise (unit) can only apply for the support of one platform construction. 

7. Subsidy for translation. Provide subsidy to cover such expenses as translation fee and foreign language dubbing fee invested by the cultural enterprises (units) in the previous year in the process of exporting books, newspapers and periodicals, Internet publications, films and television programs, animations and games, audio-visual products, and software. The subsidy rate shall not exceed 50% of the actual expenses of translation, and so on, and the total subsidy amount for each enterprise (unit) shall not be more than 300,000 yuan.  

8. Other items that need support. 

Article 6 (Materials to be Submitted in Application)

The enterprise (unit) applying for the Development Fund shall submit the following materials:

1. Fill in and submit the Application Form of Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade in Shanghai, and provide, at the same time, such effective certificates as a copy (with official seal) of enterprise's (unit's) business license and Organization Code Certificate, a copy (with official seal) of the duplicate of state and local tax registration certificate, a copy of the examined and verified accounting report of the previous year, and a copy (with official seal) of the valid proof of export proceeds or effective export contract, and a commitment letter of the applicant on no false behaviors in the application.

2. Other materials required for applying for different supporting funds shall take reference to the Guide on Applying for the Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade issued in the current year.

3. A copy of paper documents of all application materials (bound in one book) shall be provided. The applying enterprise (unit) shall be responsible for the authenticity and legality of the application materials. 

Article 7 (Application for Funds)

The enterprise (unit) applying for the Development Fund shall submit the application form for the Development Fund and all application materials to the Municipal Commission of Commerce within the prescribed time limit.

Where the supporting contents applied by the applying enterprise (unit) have already received the subsidy or support of other municipal-level financial capitals, they shall not get the support of the Development Fund.

The applying enterprise (unit) shall be responsible for the authenticity and legality of the application materials.

Article 8 (Examination, Verification and Appropriation)

The Municipal Commission of Commerce shall conduct initial examination and collection of the application materials, and may, according to the actual circumstances, entrust an intermediary agency to conduct professional evaluation. The result of initial examination shall be submitted to the evaluation group of the Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade in Shanghai formed by the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Development & Reform Commission, and the Municipal Finance Bureau (hereinafter referred to as the Evaluation Group) for examination, and the Evaluation Group shall put forward corresponding examination opinions. The Municipal Commission of Commerce shall, according to the opinions of the Evaluation Group, apply to the Municipal Finance Bureau for appropriation. The Municipal Finance Bureau shall, upon examination and verification and according to relevant provisions on state treasury's centralized appropriation, appropriate the Development Fund to the corresponding enterprises (units).   

Article 9 (Supervision on Use)

The Municipal Commission of Commerce shall, jointly with the Municipal Development & Reform Commission and the Municipal Finance Bureau, and according to relevant provisions, implement the CPA auditing system for municipal-level financial capitals to conduct supervision and inspection on the use of Development Fund and the project implementation. The auditing expenses shall be arranged in relevant special funds.   

The Development Fund shall be used for specified purposes, and the enterprises (units) using the funds shall strictly observe relevant laws and regulations of the State and the accounting system. The acts of defrauding, intercepting or misappropriating the funds are strictly prohibited.   

For enterprises (units) that violate the provisions of these Procedures, the Municipal Finance Bureau shall recover the fund in full amount, and cancel the annual application qualifications of the wrongdoer; where the case is serious and the laws are violated, the liability of relevant personnel or enterprises (units) shall be prosecuted according to law.  

Article 10 (Effective Date)

These Procedures shall be effective as of the date of printing and distributing, and be valid until December 31, 2015. 

The Interim Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Use and Management of Special Fund for the Development of Service Trade (SMPG GO G [2009] No. 36) formulated by the Municipal Commission of Commerce, the Municipal Development & Reform Commission and the Municipal Finance Bureau, and transmitted by the General Office of the Municipal People's Government shall be repealed at the same time. 

The Municipal Commission of Commerce shall, jointly with the Municipal Development & Reform Commission and the Municipal Finance Bureau, be responsible for the interpretation of these Procedures. 

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce

Shanghai Municipal Development & Reform Commission

Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau

October 22, 2012