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Qualification Standards for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors in the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industry

I. General Provisions

Article 1 Purpose and Basis

To implement Decree No. 47 of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued in 2005, further regulate exhibition order, and improve the lawful operation, orderly competition and integrity-based service level of exhibition organizers and contractors, the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association formulates these qualification rating standards for exhibition organizers and contractors in light of Shanghai's actual conditions and in accordance with relevant national laws and regulations.

Article 2 Definition of Organizers and Contractors

Exhibition organizers and contractors in these standards refer to independent legal-person entities that are legally registered with national competent authorities, are responsible for formulating exhibition plans and implementation programs, coordinate, organize and arrange exhibitor recruitment, exhibition organization and conference activities, and assume the principal responsibility for such activities.

Article 3 Definition of Qualification Rating Standards

Qualification rating standards recognize the capability, quality, performance and social credibility of exhibition organizers and contractors in planning, organizing and implementing convention and exhibition activities. They reflect comprehensive capability and serve as an important basis for cooperation and bidding in convention and exhibition activities.

Article 4 Scope of Application

These standards apply to independent legal-person entities registered with administrative departments for industry and commerce whose main business is organizing or contracting convention and exhibition activities.

Article 5 Use of Qualification Ratings

  1. An exhibition organizer or contractor that has obtained a qualification rating may state in media publicity and business activities that it is a Shanghai convention and exhibition industry Grade I, Grade II or Grade III exhibition organizer or contractor.
  2. The Association will publicize and recommend qualified exhibition organizers and contractors through appropriate channels and will give priority to recommending them to domestic and overseas convention and exhibition cooperation institutions.

Article 6 Administration

The Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors of the Association is responsible for qualification rating work and for managing organizers and contractors that have obtained qualification ratings.

The Association exercises inspection and supervision over qualification rating work.

II. Qualification Rating Standards

Article 7 Levels

Qualifications for exhibition organizers and contractors are divided into Grade I, Grade II and Grade III, with Grade I being the highest level.

Article 8 Rating Criteria

1. Grade I Qualification

  1. Registered capital of RMB 3 million or above, or total year-end assets of RMB 10 million or above in the year preceding application.
  2. Fixed non-residential office premises with a floor area of 400 square meters or more and corresponding office facilities.
  3. At least seven years of experience in exhibition organizing or contracting business, with no record of major safety liability accidents or poor integrity with relevant municipal government institutions in the three years before application.
  4. Business performance in convention and exhibition activities, meeting any two of the following four conditions: main convention and exhibition business revenue of RMB 20 million or more in the year preceding application; organizing or contracting at least one Shanghai branded exhibition or at least two excellent exhibitions in the three years before application; organizing or contracting two large-scale festival events recognized by municipal government departments in the three years before application; organizing or contracting at least two international exhibitions each with an area of 15,000 square meters or more, or two international conferences each with 400 participants or more, in the three years before application.
  5. At least 25 full-time employees, including at least 1 person with a senior professional title and at least 7 people with intermediate professional titles.
  6. Compliance with national laws and regulations, earnest implementation of the Shanghai Exhibition Industry Management Measures, active participation in public welfare activities, and support for the work of the Association and its Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors.

2. Grade II Qualification

  1. Registered capital of RMB 1 million or above, or total year-end assets of RMB 5 million or above in the year preceding application.
  2. Fixed non-residential office premises with a floor area of 300 square meters or more and corresponding office facilities.
  3. At least five years of experience in exhibition organizing or contracting business, with no record of major safety liability accidents or poor integrity with relevant municipal government institutions in the three years before application.
  4. Business performance in convention and exhibition activities, meeting any two of the following four conditions: main convention and exhibition business revenue of RMB 10 million or more in the year preceding application; organizing or contracting at least two Shanghai excellent exhibitions in the three years before application; organizing or contracting at least one large-scale festival event recognized by municipal government departments in the three years before application; organizing or contracting at least two international exhibitions each with an area of 10,000 square meters or more, or international conferences each with 300 participants or more, in the three years before application.
  5. At least 15 full-time employees, including at least 5 people with intermediate professional titles.
  6. Compliance with national laws and regulations, earnest implementation of the Shanghai Exhibition Industry Management Measures, active participation in public welfare activities, and support for the work of the Association and its Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors.

3. Grade III Qualification

  1. Registered capital of RMB 500,000 or above, or total year-end assets of RMB 2 million or above in the year preceding application.
  2. Fixed non-residential office premises with a floor area of 150 square meters or more and corresponding office facilities.
  3. At least three years of experience in exhibition organizing or contracting business, with no record of major safety liability accidents or poor integrity with relevant municipal government institutions in the three years before application.
  4. Business performance in convention and exhibition activities, meeting any two of the following four conditions: convention and exhibition business revenue of RMB 5 million or more in the year preceding application; organizing or contracting at least one Shanghai excellent exhibition in the three years before application; organizing or contracting at least two large-scale festival events recognized by district government departments in the three years before application; organizing or contracting at least two international exhibitions each with an area of 5,000 square meters or more, or two international conferences each with 200 participants or more, in the three years before application.
  5. At least 8 full-time employees, including at least 3 people with intermediate professional titles.
  6. Compliance with national laws and regulations, earnest implementation of the Shanghai Exhibition Industry Management Measures, active participation in public welfare activities, and support for the work of the Association and its Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors.

III. Qualification Application and Evaluation

Article 9 Application Principles

All exhibition organizers and contractors registered with administrative departments for industry and commerce may apply voluntarily.

Without application and evaluation, no exhibition organizer or contractor may falsely claim any qualification level in external publicity or in the course of convention and exhibition activities.

Article 10 Application Documents

An exhibition organizer or contractor that meets the corresponding qualification level must submit a written application and prepare the following materials:

  1. Original participation authorization letter, using the attached sample.
  2. Basic information form of the applicant institution, using the attached sample.
  3. Authorization letter for application personnel, original, using the attached sample.
  4. Photocopy of the valid business license or certificate of the independent legal-person entity and capital verification report.
  5. Photocopy of proof of use of office premises.
  6. Records of employees' social insurance and housing fund payments, or labor handbook records, and photocopies of certificates for employees with intermediate or higher professional titles.
  7. Resumes of the institution's principal responsible persons, including the legal representative and the operating responsible person authorized by the legal representative.
  8. Photocopies of year-end financial statements for the most recent three years, audited, and the balance sheet for the most recent month, with official seal.
  9. Summary of convention and exhibition activities organized or contracted in the most recent three years, according to the attached requirements.
  10. Photocopies of social-credit or other honor certificates recognized by municipal or district government departments or their authorized institutions.
  11. Matters involving trade secrets in application materials must be clearly marked and the confidentiality period must be stated.

Article 11 Evaluation Procedure

The Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors of the Association arranges third-party consulting institutions to conduct investigation and assessment, and the Association organizes an expert group to conduct comprehensive review and evaluation.

Article 12 Evaluation Time

The evaluation schedule is subject to notices issued by the Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors of the Association.

Article 13 Public Announcement of Results

The evaluation results are publicly announced on the Association website and through media for one month. If there is no complaint, or if complaints are verified and found not to affect the evaluation results, the Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors issues the rating certificate.

IV. Qualification Management

Article 14 Qualification Term

An annual inspection is conducted every two years, and re-evaluation and certificate renewal are conducted every four years.

Article 15 Change Procedures

If an exhibition organizer or contractor changes major information such as its name, registered capital, office address or legal representative, it must complete the corresponding change procedures with the Association within 30 days after completing the relevant registration change procedures.

Article 16 Penalties

If a qualified exhibition organizer or contractor falls under any of the following circumstances, the Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors may impose penalties according to the seriousness of the case, including public warning, downgrading of qualification, or revocation of qualification.

  1. Violating national or local laws and regulations, engaging in illegal business activities, and being penalized by judicial or administrative enforcement authorities.
  2. Making false publicity and causing adverse impact or consequences.
  3. Engaging in malicious competition in the convention and exhibition industry or infringing another party's intellectual property rights and being held accountable by judicial authorities.
  4. Having a major safety liability accident.
  5. Disrupting or endangering exhibition market order and the healthy development environment of the exhibition industry.
  6. Selling, lending, transferring, altering, copying or forging a qualification rating certificate, or forging a higher-level certificate, to undertake business, conduct publicity or seek profit.
  7. Causing serious consequences due to failure to obtain required or basic insurance.
  8. Failing to complete annual inspection or re-evaluation procedures within the prescribed period without special reason.
  9. Concealing or providing materially false information in qualification rating. Once verified, an institution that has already obtained a qualification will have it revoked immediately; an institution that has not yet obtained a qualification will have its eligibility for qualification rating frozen for two years.
  10. Without application and evaluation, falsely claiming to meet a qualification level in external publicity; such conduct will be publicly criticized across the industry and reported to competent authorities for punishment.

Article 17 Responsibilities

  1. A qualified exhibition organizer or contractor that incurs economic disputes, civil disputes or other illegal acts in business activities shall bear the corresponding economic and legal liability itself.
  2. The Association and its Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors are responsible for keeping confidential any trade-secret matters in application materials submitted by exhibition organizers and contractors. If a violation causes serious reputational or economic loss to an organizer or contractor, the relevant responsible persons will be dealt with seriously and may be held legally liable.

Article 18 Interpretation

These standards are interpreted and revised by the Association's Professional Committee for Exhibition Organizers and Contractors.

Article 19 Effective Date

These standards take effect from the date of publication.

October 2009