13 January, 2013

On December 18, 2012, the General Administration of Press and Publication (“GAPP“) issued a notice seeking public opinions on the Administrative Measures for Online Publication Services (Revised Draft for Comments) (the “Draft“). The deadline for submission of comments is January 10, 2013. The Draft will replace the Interim Provisions on Internet Publication Administration issued by GAPP and the Ministry of Information Industry in 2002. The Draft applies to online publication services in the PRC. “Online publication services” are defined as activities to provide online publications to the public through information networks, and to provide services to others for disseminating online publications. The Draft also defines the scope of online publications. In order to provide online publication services, an entity shall obtain approval from the relevant publication administration authority and a License for Online Publication Services. The Draft stipulates the requirements for an entity to be eligible to provide online publication services. Sino-foreign joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative ventures, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises are not allowed to provide online publication services. If any of these entities plans to cooperate, with any entity providing online publication services in relation to the business of online publication services, the entity providing the online publication services shall report to GAPP to enable it to conduct a security evaluation.

The Draft also provides other rules and regulations relating to online publication service licenses, administration of online publication services, supervision and administration, guarantees and awards, and legal responsibilities regarding online publication services.
 

The full Chinese text of the Draft is available here.