The Rules of Shanghai Municipality on Promoting Development of SMEs was implemented from June 1, 2011. It’s learned from the news briefing on the Rules held jointly by the Financial Commission and the Legislative Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai will further improve the SME development environment based on the Rules.
According to Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau, as of the end of 2010, Shanghai had 339,000 SMEs, which accounted for 99.5% of the total number of enterprises, generated more than 60% of the total revenue of the enterprises in Shanghai, and contributed more than 80% of the high-tech achievement transformation projects in Shanghai.

From January to May, 2011, SMEs in Shanghai achieved double-digit growth year on year in terms of industrial output value, industrial profits and total retail sales of consumer goods, and contributed approx. 70% of the total import and export of Shanghai, with growth rate 4 percentage points higher than the average rate.
The Rules specifies detailed and innovative provisions on SME development promotion in such aspects as entrepreneurship support, fund support, innovation promotion, market development, service guarantee and rights protection. In the Rules, two requirements on SME fund support attract much attention: No less than one-third of Shanghai SME Development Fund shall be used in small businesses; and no less than one-third of any other enterprise development fund shall be used in SMES in principle. It’s learned that Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality and Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce are actively implementing the policy to further orient 16 existing special funds to SMEs.
The Rules also gives priority to SMEs in government procurement: For any government procurement project within specific budget, it should be performed by eligible SME to the extent possible; for any government procurement project over specific budget, SMEs should have the priority under the same conditions.