Regulations for the Shanghai Free Trade Zone will be ready in the first quarter next year to accompany reforms which are about be launched in the area.

"We aim to take the administrative regulations up to the legislative level, to accompany the FTZ reforms," Li Zhaojie, deputy head of the FTZ management committee, said during a weekend forum at Fudan University.

Shanghai has so far launched a total of six regulations encompassing FTZ operations, and has suspended one regulation concerning foreign company approval.

The Shanghai People's Congress has begun research to launch the regulations by the first quarter in 2014, Shanghai Securities News reported.