No.388 August 28, 2009
Special Issues  
Environment & Energy Efficiency Work Group
Meeting Report
USITO/AmCham Breakfast Series on Green Dam
 

On 8/26/2009, USITO held its USITO Environment & Energy Efficiency workgroup meeting. Co-Chairs Scott Zhao (Intel) and Liu Hai (IBM) led t he discussion on a wide spectrum of topics including Energy Efficiency Accreditation for Government Procurement; China RoHS catalogue updates; certification and testing process; WEEE policy progress updates; etc. Members please contact USITO Policy Analyst Ms. Lin Jing for the meeting minutes.

Top Story

Ministry of Finance Unveils 243 Indigenous Innovation Products Catalogue

A Beijing government official told local media last week that 51 products made in Beijing have been accredited as "Indigenous Innovation Products", accounting for 21% of the total product list, thus ranking the first among all provinces across the country. The source said that in the first half of the year, Beijing government procurement market size reached a total of RMB 7.1 billion (USD 1.04 bln), among which RMB 2.7 bln, or 38 per cent, were spent on "Indigenous Innovation Products". In the next half of the year, the Beijing government will reinforcement the measures to buy more Indigenous Innovation Products. According to the official, the Beijing government mandated earlier this year that a total of RMB 3 billion indigenous innovation products be purchased within 2009. With RMB 2.7 bln done in the first half, 90% of the objective has thus been accomplished.

The local media have reported that in June 2009, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has developed the catalogue for China's first batch of "Indigenous Innovation Products", which is said to include 243 products. The availability of this catalogue is part of the efforts to echo the circular of "Administration Methods for Accrediting National Indigenous Innovation Products" released in late 2006 by three ministries: the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance. (USITO members please click here for the English translation)

USITO Notes: Winning a certificate for "Indigenous Innovation Products" is a passport to success for domestic enterprises. According to the three ministries' 2006 directive, all government agencies shall give preference to the "Indigenous Innovation Products", such as government procurement and key national projects shall buy them whenever they are available, and government shall grant preferential policies to the manufacturers of these Products.

MoST does not want to publicize what the 243 products are, however. It is said the ministry has notified the accredited product companies one by one, and issued a press release which briefly states the catalogue is now available. The items in the catalogue are not traceable in any public sources whatsoever. Experts doubt that the ministry may attempt to avoid oppositions from the international community since no foreign products (here means products with foreign brands, wherever they are made) may appear on the list. Without further details about the list, overseas stakeholders can hardly approach the Chinese authorities for the probably biased catalogue.

In the July S&ED, China for the first time defined the "Domestic Products" as any products made within the territory of China. But internally, there is a risk that "Domestic Products" may no longer enjoy preference, since the new "Indigenous Innovation Products" catalogue is now available, and very likely the catalogue will be frequently referred to when the government agencies formulate their government procurement policies.


Pirated Software Distributors Sentenced to Jail

According to local media reports, a city-level Chinese court on 8/20/2009 sentenced four people to prison and ordered a fine of RMB 11 million (USD 1.6 million) for distributing pirated versions of Microsoft's Windows XP and other software.

Hong Lei, the chief developer of the pirated XP software "Tomato Garden", was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The court also fined the Chengdu Share Software Net Co., which operated Tomato Garden, for RMB 8.7 million (USD 1.3 million) and confiscated nearly RMB 3 million (USD 439,000) of its revenue. Hong was detained in August 2008 after authorities received complaints over widespread use of the pirated software, which Tomato Garden distributed for free, earning income on advertising only. It is said over 10 million people were thought to have downloaded pirated software from the website.

An official statement from Business Software Alliance (BSA) lauded the verdict as it "represents the end of China's largest online software piracy syndicate and marks a milestone in China's efforts to crack down on Internet piracy."

USITO Notes: It is very rare in China to see criminal charges brought against software pirates, which were often times handled under the civil law. Previous IPR violation lawsuits had mostly ended up with a few symbolic fines on the violators if there were any punishment, while many cases were long processed with non-judicial mediation. China has the world's largest Do-It-Yourself personal computer market (an IDC report said that in 2008 the DIY computers accounted for about 25% of China's total PC shipment), and the majority of these DIY computers were intalled pirated operating software like "Tomato Garden", which is easily available. USITO continues to believe that IPR protection is the basic foundation for "indigenous innovation". With a software piracy rate of up to 80% in 2008 (BSA statistics) compared to the global average of 41%, the homegrown software industry would not have much momentum to grow their business. Chinese IPR laws are also rather tolerant on software IPR violation issues, and does not attempt to strictly prohibit pirated software installation.


The Draft Amendment to Renewable Energy Law Under Review

According to a Caijing.com.cn report, on August 24, 2009 the National People's Congress of China began reviewing the draft amendment to the Renewable Energy Law, which advocats the establishment of a fund jointly financed by central government fiscal revenue and surcharges on renewable energy consumption.

The Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2006 formulated a cost-allocation mechanism that would use consumer surcharges to offset the relatively higher on-grid tariffs for renewable energy compared with benchmark thermal-coal power plants. The revenue from the surcharges would subsidize renewable energy development. Detail

Member in the News: Nokia to launch mini netbook

Nokia says it is moving into the personal computing market with the launch of a mini netbook. The Nokia Booklet 3G is to be formally launched at the Nokia World event in Germany on September 2. "A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with full benefits of mobility," Kai Oistamo, the head of Nokia's devices arm, said in a statement. Detail

Selected Chinese Media Reports
 

Regulations

China Launches Internet-of-Things Technology R&D

General Engineer Zhu Hongren from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on August 26 that China’s government departments concerned are working together on Research of new generation technologies including Internet-of-things, to identify their development trends, frame new policies in this field and accelerate the development of the entire economy. Internet-of-things refers to a new technology enabling interface of various sensors and current Internet. According to Zhu, with the concerted efforts of parties involved, new generation information technology, including Internet-of-things, will give an impetus to China’s economy. Chinese Text

News Rules Announced for Charges of Radio Frequency

On August 25, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly announced that the Administrative Measures for Management of Radio Frequency Use Fees would come into effect. According to the Measures, the radio frequency use fees refer to special funds collected through state radio management authorities and used for the development of the state radio undertakings, and shall be charged according to relevant regulations. No department or organization can adjust or reduce such fees without the approval of the Ministry of Finance and NDRC.Chinese Text

Trade & Investment

More Funds Granted for Propelling Innovation in SMEs

Technological innovation and restructuring remain a vital impetus driving the development of the small and medium-sized enterprises, and for this reason, the State Council executive meeting highlighted the need to increase the grant-in-aid under the central government budget to assist SMEs with technological innovation, restructuring and employment expansion. In 2009, the SMEs development funds under the central government budget will increase to RMB9.6b from RMB3.9b, to spark faster development of SMEs. According to the executive meeting, special funds shall be granted under the central government budget and by local governments to support the technological upgrading of SMEs. Large enterprises are encouraged to enter into cooperation with SMEs, and SMEs are encouraged to engage in technological R&D, industrial design, software R&D and cartoons. Sources said that the first lot of SMEs development funds in 2009 will be used to give priority support to SME’s technology upgrading projects. Chinese Text

3G Mobile Communications

ChinaMobile Aligns with Taiwan Counterparts on 4G

China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou signed on August 26 a MOU on LTE technology R&D with the Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, and reached an agreement with MediaTek on jointly developing TD-SCDMA, TD-LTE products and technologies. TD-SCDMA is a prevailing 3G standard, and TD-LTE as the evolution trend of TD-SCDMA in the future, features wider frequency bandwidth and low power consumption, and is considered 4G core technology. Taiwan media commented that this demonstrates China Mobile will cooperate heavily with Taiwan communication industry in mobile communication field, especially in 4G. Chinese Text

Results of Low-Cost 3G Handsets Sourcing Announced

A meeting called specifically by China Telecom for 3G handset vendors and distributors on August 24 came to a happy end after face-to-face talks between both parties. At the meeting, China Telecom and four participating domestic agents signed deals with 31 terminal vendors respectively. 68 handset types have been signed, of which approximately 30 types by China P&T Appliances, approximately 20 types by Telling Communications, over a dozen types by Potevio Taili, and approximately 10 types by Mgame China, all totaling 4 million units. Chinese Text

China Unicom to Announce iPhone Deal

China Unicom, one of China's three telecom carriers, is said to officially announce the deal with Apple Inc's iPhones in China. It is reported that the deal with Apple would allow China Unicom to sell iPhones for RMB 3,000-4,000 with a tariff package requiring a certain ammount of money in pre-payment. The Unicom version of iPhone, however, may not carry WLAN module since the Chinese government does not allow any mobile phones to use WLAN standards other than its homegrown WAPI. Since Apple does not want to give up the Wi-Fi standard, both sides agreed to scrap the WLAN functions out of the China version iPhone. Chinese Text

China Mobile to Launch 100 3G Terminals

According to a report in the Southern Metropolitan Daily, China Mobile wants to introduce more than a hundred new phone models in China by the end of the year, as an effort to entice more of its users to switch to 3-generation services. The company's CEO, Mr. Wang Jianzhou said that China Mobile still has a lot of room to develop value-added services, such as music and games downloads, but without the supporting terminals, these services can't be exploited by the users. So the company is currently talking to the terminal vendors and has reached terms to introduce more smart terminals to the market. Chinese Text

Semiconductor

Vimicro Partners with Leadcore Technology

Vimicro announced on August 25 that it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Leadcore Technology, Datang Telecom’s subsidiary. Under the agreement, Vimicro will work with Leadcore Technology to develop 3G mobile phone technology based on TD-SCDMA and multimedia standard for China Mobile. As part of the agreement, Vimicro will contribute comprehensive mobile multimedia technology and solutions, including mobile TV technology. Vimicro is a leading provider of multimedia semiconductor and solutions in China, while Leadcore Technology is a leader in TD-SCDMA technology and standards, delivering TD-SCDMA equipment solutions to worldwide users. According to Sun Yuwang, President of Leadcore Technology, this strategic alliance will strengthen the leadership of the two enterprises in China’s 3G wireless market. Chinese Text

Internet

China Vies for More Say in IPV6

As current IPV4 addresses will be depleted by 2012, countries in the world are struggling for favorable allocation of next generation Internet IPV6 addresses. Paul Vilson, Chairman of APNIC (Asia-Pacific Network Information Center) said on August 26 that APNIC will offer China chances to get involved directly in enacting of IP address management policies. APNIC is one of the world’s five regional Internet registration authorities, responsible for fair distribution and management of IP addresses and related digital resources in Asia-Pacific region. According to Mao Wei, Director of CNNIC, China should seize opportunities to expand application of IPV6 addresses. The purpose of the APNIC senior official’s visit to China is to exchange views with China’s Internet industry on hotspot issues including Internet administration, domain name security, and internationalized domain names. Chinese Text

  

USITO selected and translated the news summaries above. If you are interested in learning more details about the above Chinese language links, you are welcome to contact us (wenjie@usito.org) to sponsor the translation of that report.

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