No.396 October 30, 2009
Special Issues  
2009 Customs & Export Control Seminar
USITO Policy Call Oct.29
 

USITO, SEMI and TechAmerica are pleased to invite you to attend our second event this year focused on Customs and Export Controls. The speakers will share their knowledge on the Validated End User (VEU) program and enforcement, the U.S. export licensing for companies in China, as well as industry perspectives on export controls. It will be held in SEMI China Office in Shanghai, 2-4:30pm November 4, 2009.

Top Story

Comments on China's Draft Telecommunications Law

China began drafting the Telecommunications Law as early as 1980. Especially following China¡¯s WTO accession, Chinese authorities seemed accelerating the adoption of a western-style telecommunications law. However, after nearly three decades the government has yet to officially promulgate the Law, though several draft versions have been available to the public.

Most existing telecommunications bills in western countries, such as the U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996, are primarily aimed at breaking monopoly and building a level playing field, encouraging convergence and triple play, and in general have introduced deregulation and transparency into the market. However, China with a more complicated telecom industry takes different perceptions when formulating it. For instance, the first glance over the draft gives the industry an impression that the Law appears somewhat biased since it always attempts to protect the current regulators and dominant state-owned companies' interests.

 

To study the probably most controversial law in China, it is essential to understanding the complicated and multifaceted internal mechanisms of Chinese telecommunications business scenario, such as the former public monopoly has given way to state-controlled competition: three telecom carriers now operate with full telecom licenses; state-run cable carriers and broadband carriers are expanding their networks; private telecom businesses are blossoming, and so forth. It makes authorities increasingly difficult to justify telecom services and creates fair play problems like turf battles, interconnection, and higher barriers for overseas players.?

China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in October 2001, which demanded the country to accord to world practices in the telecom sector. Though the government promulgated the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s Telecommunications Regulations in 2000 and the Regulations on Foreign Investment in Telecom Enterprises in 2001, those temporary and transitional policies were almost impossible to address the ever-growing complicated issues. (For the latest 2009 version of China's Telecommunications Law, members please click here to download the Chinese version, click here for the English Translation.)

USITO Notes: As covered in USITO Weekly 10/16/2009 edition, in alliance with Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), USITO has been soliciting member companies¡¯ comments on China's draft Telecommunications Law for the past?few weeks. So far USITO alone has obtained fifteen companies¡¯ feedbacks, based on which we have developed a 10-page or so letter of comments by working with TIA.

 

We believe that China has undertaken a number of important steps to foster expansion of its telecommunications sector as it develops a dynamic and resilient economy; in the draft law version some important global regulatory principles have been incorporated and applied to China¡¯s unique circumstances to establish the legal framework to ensure the healthy and robust development of its telecommunications sector. As Chinese authorities have reckoned, active and robust exchanges with industry will help China ensure that policies that are adopted will achieve maximum development and market impact. Our suggestions to the draft law are multidimensional ¨C from the general perception in drafting the law to enforcement details. Typical points in this joint industry submission include:?1.?General Principle... (Members please click here for details).


Comments on Draft First Key Management Catalogue for China RoHS

On October 9, 2009, the Energy Conservation and Resources Utilization Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced to the public the draft first key management Catalogue for Electronic Information Products (EIP) for Priority Control of Pollution (China RoHs), and invited industry comments to the Catalogue. US Information Technology Office, together with our member companies in China, who are key stakeholders of the listed products, are providing the following comments prior to the November 9, 2009 deadline.

The comments below are thoughtfully drafted after reviewing the draft First Key Management Catalogue based on the ¡®Measures for the Administration of the Control of Pollution by Electronic Information Products¡¯ and the ¡®Procedures for the Formulation of the Catalogue of Electronic Information Products for Priority Control of Pollution¡¯, together with broad comparison with global practices, and most importantly formulating applicability and cost analysis in actual factory-to-market processes.

We appreciate MIIT¡¯s open and forthcoming attitude demonstrated in this public comment. The transparency and equitable attitude in industry and environmental regulation will lead to a robust and fair environment for global players coming into the Chinese market as well as domestic players venturing out to develop in an efficient, effective and environmentally friendly way.

USITO members please click here for the letter of comments.


China Has A Total of 132 SOEs

According to a Xinhua report on October 26, 2009, the number of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was 132 as of September 2009, a decrease of 3 from the number of 135 in 2008. The figure was released by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), China's state property regulator.

The SASAC had 196 centrally-administrated SOEs were under its supervision when it was set up in 2003, and the authority aims to reduce the number of SOEs to 80-100 by 2010 . Detail

Member in the News: CISCO To Acquire ScanSafe

CISCO is set to acquire SAAS security vendor ScanSafe for roughly USD 183 million. The move will help add to the Web security capabilities CISCO acquired when it bought IronPort two years ago, and broaden its presence in the cloud and expand its Web security offerings. Detail
Selected Chinese Media Reports
 

Regulations

Draft Tort Law: Websites Responsible for Tort

On Oct.27, the draft tort law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People¡¯s Congress for deliberation for the third time. The draft law, vital to every civilian, provided solutions for large numbers of tort cases. Prof. Wang Jianping from SichuanUniversity, who once attended a symposium on drafting of tort law, told the media that the draft law will contain flat provisions on the liabilities of infringing party in the cases of manpower research. It is explicitly stipulated in the draft law that should Internet service providers fail to take necessary measures when knowing a user will use the service to commit a tort, they will have to bear joint and several liabilities. Chinese Text

Chinese Handset Charger Standard Becomes International Standard

At the plenary meeting of ITU-T SG5 which just concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, a high-profile framework standard ¡°Universal power adapter and charger solution for mobile terminals and other ICT devices¡± was approved. The framework standard will then be submitted to ITU for approval, and this means a unified standard for handset chargers will be implemented globally. Sources said that this framework standard has incorporated the core contents of a Chinese national standard titled Technical requirements and test procedures for power adapters and charger/data interface for mobile communication terminals, which is being implemented in China. China released a unified handset charger standard on December 14, 2006. The approved proposal of framework standard drew wide attention and received good opinions of the United Nations, ITU and the industry worldwide. Chinese Text

Trade & Investment

Baidu Among China's Top 20 Competitive Companies

RolandBerger Strategy Consultants and the Global Entrepreneur Magazine announced the rankings of 2009 Chinese top 20 companies in terms of global competitiveness. Baidu, a Chinese search service provider, is the only Internet enterprise among the top 20. Baidu was selected due to its exceptional performance in the past 14 consecutive quarters, remarkable success in implementing its global strategy, excellent results it achieved in technical innovation and products innovation, and its high-level creative human resources management system. Chinese Text

Audio-Video IP Alliance Proclaimed

Beijing Audio-Video Intellectual Property Alliance was established on Oct. 28. This alliance was aimed to enhance the competitive edges of the entire audio-video industry and respond to IP cases. Founders of this alliance included Institute of Computing Technology of CAS, and experts voiced their support for this organization. The alliance will pool the strengths of enterprises, CAS and IP intermediaries to address IP issues in this field and respond to IP disputes. Chinese Text

3G Mobile Communications

MIIT: TD-LTE on 4G Standards Shortlist

MIIT announced that China¡¯s proprietary TD-LTE-Advanced technology proposal has been submitted to ITU and the TD-LTE technology on the short-list of 4G international standard. On Oct. 14-21, 2009, ITU called the 6th meeting of the ITU-R WP5D working group in Germany, soliciting candidate technologies for new generation mobile communication (IMT-Advanced, AKA 4G). Six 4G technology proposals were submitted, respectively from China, Japan, Korea, 3GPP and IEEE. All these proposals fall into two technology groups: LTE-Advanced and 802.16m, and contain TDD and FDD systems. LTE-Advanced received strong support from leading international communication operators and equipment vendors. According to the schedule, who will win will be known in Oct. 2010. Chinese Text

Giants Meet to Reshape Mobile Internet Market

Sources said China Mobile met CEOs of three famed telecom operators in Shanghai, aiming to build a unified global platform and reshape a mobile Internet market with billions of subscribers. Three other telecom operators are Softbank Corp., Verizon wireless and Vodafone. The talks centered on the development strategy of mobile Internet in the future. The four giants expected to, through a joint innovation lab, create a unified global platform for handset application developers, encouraging various innovative and practical mobile widgets. Widget is an Internet-based small application with powerful functions, and can facilitate user access to useful information. The above companies jointly set up an innovation lab in 2008, in an effort to advance the R&D of handset-based new mobile technologies, applications and services, and accelerate the commercial application of mobile Internet services. Chinese Text

China Unicom iPhone TechnologySupportCenter Starts Operation

China Unicom said that its iPhone TechnologySupportCenter has been set up in Beijing and started operation on Oct. 19. This technology support center is established to provide professional technology services to iPhone subscribers and provide technical support to China Unicom¡¯s local customer service centers. Before starting operation, China Unicom has done a lot of preparations, including working with Apple to train customer service representatives. China Unicom Vice President Zhao Jidong said China Unicom should follow Apple¡¯s service mode to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. Chinese Text

Software

GAPP Said to Release New Anti-Piracy Rules

Sources close to China Internet Video Anti-Piracy Alliance told the media that by the end of this year, GAPP is likely to issue anti-piracy rules to enhance anti-piracy enforcement efforts. Insiders believe that this news will come true, as the greatly enlarged fines mandated in Internet video tort cases mirrors the determination of the government in anti-piracy. In existing laws, provisions on Internet copyright are too general and indemnity remains low, and therefore piracy victims have little interest to take actions. But it seems that competent authorities are committed to change the situation through enhancing anti-piracy measures. Chinese Text

UOF Industrialization Launched

On Oct. 28, Kingsoft, Founder and other Chinese office software vendors opened a UOF-centered technology exchange platform, and provided free development tools, hoping more domestic vendors to develop UOF-based applications. Their purpose is to increase the market share of UOF. Analysts comment that this is the first step in the industrialization process of UOF. Ni Guangnan, member of CAS consistently supporting UOF, said UOF has received wide support. But he stated that the government shall render more support to UOF. Chinese Text

Semiconductor

Higher Performance Computer Unveiled

China¡¯s first supercomputer with an operation speed of 1000 trillion times per second made debut in Changsha, Hunan on Oct. 29. The peak speed of 1206 trillion times per second and the Linpack measured speed of 563.1 trillion times per second rank this computer, named Tianhe 1, as the number one among China¡¯s top 100 supercomputers. China becomes the second nation having capability to develop this type of supercomputer, following U.S. As one of key projects under the 863 Program, the R&D of Tianhe 1 supercomputer started in 2008. By the end of 2010, the supercomputer will start operation in Tianjin. According to Liu Guangming, Director of Tianjin Supercomputer Center, Tianhe 1 will be widely used in resource exploration, biomedical research, aviation and spaceflight equipment R&D, financial projects and new material R&D. Chinese Text

Headway Made in Key Special Projects

Wan Gang, Minister of Science and Technology, said on Oct. 24 that to respond to financial crisis, the planned Special Projects have been adjusted, and a number of innovation projects which are badly needed for industrialization purpose and expected to achieve industrialization soon, and implemented in response to financial crisis have made initial progress. R&D of samples of relevant chips and equipment for experimental purpose has finished. Sources said key special projects are scheduled in a way as to combine with state key projects and science & technology projects, give play to the guidance role of leading enterprises, and enhance the cooperation among enterprises, universities and research institutes. The application and dissemination of key technologies, products and equipment not only play vital roles in expanding domestic demands and ensuring economic growth, and render vigorous support to adjustment of economic structure and upgrading of industry. ¡°From a long term viewpoint, more important goal is to promote the upgrading of the industrial upgrading and enhance the growth momentum of the economy,¡± said Wan Gang. 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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