Laws of the People's Republic of China

   Article 2 Foreign-related social survey activities mentioned in these Measures refer to the social survey activities conducted by such institutions within the territory of China as foreign-capital enterprises, Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures held by foreign parties, Chinese-foreign contractual joint ventures with foreigners occupying a leading position, branches of foreign enterprises, resident representative offices of foreign enterprises and resident institutions in China of other foreign organizations(hereinafter referred to as foreign-related institutions for short); various social survey activities conducted by domestic survey institutions with the entrustment or under the financial aid of organizations, individuals or foreign-related institutions from outside the territory or in other cooperative ways.

   Article 3 Organizations and individuals from outside the territory, subsidiaries of foreign enterprises and resident representative offices of foreign enterprises within the territory and resident institutions in China of other foreign organizations shall not, by their own, conduct social survey activities within the territory of China. Where there is a need to conduct such surveys, they shall be conducted by domestic institutions with the qualification of conducting foreign-related social survey. Institutions without such qualification shall not be commissioned for any survey.

   Article 4 Foreign-related social survey shall not duplicate with the State statistical surveys, departmental statistical surveys and local statistical surveys.

   Article 5 Institutions and personnel conducting foreign-related social survey activities shall not undertake the survey activities in the name of governmental statistical institutions and governmental statisticians.

   Article 6 No unit or individual shall make use of foreign-related social survey activities to obtain State secrets, prejudice the State security and interests, damage the public interests and engage in frauds.

No unit or individual shall make use of foreign-related social survey activities to prejudice others interests. With respect to the information resulted from the foreign-related social survey activities that could lead to the identification of individual respondents, it is obligatory to keep such information confidentiality.

   Article 7 Statistical institutions of the people s governments at or above the provincial level are the organs in charge of foreign-related social survey activities and responsible for the administrative work of foreign-related social survey activities. Their main functions and responsibilities are as follows:

(1) to publicize, carry out and implement relevant policies, laws, regulations and rules regarding foreign-related social survey activities;

(2) to plan, direct, coordinate and promote the development of the sector of foreign-related social surveys, to strengthen the professional training and education in vocational ethics for practitioners in the sector of foreign-related social surveys;

(3) to be responsible for the qualification identification of foreign-related social survey institutions and the annual verification;

(4) to be responsible for approving foreign-related social survey activities;

(5) to inspect law enforcement of foreign-related social survey institutions, and investigate and deal with the relevant illegal acts in foreign-related social survey activities according to law; or

(6) other functions and responsibilities provided for by laws or regulations.

   Article 8 Institutions engaging in foreign-related social survey activities shall, upon qualification identification, obtain the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys. The License of Foreign-related Social Surveys shall be uniformly produced by the statistical institutions of the people s governments at or above the provincial level, and no unit or individual shall counterfeit it.

Institutions which apply for the qualification to engage in foreign-related social survey activities shall meet the following requirements:

(1) a legal entity established according to law;

(2) social surveys included in the operation or business scope registered in the department of industrial and commercial administration or department of civil affairs or approved by the department responsible for institution and staffing management;

(3) survey ability adaptable to the foreign-related social survey activities;

(4) strict and sound system of information security; and

(5) the legal representative having been subject to no criminal punishments within five years, and having been subject to no administrative penalties, or administrative sanctions more serious than dismissal from the post within two years.

Individuals, and institutions whose qualifications of foreign-related social survey activities have not been identified shall not engage in foreign-related social survey activities.

   Article 9 In applying for the qualification identification of foreign-related social survey activities, the applicant shall submit the following materials:

(1) an application report;

(2) a form for applying for the qualification to engage in foreign-related social survey activities;

(3) one of the following qualification certificates or approval documents of the legal entity: the Business License of Legal Entity as Enterprise and its copies, the Registration Certificate of Legal Entity as Association and its copies or approval documents and its copies of the department of agency and staffing management or relevant departments ;

(4) the resume of legal representatives, evidences presented by the departments of personnel dossier management showing that they have not been subject to criminal punishments or administrative penalties, the original identity card and its copies; and

(5)other materials required by the qualification identifying organs.

   Article 10 Institutions which have obtained the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys through qualification identification of foreign-related social survey activities shall, with respect to their qualifications to engage in foreign-related social survey activities and the state of affairs of foreign-related social survey activities conducted last year, accept an annual verification from the original qualification identifying organ in March per year.

In dealing with the annual verification, the following materials shall be submitted:

(1) the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys;

(2) an annual verification form of foreign-related social survey activities; and

(3) a report on the state of affairs of the annual verification of foreign-related social survey activities.

Where under special circumstances foreign-related social survey institutions subject to annual verification are not able to accept an annual verification on schedule, they shall apply for extending the handling period of the verification to the qualification identifying organ. Whoever has not passed the annual verification, or have not handled it within the prescribed period and have not either applied for extending the handling period, its License of Foreign-related Social Surveys shall be suspended temporarily or revoked in light of the seriousness of circumstances.

   Article 11 With respect to the survey institutions whose survey scopes are across the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the National Bureau of Statistics shall be responsible for the identification of their qualifications to engage in foreign-related social survey activities and the annual verification; with respect to the survey institutions whose survey scopes are limited within the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the statistical institutions of the people s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be responsible for the identification of their qualifications to engage in foreign-related social survey activities and the annual verification.

   Article 12 The conduct of foreign-related social survey activities must be submitted to the statistical institutions of the people s governments at or above the provincial level for review and approval.

With respect to the surveys with coverage across the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the survey shall be reported to the National Bureau of Statistics for review and approval; With respect to the scope under survey limited within the administrative regions of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, the survey shall be reported to the statistical institutions of the people s government at the provincial level where the survey will be conducted for review and approval.

   Article 13 In applying for review and approval of foreign-related social survey activities, the following materials shall be submitted:

(1) the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys;

(2) an application for projects of foreign-related social survey;

(3) an survey plan, which includes the purpose, content, scope, time, object, questionnaire form and mode of survey;

(4) a written contract of the entrusted survey; and

(5) other materials whose submission is required by the reviewing and approving organ.

   Article 14 The review and approving organ shall, as of the date of receipt of the application materials, make a decision of review and approval and issue an Review and Approval Decision of Foreign-related Social Surveys as quick as possible, and generally the period of time for review and approval shall not exceed 14 days; in case of special circumstances, the period of time for review and approval may extend another 10 days.

In case of being up to the qualification upon review, an approval shall be given; in case of not being up to the qualification, no approval shall be given and the reasons therefor shall be given.

   Article 15 Foreign-related social survey activities whose conducting has been consented to upon approval must be conducted according to the approved survey plan and shall not be arbitrarily changed; if there is a need to make a change, a written application shall be submitted to the original reviewing and approving organ and apply for review and approval of the part changed. No unit and individual shall counterfeit an Review and Approval Decision of Foreign-related Social Surveys.

   Article 16 In conducting foreign-related social survey activities upon approval, the following contents shall be indicated in a conspicuous place in the cover of questionnaires:

(1) the approving organ of this project and the approval document number;

(2) this survey being voluntary.

   Article 17 With respect to the approved foreign-related social survey activities, the relevant institution shall, before providing the survey materials or relevant results of research to the organizations and individuals from outside the territory as well as the foreign-related institutions, report to the confidentiality department at the same level as the original reviewing and approving organ for review and approval, and only upon approval may provide them.

   Article 18 Where institutions and personnel engaged in foreign-related social survey activities conduct the foreign-related social survey activities in the name of governmental statistical institutions and governmental statisticians, they shall be given a warning by the statistical institution of the people s government at or above the provincial level.

Where their survey activities are on non-business, a fine of more than 500 yuan but less than 1,000 yuan shall be imposed; where their survey activities are on business, the illegal gains shall be confiscated if any, and a fine equivalent to one to three times the illegal gains but not more than 30,000 yuan shall be concurrently imposed, and if there are no illegal gains, a fine of more than 5,000 yuan but less than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed. If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

   Article 19 Whoever commits one of the following illegal acts shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations; if the circumstances are serious, the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys shall be suspended temporarily or revoked and a proposal shall be made to relevant department to cancel the legal entity status:

(1) making use of foreign-related social survey activities to obtain State confidentiality, prejudice the State security and interests, damage the public interests and engage in frauds;

(2) making use of foreign-related social survey activities to prejudice others interests, or without the agreement of the surveyed unit or individual divulge the single-item surveyed information of the respondent known in the foreign-related social survey activities; or

(3) counterfeiting the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys or Review and Approval Decision of Foreign-related Social Surveys.

   Article 20 Whoever commits one of the following illegal acts shall be ordered to stop the survey by the statistical institution of the people s government at or above the provincial level. Where their survey activities are on non-business, a fine of more than 500 yuan but less than 1,000 yuan shall be imposed; where their survey activities are on business, the illegal gains shall be confiscated if any, and a fine equivalent to one to three times the illegal gains but not more than 30,000 yuan shall be concurrently imposed, and if there are no illegal gains, a fine of more than 5000 yuan but less than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed. If the circumstances are serious, the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys shall be suspended temporarily or revoked. If a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law:

(1) Whoever engaging in foreign-related social survey activities without the qualification identification or the annual verification;

(2) Whoever engaging in foreign-related social survey activities without approval, or failing to conduct the survey activities according to the approved survey plan;

(3) in case of foreign-related social survey activities conducted upon approval, failing to indicate the approving organ, the approval document number and a voluntary survey in a conspicuous place of the cover of the questionnaire.

   Article 21 Domestic survey institutions which without approval and without authorization provide the survey materials and results of research obtained to the organizations and individuals outside China as well as the foreign-related institutions shall be dealt with according to the relevant provisions of the State confidentiality department.

   Article 22 The staff of the competent department of foreign-related social survey activities, in performing their functions and responsibilities, neglecting their duties, abusing their powers, committing illegalities for personal gains or by fraudulent means or illegally divulging the business confidentiality about the relevant surveyed institutions shall be given administrative sanctions according to law; if losses are caused, civil liability shall be born; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

   Article 23 Only when three full months have passed since the temporary suspension of the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys, may an application for its return be made. Only when two full years have passed since the revocation of the License of Foreign-related Social Surveys, may a re-application for the qualification to engage in foreign-related social survey activities be made.

   Article 24 Where an institution conducting foreign-related social survey activities is dissatisfied with the decision or punishment made in accordance with these Measures by the statistical institution of the people s government of a provinces, an autonomous region or a municipality under the Central Government or the National Bureau of Statistics, it may apply for reconsideration to the National Bureau of Statistics according to law, and may also directly bring a lawsuit to the people s court.

   Article 25 Social survey activities involved in the cooperative project between our government and foreign governments as well as international organizations shall be conducted in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State.

   Article 26 The provisions of these Measures are applicable to the social survey activities conducted in the mainland by the organizations or individuals of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao region or Taiwan region.

   Article 27 The National Bureau of Statistics is responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.

   Article 28 These Measures shall take effect as of August 15,1999.