Super-fast approval bureau opens doors

Boosting Tianjin's plans for establishing a free-trade zone, the city's Binhai New Area has set up the country's first administrative approval bureau, gathering 216 items for approval under the 18 government sectors in the area and shortening the approval process.

The bureau can deliver an approval in one day, which is the fastest in the country.

The administrative service center that opened its doors on Tuesday boasts more than 200 counters offering diversified administrative examination and approval-related services, such as enterprise and tax registration, and foreign investment approval procedures.

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Following a call by the government to integrate development among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces, the move to streamline administrative approvals will help attract an increasing number of private companies to invest in the Binhai New Area, said Zhang Tiejun, director of the Tianjin Binhai New Area Administrative Approval Bureau.

Zhang Lu, financial director of Tianjin Binhai Xianghengrui Metal Sales Co, was able to get her company's business license, organization code certification, tax registration certification and official seal in only 24 hours, as opposed to the average of four days that is standard in the rest of the country.

According to Zhang, she got a list of the items she needed to gather for the approval work from the Binhai administrative approval service center. Then she just had to complete the forms to finish the approval work the day after submitting the application.

"It is quite a bit more convenient than before," Zhang said. In the past, she had to go to a commercial bureau, a public security bureau and other government sectors, and the approval took more than two weeks to be delivered.

To further enhance its efficiency, the bureau established a new supervision system to oversee the approval work. According to the bureau, the service center received a total of 567 applications and completed 416 cases the day after it opened for business.

Reforming the administrative approval function will speed the transformation of government functions in the Binhai New Area, Zhang Tiejun said.

"The 18 departments, without the burden of administrative approval, will focus more on strengthening market supervision and business exploration," he said.

As a pilot area for transforming government functions, Tianjin's Binhai New Area's role is to promote trade and facilitate investment, Huang Xingguo, mayor of Tianjin Municipality, said on a visit to the bureau on Tuesday.