Institutional innovation is both an essential mission and a key impetus of Shanghai Pilot FTZ，and the innovation of trade regulation is part of it. Although Shanghai Pilot FTZ has achieved well-recognized success over the past three years，there are still a few problems including legal basis，collaborative innovation and innovation pathways. The most practical pathway to tackle the legal bottleneck is to follow the precedent of “temporary adjustment or suspension”. It is recommended to set up new mechanisms to break the bottleneck of collaborative innovation by leveraging on the development of the Single Window of international trade，and to diversify the innovation pathways of trade regulation by focusing on enhancing businesses’ satisfaction and sense of gain.