Laws of the People's Republic of China

the State Administration for Industry and Commerce

Order of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People's Republic of China

No. 17

The Measures for the Administration of Printed Advertisement, which were adopted at the executive meeting of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People's Republic of China, are promulgated hereby and shall go into effect as of January 1, 2005.

Director General of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce Wang Zhongfu

November 30, 2004

Measures for the Administration of Printed Advertisement

Article 1

With a view to enforcing the administration of printed advertisements, protecting the legal rights and interests of the consumers and business operators, and maintaining a market order of fair competition, the present Measures are formulated in accordance with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on Advertising Administration and other relevant provisions of the State.

Article 2

The printed advertisements, subject to the administration of the present Measures, refer to printed advertisements in the common forms of leaflets, posters, and brochures by which an advertiser publicizes by himself or commissions an advertising operator to publicize for the introduction of the commodities and services that he promotes, or printed advertisements in a fixed form such as specialized publications with fixed names, specifications, and patterns by which an advertising operator publicizes for the introduction of the commodities and service that any other person promotes.

Article 3

A printed advertisement shall be true, lawful and conforming with the requirements for the development of socialist spiritual civilization, and shall not contain any false information or deceive or mislead consumers.

Article 4

A printed advertisement shall be identifiable as a kind of printed advertisement by consumers, and shall not contain such non-advertisement information as news reports.

Article 5

The publication of a printed advertisement shall not disturb the public order, social production or the people's life. No printed advertisement may be published in any site or area wherein the said advertisement is prohibited by any law or regulation or the local people's governments at or above the county level.

Article 6

Where an advertiser himself publishes a common form printed advertisement, the advertiser's name and address shall be indicated; where an advertiser commissions an advertising operator to design, produce or publish a common form printed advertisement, the name and address of the advertising operator shall be indicated as well.

Article 7

Where an advertiser or an advertising operator use printed matter to publish the advertisements of such commodities as medicines, medical apparatuses, pesticides, veterinary drugs and other advertisements which are subject to censorship as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations, it shall obtain corresponding examination and approval documents of advertising in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and shall publish advertisements according to the advertising censorship documents.

Article 8

An advertising operator, who applies for issuing printed advertisement in a fixed form, shall meet the following conditions:

(1)

Taking advertising as its main business, its business scope including acting as an agent or an advertisement publisher, and its enterprise name indicating that the industry which the enterprise belongs to is "advertising";

(2)

Having a registered capital of no less than 1,500,000 Yuan;

(3)

The enterprise having been established for three years or more.

Article 9

When publishing a fixed form printed advertisement, an advertising operator shall apply to the administration for industry and commerce of the province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government or city directly under State planning where it is located, and shall submit the following application materials:

(1)

An application report (with such content of the fixed form printed advertisement which is applied for as the name and specifications; the issue number, time, quantity and range of issuance; the type of the commodities and services to be introduced; the object, manner, channel of issuing; etc.);

(2)

A photocopy of the business license;

(3)

An application form for the registration of the fixed form printed advertisement;

(4)

The sample of the first page of the printed advertisement in a fixed form.

Article 10

When the application materials are incomplete or fail to be in conformity with the legal form, the administration for industry and commerce of the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities directly under State planning shall, once for all within five days, inform the advertising operator of all the content need to be supplemented and corrected. When the application materials are complete and in conformity with the legal form, the said administration shall, give a notice of acceptance and make a decision within 20 days from the date of acceptance. If approval is granted, a Fixed Form Printed Advertisement Registration Permit shall be issued. If it is not approved, an explanation shall be given in writing.

Article 11

The term of validity of the Fixed Form Printed Advertisement Registration Permit is 2 years. An advertising operator may apply to the original registration organ for renewing the permit 30 days prior to the expiry date.

Article 12

An advertising operator shall indicate, on the top of the first page of a fixed form printed advertisement, the name of the fixed form printed advertisement, the name and address of the advertising operator, the registration permit number, the issue number and publishing time of the advertisement, and the unified mark of "DM".

The name of a fixed form printed advertisement shall be composed of the following three parts arranged in proper order: the administrative division in the enterprise name of the advertising operator + the name of the enterprise + the word "advertisement". The written name of the fixed form printed advertisement shall be noticeable, and all the integral parts shall be in identical size and font, and the name shall take up an area of no less than 10% of the first page.

Article 13

The first page and last page of a fixed form printed advertisement shall be the advertisement page. An advertising operator shall not print the title or table of contents of the advertisements therein on the first page. Such dictions as "host", "assist", "producer", "editorial board", "editor", "publish", "this publication", "magazine", "special", etc., which are easily confused with those as used in newspapers or journals, shall not be used in a fixed form printed advertisement.

Article 14

The catalogue of advertisements or index in a fixed form printed advertisement shall consist of the names of the commodities (trademarks) or the names of the advertisers. The corresponding advertisement content shall be able to clearly and specifically indicate the advertisers and the commodities or services thereof under sales promotion. An advertising operator shall not publish an advertisement in the form of news report.

Article 15

An advertising operator, when publishing a Chinese-foreign language printed advertisement in a fixed form to cater to any special group, shall not violate any State regulation concerning language.

Article 16

An advertising operator shall publish a fixed form printed advertisement according to the name, specifications and patterns as approved, and shall accept the supervision and examination of the administrations for industry and commerce. An advertising operator shall submit a sample of the fixed form printed advertisement and other related materials as required, and may not conceal the real situation or provide false materials.

An advertising operator shall not alter, scalp, lease or lend the Fixed Form Printed Advertisement Registration Permit, and shall not have its fixed form printed advertisement published or operated by any other person by means of transfer.

Article 17

Where a printed advertisement is published in an emporium, drug store, medical service institution, recreation places or other public places, the advertiser or the advertising operator shall obtain the consent of the manager of the said places. The manager of the said places shall take charge of the printed advertisements that are distributed, displayed or posted within its jurisdiction, and shall reject the issuance of any advertisement violating any of the advertising laws and regulations.

Article 18

Any printing enterprise of printed advertisements shall abide by the relevant regulations, and shall not print any printed advertisement with illegal content.

Article 19

Anyone who violates the present Measures shall be punished in accordance with such relevant laws or administrative regulations as the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulation on Advertising Administration, etc., and the provisions of the Detailed Implementing Rules for the Regulation on Advertising Administration. In case any related matter are not prescribed in such relevant laws or administrative regulations as the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on Advertising Administration, etc., or in the Detailed Implementing Rules for the Regulation on Advertising Administration, the offender shall be ordered to cease its unlawful practice by the administration for industry and commerce, and may be imposed a fine of less than three times the illegal earnings but no more than a maximum of 30,000 Yuan, or a fine of no more than 10,000 Yuan in light of the circumstances if there are no illegal earnings.

Any individual who unlawfully distributes or posts a printed advertisement shall be ordered to cease the wrongful acts by the administration for industry and commerce, and shall be imposed a fine of no more than 50 Yuan.

Article 20

Where the situation of the advertising operator that engages in fixed form printed advertisement changes so that it no longer meets the conditions as prescribed in Article 8 of the present Measures, the Fixed Form Printed Advertisement Registration Permit thereof shall be revoked by the original registration organ.

Where a fixed form printed advertisement violates the provisions of Article 3 in the present Measures and if the case is serious, the original registration organ may, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 37, 39 and 41 of the Advertising Law, cease the violator's business operations in fixed form printed advertisement and revoke its Fixed Form Printed Advertisement Registration Permit.

Article 21

Where any bill, packing, decoration or product instruction contains any advertising content, it shall be subject to the administration of the present Measures.

Article 22

The present Measures shall go into effect as of January 1, 2005. The Measures for the Administration of Printed Advertising, which were promulgated by the Order No. 95 of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on January 13, 2000, shall be abolished simultaneously.