State Council, Administration of Publishing Regulations

Promulgated: December 25 2001
Effective: February 1 2002
Applicability: These Regulations apply to publishing activities in the PRC. "publishing activities" refers to publication, printing, reproduction, import and distribution of publications (Article 2). Where other administrative regulations stipulate otherwise, publication, reproduction, import and distribution of audio and video products are subject to such regulations (Article 67).

Main contents: According to the Regulations, establishment of any publishing work unit, nationwide publication distribution business or publication import work unit shall be examined and approved by the publishing administrative department of the State Council (Articles 12, 36 and 43). Establishment of a publication printing or reproduction work unit shall be examined and approved by a publishing administrative department of the relevant province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government (Article 32). Foreign investment in a publication distribution business is permitted, and specific implementation procedures in this regard shall be set out by the publishing administrative department and the foreign trade and economic cooperation administrative department of the State Council (Article 39). If approved by the relevant publishing administrative department, a publication printing or reproduction work unit may accept printing or reproduction business from overseas customers but the contents of the publications to be printed or reproduced shall be subject to review by the relevant department and the printed or reproduced overseas publications must be shipped out of the country (Article 34). Import of newspapers and periodicals shall be handled exclusively by publication import work units designated by the publishing administrative department of the State Council (Article 41). A provincial or higher level publishing administrative department may conduct direct examination on the contents of the imported publications and the publishing administrative department of the State Council may prohibit the import of a particular publication (Article 44).
Repealed legislation: State Council, Administration of Publishing Regulations, Jan 2 1997, CLP 1997 No. 2 p10