China TMT Monthly Update – March 2018

MIIT issues the Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilisation of Power Batteries of New Energy Vehicles

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and six other authorities jointly issued the Interim Measures for the Management of Recycling and Utilisation of Power Batteries for New Energy Vehicles (Measures) on the 26 February 2018. The Measures will come into effect on the 1 August 2018.

The Measures provide requirements for dealing with the used power batteries of new energy vehicles that are generated during manufacturing, usage, storage and transportation. Battery manufacturers should keep their products standardised so that they can be easily disassembled. They should also promptly provide instructions to the new energy vehicle manufacturers for storing and dismantling the batteries. If necessary, the battery manufacturers must also provide training sessions to the new energy vehicle manufacturers. The battery manufacturers are also strongly recommended to co-operate with the new energy vehicle manufacturers on establishing a coding system that allows for relevant information on the power battery to be traced.

For new energy vehicle manufacturers, the Measures provide that they should take responsibilities beyond those of a mere producer. This means that the manufacturers are not only responsible for the manufacturing process of the batteries, but are also responsible for the entire life cycle of the products; including but not limited to their design, circulation, recycling, and waste disposal. For example, the new energy vehicle manufacturers should establish a recording system for tracing all the information on sold vehicles and their owners. The manufacturers should also establish power battery recycling channels and take charge of the used battery recycling process. In addition, the manufacturers should co-operate with scrap vehicle collection entities, to share relevant information that facilitates scrap collection procedures.

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

MIIT may establish a block chain technology standardisation technical committee soon

The Informatisation and Software Services Division (Division) of the MIIT announced that they are preparing to establish a block chain and distributed ledger technologies standardisation technical committee on the 12 March 2018.

Currently, many international organisations have started to work on the standardisation of block chains. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has established a technical committee TC 307 to focus on the standardisation of block chain technologies and distributed ledger technologies.

In order to promote the formation of a complete block chain standard system, the Division has instructed the China Electronics Standardisation Institute to submit a proposal on the establishment of a block chain technical committee. The formal committee is expected to be established soon.

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

SAPPRFT issues the Guidelines on the Copyright Assets Management of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television Enterprises

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) issued the Guidelines on the Copyright Assets Management of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television Enterprises (Trial) (Guidelines) on the 27 February 2018.

The Guidelines apply to press, publication, radio, film and television enterprises, and relevant public institutions. The Guidelines require the enterprises to establish designated team and internal copyright management systems.

During daily operation, an enterprise should make sure that if they create or generate any copyright work that they have first determined or agreed upon the ownership of any intellectual property. If the intellectual property is the subject of a sale or purchase transaction, the enterprise should check that the chain of any transfers are clear and intact, and that the price or valuation of the intellectual property is appropriate. During use of the intellectual property, the enterprise should be aware of the scope of the IP right and any limitations or other restraints on it. In addition, the enterprise should keep a detailed record of the daily operations and transactions of all copyright related matters.

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

MIIT publishes the Domain Name System in China

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued its 7th Announcement of 2018 regarding the adjusted China Internet Domain Name on the 2 March 2018.

Under the Announcement, domain names at each level may be composed of letters (A-Z, a-z, capital letters and small letters have the same effect), numbers (0-9), hyphen (-) or Chinese characters.

Top-level domain names “include ”.CN”, “.中国”, “.政务”, “.公益’’ and a few others. Second-level domain names include “category domain names” such as “GOV” for government institutions; “ORG” for non-profit organizations; “AC” for scientific and research institutions; and “administrative area domain names”, such as “BJ” for Beijing City; “HE” for Hebei Province; and “HK” for Hong Kong.

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

China reorganises administrative authorities – new regulatory authorities for the TMT Sector

Recently, the 13th National People’s Congress (“NPC”) of the People’s Republic of China passed the Programme of Reforming the Institutions of the State Council (“Programme”) on the 17 March 2018. According to the Programme, some of the institutions under the State Council will be reorganised. This includes the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) and the Ministry of Culture (MoC).

The functions of the SAPPRFT will be divided into three parts, which are news publications, movie management, and other remaining functions. The news publications and movie management functions are to be merged into the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. The newly established State Administration of Radio and TV (“SART”) will replace SAPPRFT and take over the rest of the residual functions (e.g. quality control and importation of radio and television programmes). The MoC will combine its responsibilities with the China National Tourism Administration, which will create a new regulatory authority, the Ministry of Culture and the Tourism.

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