China Monthly TMC Update – February 2017

New developments following the PRC Cybersecurity Law

The Cyberspace Administration of China (“CAC”) published the Draft Measures for the Security Reviews of Network Products and Services (“Draft Measures”) on 4 February to solicit public opinions. Under the PRC Cybersecurity Law, if any network products and services purchased by the critical information infrastructure operators might affect the national security, they must pass national security reviews. The Draft Measures set out the general framework for such national security reviews.

According to the Draft Measures, the focus of national security reviews is whether the products or services are safe and controllable. Specifically, the risk of the product or services being illegally controlled or disrupted, risks involved in development, delivery and technical support, and risks of the products or services being manipulated to infringe user information or to conduct unfair competition will all be considered during the reviews.

The CAC together with other relevant departments will establish a network security review committee to formulate key policies. A network security review office will also be established to organise the designated third party institutions to conduct the specific review work.

The network security review office will publish reports on the reviews periodically. Government departments are encouraged to purchase products and services that pass the security reviews on a priority basis, and are prohibited from purchasing those that fail the reviews.

Please click here to read the full text (Chinese only) of the Draft Measures.

Draft measures are published to regulate online food services

To regulate the progressively growing market of online food ordering and delivery, China Food and Drug Administration (“CFDA”) published the Draft Administrative Measures for Supervising Online Food Services (“Draft Measures”) on 10 February to solicit public opinions.

The Draft Measures require that a party selling food through online channels must have restaurants or other physical business locations, have obtained the necessary business licences and food hygiene licences, and follow all the food hygiene and safety requirements concerning raw material, food processing, packing and delivery.

A party operating an online platform for food ordering and delivery is required to examine the physical business locations of the parties who sell food through its platform. A platform operator is also required to check food sellers’ licences, enter into agreements with them to specify the parties’ responsibilities for food safety, supervise their business activities conducted through the platform and report any violations of law to the local CFDA.

Please click here to read the full text (Chinese only) of the Draft Measures.

China formulates action plan for intelligent health and elderly care

According to the Action Plan for the Development of Intelligent Health and Elderly Care Industry (2017-2020) (“Action Plan”) jointly published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Health and Family Planning Commission on 16 February, China will build a smart health and elderly care industry with more than 100 industrial leading enterprises by 2020. Around 50 standards will be formulated to ensure service quality and information security.

The design and manufacture of health and elderly care products (such as wearable devices, portable health monitors, self-service health examination devices, intelligent custodial care facilities, and domestic robots) are one of the development focuses under the Action Plan. The provision of health care services based on remote collaboration and big data technologies (such as chronic disease management, online health consultation and home health treatment) is another focus.

The government will increase the investment in the industry and explore potential PPP (public—private—partnership) models. It will also publish catalogues of recommended products and services, and promote their use in government procurement projects.

Please click here to read the full text (Chinese only) of the Action Plan.

The 13th Five-year Plan for Copyright Management addresses online copyright matters

The National Copyright Administration published the 13th Five-year Plan for Copyright Management (“Plan”) recently. The Plan emphases four main areas of the government’s copyright management strategy from 2016 to 2020, which include revising and updating copyright legislations, improving administrative measures for copyright matters, establishing public copyright service systems, and promoting international copyright cooperation.

In particular, the Plan identifies online space as an administrative focus. More attention shall be paid to the investigation and enforcement against copyright infringements in online literature, music, movies, games, comics and software. In addition to traditional websites, Apps installed in smart terminals, cloud storage space, and online e-commerce platforms shall all be included in the supervisory scope.

For the purpose of improving investigation and enforcement skills, the Plan encourages the relevant government authorities to use cloud computing, big data and other new information technologies, to conduct real-time supervision, accurate source tracking and other efficient measures.

Please click here to read the full text (Chinese only) of the Plan.

China Telecom builds stations for 5G trials

China Telecom finished the establishment of four 5G stations in Nanjing during mid-February, which is part of the strategic collaboration between China Telecom and the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area. The long-term objective of this collaboration is to establish the first 5G trial environment in China, within which various IoT projects (e.g. connected car, intelligent health care, and smart home) can be developed and tested for potential commercialisation.

Outside Nanjing, 5G trial programs have also been initiated in a few other cities (e.g. Beijing). The other two main telecom operators China Mobile and China Unicom are working closely with the industry players and standardisation groups to further the 5G development in China. At a press conference held on 17 February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced that China has entered the second phase of 5G technology development, and will engage in more international communication and cooperation in the next few years.