This newsletter summarizes the latest developments in technology, media and telecom in China with a focus on the legislative, enforcement and industry developments in this area.
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Legislative developments
On 25 July, the Supreme People’s Court issued the Opinions of the Supreme People’s Court on Providing Judicial Services and Guarantees for Accelerating the Construction of a Unified National Market (the “Opinions”) and accompanying typical cases. The Opinions contain 30 articles, one of which specifically provides for supporting the construction of a unified technology and data market. The Opinions point out the need to strengthen the judicial protection for the ownership of and the right to use, dispose of and obtain proceeds from scientific and technological achievements, and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of data rights owners to control, process and obtain proceeds from data as well as the property rights and interests in data products developed by data elements market participants based on data legally collected and generated by themselves. The Opinions also calls for efforts to strengthen the research on legal issues including the attribute, form and ownership of data property rights and public data sharing mechanism, and to accelerate the judicial protection of data property rights.
2. MIIT to develop cybersecurity protection standards for Internet of Vehicles service platforms
On 26 July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) publicized a list of 29 recommended national standards including the Cybersecurity Protection Requirements for Internet of Vehicles Service Platforms and 490 proposed industry standards including the Specifications for Telecommunications and Internet Personal Information Protection Capability Audit to solicit comments on the proposed standards. The recommended national standards focus on intelligent connected vehicle and industrial Internet platforms, while the proposed industry standards target 11 areas including the Internet of Vehicles, cloud computing, big data, data centres, industrial Internet, cybersecurity and data security.
On 8 July, MIIT released the Provisions for Handling Reports of Illegal Acts in the Field of Telecommunications (Draft for Comments) (the “Provisions”). There are 23 articles in the Provisions, which clarify the basic requirements for report handling and specify the requirements for report acceptance, processing, classification, reply and referring.
It was reported on 12 July that recently the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Implementation of New Urbanization (the “Plan”), which specifies the objectives, tasks and policy initiatives for the “14th Five-Year Plan” period to promote the new human-centred urbanization strategy. The Plan proposes to promote large-scale deployment of the fifth-generation mobile communications (5G) network and base station construction to ensure that the 5G network covers all cities and counties, and to promote the phased extension of the 5G network and gigabit optical network coverage to the rural areas in a demand-oriented manner.
On 5 July, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Market Regulation released the Competition Compliance Management Specifications for Internet Platform Enterprises (the “Specifications”). This is the first set of provincial local standards for competition compliance of Internet platform enterprises and came into effect in the province on August 5, aiming to implement the responsibilities of Internet platform enterprises for competition compliance and to realize platform autonomy under governmental supervision. The Specifications comprehensively sort out the risks related to competition compliance of Internet platform enterprises and clarify the key issues in the management of competition compliance of Internet platform enterprises.
On 13 July, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Market Regulation issued the Compliance Guidelines for Live Streaming Marketing Activities in Shanghai (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines clarify the responsibilities and obligations of live streaming marketing platforms, platform operators, live room operators, host and host service providers, and propose that live marketing platforms should establish a blacklist system for hosts. The guidelines also put forward a negative list of 10 goods and services for live streaming marketing in accordance with laws and regulations and stipulate that goods and services such as medical treatment, drugs, medical devices, pesticides, veterinary drugs, health food and those subject to administrative review beforehand are not suitable for live streaming marketing.
7. Shanghai released the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the Development of Shanghai’s Digital Economy
It was reported on 12 July that recently Shanghai released the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shanghai’s Digital Economy (the “Plan”). The Plan points out that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai will build the third-generation Internet technology application ecology with data interconnection and interoperability, create a space-air-ground integrated satellite Internet, accelerate the development of the core technologies such as intelligent human-computer interaction and virtual digital humans, and support leading enterprises to explore the construction of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) trading platforms. The Plan specifies that Shanghai will focus on key areas such as new digital industries, new data elements, new digital infrastructure and new intelligent terminals, strengthen the synergy and interaction of data, technology, enterprises and space carriers, and speed up the layout of digital economy development.
Enforcement Developments
On 25 July, the State Council approved a plan to establish an inter-ministerial joint conference system on the development of the digital economy led by the National Development and Reform Commission. The main responsibilities of the joint conference include promoting the implementation of the digital economy development strategy, coordinating the development of the digital economy, and researching and coordinating major issues in the field. The system will also help to work out the policies and plans in key areas such as digital transformation, big data development and the “Internet Plus” initiative.
2. CAC summoned operators of 3491 websites in the first half of the year 2022
It was reported on 31 July that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has continued to step up its effort in cyber enforcement during the first half of the year. As a result, cyberspace regulators across China summoned the operators of 3,491 websites and issued warning letters to 3052 web services. Moreover, 283 web services were fined, 419 suspended, and 177 mobile applications removed. Additionally, the CAC worked with telecommunications authorities to revoke the licenses of and close the operation of 12,292 web services and referred 4,246 case clues to the competent authorities.
3. CAC launched new round of “Operation Qinglang” for minors
On 18 July, the CAC, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League and the All-China Women’s Federation jointly held the launching ceremony for a new round of “Operation Qinglang”, aiming to create a better internet ecosystem for minors in China. The special campaign targets the concerned issues involving minors and focuses on platforms and apps frequently used by the group such as those for short video sharing, live streaming, social networking, education, online games, e-commerce, children’s smart devices and etc.
4. CAC cracks down on counterfeit investment platforms
It was reported on 1 July that the CAC, in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Security, has cracked down on counterfeit investment fraud platforms and successfully alerted potential victims. The CAC has investigated and cracked down on 42,000 counterfeit apps since the start of this year and added them to the national fraud-related database. Currently, the national fraud-related database has covered and processed 3.804 million scam websites, 514,000 APPs, 415,000 cross-border calls and issued over two billion alerts via an Internet alert platform.
5. MIIT launched the national Internet account “One Card Check 2.0” service to prevent Internet fraud
On 21 July, MIIT officially launched the “One Card Check 2.0” service. It is reported that the “One Card Check 2.0” service is jointly launched by the Anti-Fraud Centre of the MIIT (China Academy of Information and Communications Technology), Internet enterprises and telecommunications enterprises on the basis of the national cell phone card “One Card Check” service and under the guidance of the Network Security Administration of the MIIT. With a mobile phone number and the last six digits of an ID number, users can check the number of Internet accounts associated with the mobile phone number under their names.
It was reported on 20 July that in the first half of the year 2022, the country investigated and dealt with 5,200 “Eradicating Pornography and Illegal Publications” cases, including more than 850 criminal cases. Law enforcement departments not only completed a series of key cases on the dissemination of obscene materials online for profit and the production and sale of illegal publications, but also successively solved a number of criminal cases on Internet-related child sexual abuse and obscene materials smuggling and selling.
On 22 July, the Hainan Provincial CAC punished two dating APPs “Tongcheng Singles” and “Honeymoon”. The APP operators were fined 400,000 CNY in total. It is reported that the APP operators violated Article 47 of the Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China and Article 10 of the Provisions on the Governance of the Online Information Content Ecosystem due to their ineffective management of user accounts and content, which resulted in users’ publication of unlawful content that was sexually suggestive and inducing.
Industry Developments
On 29 July, the Beijing International Big Data Exchange Data Asset Registration Centre was inaugurated at the 2022 Global Digital Economy Conference Data Elements Summit held at the China National Convention Centre. As the core institution for data circulation, the establishment of the registration centre is an important move by the Beijing municipal government to build the core infrastructure for data elements and to promote the market-oriented circulation of data elements.
2. The Fifth Digital China Summit was held in Fuzhou
On 23 July, the 5th Digital China Summit opened in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province. Under the theme of “Innovation-driven New Transformation, Digitization-led New Paradigm”, the summit aims to fully demonstrate the latest achievements in digital China development. The main agenda of the summit consists of 8 parts: the opening ceremony, main forum, policy release, sub-forums, achievement exhibition, digital product expo, innovation competition and cloud ecology conference.
3. China Telecom will cooperate with several central SOEs to create a “national cloud” company
On 12 July, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission held a meeting to discuss the state of the consolidation of work and resources among centrally managed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and to deploy the next step. The conference announced the progress of a series of specialised consolidation projects. During the meeting, it was revealed that China Telecom is focusing on its cloudification and digital transformation strategy and that will bring in strategic investment from various SOEs to create a “national cloud” company.
4. The 2022 Digital Security and Rule of Law Summit Forum was held in Hangzhou
On 21 July, the 2022 Digital Security and Rule of Law Summit Forum kicked off in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, themed around digital economy and data security. The forum aims to discuss frontier technology issues in the field of data security, hot topics surrounding data security laws and the new risks and challenges in the digital transformation of the economy and society. The forum published typical cases in data security and the “China Cyberspace Security Association Self-Regulation Convention on Personal Information Protection”, which was signed on the spot by representatives of 37 internet and telecommunication enterprises.
5. 2022 Global Digital Economy Conference was held in Beijing
On 29 July, the 2022 Global Digital Economy Conference was staged in Beijing. At the conference themed “Embrace a Digital Future — New Factors, New Rules, New Patterns”, participants from more than 40 cities in 30 countries and regions around the world held discussions on policy innovations and trending topics in the global digital economy.
6. The second China New E-Commerce Conference was held in Changchun, Jilin
On 29 July, the second China New E-Commerce Conference was launched in Changchun, Jilin Province. The conference has as its theme “New E-commerce, New Consumption and New Development” and aims to leverage the advantages of new e-commerce in bridging the online and offline worlds, the urban and rural areas and the domestic and international markets in an effort to facilitate the resumption of production and work and boost economic and social growth.
7. CAICT Releases Digital Economy Development Report in China (2022)
On 8 July, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released the Digital Economy Development Report in China (2022) (the “Report”). CAICT continues with its practice to provide in the Report quantitative analysis of the latest trends in China’s digital economy development. Moreover, the Report, for the first time, conducts a systematic review of the strategic policy system for China’s digital economy development, a study of the correlation between the ICT industry and traditional industry inputs in various regions of China as well as a study of the overall spatial pattern of digital economy development in 120 third-tier and above cities in China.
