11 May, 2017
Welcome to this edition of our TMT China Brief!
This edition features a total of 15 articles which capture the significant TMT developments in Greater China since our last TMT China Brief. These latest developments cover an extraordinary breadth of topics and demonstrate a strong increase in the nuance and complexity of TMT law and practice in the region.
Cyber security and film made headlines with the passage of history-making top-level laws in Mainland China. Cyber security in particular has commanded the spotlight because of the Cyber Security Law’s uncertain scope and because draft follow-on legislation on the cyber security review of network products and services has raised at least as many questions as it has answered. At a sector-specific level, cloud service providers need not only be in tune with new cyber security issues, but also new draft regulations setting out more precisely the licensing regime for offering cloud services in the Mainland, as well as the limits of foreign participation in this space.
Fintech is seeing doors open in Hong Kong, with stored value facilities licenses on the rise covering a greater diversity of business models, and potential pathways opening up for use of blockchain. In the Mainland, we see concerns about fair competition in the electronic payments space, as demonstrated by a case punishing cartel behaviour that is particularly interesting due to the fact that the cartel turned out to have been government organised!
Meanwhile, consumer protection and data privacy continue to be hot topics, with new draft regulations on consumer protection in the Mainland, and Hong Kong’s Consumer Council publishing regulatory and best practices recommendations for online retail. Protection of minors in cyber space is also gaining greater regulatory momentum in both jurisdictions.
In the IP arena, “.cn” domain name complaints get a lift in a potential opening to the long-standing 2-year statute of limitations, and in this edition we also examine the complexities of utilising ISP blocking in Greater China to combat trademark and copyright infringement.
Lastly, don’t miss our article on developments in China’s foreign exchange controls, as the government seeks to curb capital flight and perceived abuses of outbound investment. This topic broadly impacts Chinese participation in global deals, not just within the TMT space. We dispel doomsday predictions, while at the same time giving insight into which deals are most likely to be affected.
We are pleased to present you this edition, which we hope will help you navigate through all these new developments.
To read the full report, please click here.
