To spur entrepreneurship and boost market vitality, Tianfu New Area in Chengdu, Sichuan province, has reformed its services for startups to ensure At Most One Visit.

Initiated in 2019, the reform called Integrated Service Area e aims to create a communication channel linking Tianfu's industrial and commercial bureau, taxation department, public security sector and banks to promote cross-agency collaboration and provide startups with one-stop services such as business licensing, tax registration, official seals and invoices, as well as a bank account opening.

The service reform has not only shortened the time needed for administrative approval and helped significantly reduce the costs for startups, but also brought the government closer to residents, said Fan Qiuping, deputy head of the new area's administrative examination and approval bureau.

Since the one-stop service was opened in March, many Chinese and foreign companies have enjoyed the convenience, including New Hope Group, one of the largest companies in Sichuan.

With its operation network expanding across the country, New Hope set up a new subsidiary in Tianfu New Area this year. An executive in charge of establishing the new subsidiary said they had saved both time and effort by using the one-stop service.

That came in sharp contrast with before. In the past, we would have had to go to multiple government departments including the authorities of industry and commerce, taxation, and public security, as well as a bank, to get all the numerous materials needed to complete the application and get approval, the executive said.

In June, a businessman from the United Kingdom applied for the registration of an education consulting and research company in the new area. Having learned from one of his friends how to deal with various government departments before, the UK entrepreneur was expecting a prolonged application process. He even installed a translation app on his smartphone in case it was needed.

Yet to his surprise, the app turned out not to be needed nor did he encounter the complicated administrative procedures he anticipated

With the help of an intelligent translation machine at the service center, the man got his business license and official seals in just a few hours, which was beyond his expectations.

With multiple government and financial functions combined, the service manages to shorten the approval time from one working day to four hours, and provides online filing for foreign-invested businesses, which would have gone to the Ministry of Commerce for filing before. The integrated service has significantly improved both the convenience and efficiency, a business representative said.

The service also enables applicants to submit only one set of five documents covering tax, industrial and commercial registration for review, in comparison with four sets of 22 documents before, officials at the service center said.

The whole approval procedure would otherwise take four trips to different government departments before, they added.

An executive at a Chengdu-based tech startup said the company's staff members immersed themselves in research and development but had no clue of how to file for business registration, so they consulted the Tianfu New Area government on the telephone.

From the reply, we learned all we needed to do was to fill in a set of application forms and documents on the spot, the executive said. We were also informed of the administrative procedures that we need to go through, as well as documents we needed to prepare. The service is very considerate.

The streamlined service procedures reduce application materials by 20 percent and slash the time required by nearly 50 percent, according to the service center.

Moreover, since the end of last year, Tianfu New Area has provided free company seals, legal representative seals, financial chops and special nationwide invoice stamps to the newly established companies in the area.

Currently, the service reform has been listed as a pilot project of Sichuan administrative service innovation and Chengdu taxation system reform.

Wu Qichun, deputy head of Tianfu New Area's taxation administration, said the new area plans to add social insurance and related affairs into the one-stop services in the future.

Over the past eight months, the service has offered 230 consultation services and completed 150 affairs for 130 companies on average on a daily basis. By the end of September, it had dealt with a total of 30,934 enquiries and applications.

A panoramic view of Tianfu New Area in Chengdu.

Business representatives said they can feel the local government's resolution and determination to become service-oriented and pursue an increasingly mature people-centric service concept.

They said they believe the thoughtful services present Tianfu New Area as an international park city with a better business environment.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)