The construction of a law-based government in Shenzhen has achieved remarkable results. The first circuit court of the Supreme People’s Court, the first international commercial court, and China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center have been established in the city. The financial court and intellectual property court have been put into operation, and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, Shenzhen Qianhai Cooperation Zone People’s Court and Qianhai intellectual property procuratorial research institute have been established. Shenzhen has put in place a comprehensive legal service system integrating arbitration, mediation, lawyers, notarization, judicial expertise, intellectual property protection and legal identification. It has strengthened the restriction on administrative power, handled well the suggestions and proposals of lawmakers and political advisors, invited administrative law enforcement supervisors to participate in law enforcement supervision, and further standardized information disclosure of governmental departments.
Great achievements have been made in the exploration of legal innovation. Shenzhen has built 760 public legal service platforms citywide. Relying on its public legal service network, it strives to speed up the building of an online platform and cooperate with legal service institutions to provide legal service links and suggestions for private enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. It has explored to establish a cohesive“mediation + judicial confirmation”and “mediation + notarization”mechanism, an administrative mediation mechanism for petition and administrative litigation backtracking, and build a smart management platform for diversified solutions to conflicts and disputes and a one-stop mediation platform. Shenzhen has built the first law-based government information platform in China and made innovations in lawyer services. It has built a team of foreign-related legal service talents and a talent pool of foreign-related lawyers and intellectual property lawyers. The Shenzhen Maker Law Center has been put into operation, providing professional and pro bono legal services for makers. The center is the first legal service platform in China to provide expert guidance for makers.
IPR Protection
Shenzhen attaches great importance to intellectual property. The city government has signed a cooperation framework agreement with the National Intellectual Property Administration to safeguard intellectual property rights (IPR). Shenzhen has promoted the establishment of a number of State-level platforms in the city, including Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court, China (Shenzhen) Intellectual Property Protection Center, China (South) Intellectual Property Center and the national intellectual property training base. It has been approved to be a pilot city for the construction of national intellectual property operation and service system.
In order to further enhance exchanges and cooperation and unify the judicial standards of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, Shenzhen Intellectual Property Court began to explore the practice of introducing jurors from Hong Kong into the court in 2019.
Efficient Government
In accordance with the requirements of building a law-based, responsible and transparent government, the Shenzhen Municipal Government has constantly strengthened and improved its efficiency. It has been committed to creating a fair, transparent and relaxed environment for economic development, social progress and public welfare, and providing efficient and high-quality public products and services.
Efforts have been made to improve the efficiency of government services. In 2019, Shenzhen launched the“iShenzhen”all-in-one government service app, integrating 7,693 items of government services onto the mobile service platform. The city has facilitated 468 items of administrative services, and made 500 service items available for online approval. 254 services of "fast approval," such as talent introduction and commercial registration, were launched. The city has taken the lead in issuing blockchain e-invoices in the country. The processing time limit for deregistering a business was shortened to less than one working day, and the average time for handling tax matters was reduced by 40 percent. Midday service is available at sub-district, district and city-level administration service halls, which significantly improved the public’s sense of convenient access to government services.