Zheng Houzhe column: what are the major changes in the draft law on the promotion of the film industry in the past four years?

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For the first time, the draft stipulates the process of formulating specific standards for film censorship, requiring the public to solicit opinions and organize experts to demonstrate. The draft also stipulates that for film censorship, experts shall be organized to conduct the review, and the experts shall put forward the evaluation opinions.

the "draft" was examined and passed by the State Council on September 1, and immediately entered the agenda of the most recent meeting of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress, and completed the work that could not be completed in more than a decade in a short period of half a year. Such a rapid legislative process has indeed exceeded the expectations of the author and many people in the industry.

the 17th meeting of the standing Committee of the 12th National people's Congress deliberated the draft Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry (hereinafter referred to as the draft) for the first time on October 30, 2015. the edge of the draft even overshadowed the Agreement on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which was also deliberated at this meeting.

however, only half a year ago, in the 2015 Legislative work Plan of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress revised on April 10, 2015, the Film Industry Promotion Law is still a "preparatory project", and its promulgation and implementation seems to be a long way off. However, the legislative process of the law was greatly accelerated in the second half of 2015, and the "draft" was examined and passed by the State Council on September 1, which immediately entered the agenda of the most recent meeting of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress, and completed the work that could not be completed in more than a decade in a short period of six months. Such a rapid legislative process has indeed exceeded the expectations of the author and many people in the industry.

not surprisingly, after soliciting opinions from the public, the Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry will be promulgated and implemented soon after being examined and approved by the standing Committee of the National people's Congress for the second time. Starting from today, lawyer Zheng Houzhe will write a series of articles to interpret the draft in detail. This is the first article.

what major changes have taken place in the draft law on the promotion of the film industry in the past four years?

look at history and know the future. Comparing the 2015 draft with the 2011 Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry published by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the draft for soliciting opinions), we can see that the adjustment of legislative thinking over the past four years and the process of the vigorous development of China's film market is a very interesting perspective for understanding the Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry. This paper makes an overview comparison between the draft and the draft for soliciting opinions, and combs the major changes that have taken place in the draft.

1 the draft has been greatly added, deleted and revised on the basis of the draft for soliciting opinions.

I have said that according to the content of the draft for soliciting opinions, "the symbolic significance of passing such a Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry at this stage is greater than the substantive significance." However, the draft has made substantial changes to the draft for soliciting opinions, and the revised Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry has a lot of new ideas, which is not only symbolic, but will deeply affect the development trend of the film industry.

there are 62 articles in the draft and 58 articles in the draft. The change in the number of articles is not just a simple deletion. According to the comparison of lawyer Zheng Houzhe, there are only four articles that are exactly the same as the draft (including the legislative purpose of the first article and the implementation time of the last article), and the rest of the provisions have been amended to varying degrees, which shows the extent of the changes. In terms of form, the logic of the draft is more comprehensive than that of the draft for soliciting opinions, the written expression is clearer and concise, and the legislative technology has been improved. In terms of content, the main changes are as follows.

2 further establish a correct orientation of literary and artistic creation

under the background of promoting cultural development and prosperity and building a socialist cultural power, the Film Industry Promotion Law, as a concrete embodiment of cultural policy in the film industry, bears multiple functions.

in his speech at the Symposium on Literary and artistic work on October 15, 2014, General Secretary Xi pointed out that it is necessary to "meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people" and "a good work." We should put social benefits in the first place, and at the same time, they should also be works that unify social and economic benefits, and should "adhere to the creative orientation of taking the people as the center." The above guiding spirit is reflected in the general provisions of Chapter I of the draft. Moreover, the draft puts forward "the state adheres to the people-centered creative orientation" at the legislative level for the first time.

these principled provisions play an important guiding role in understanding the legislative purpose of the Film Industry Promotion Law and interpreting the original intention of the provisions.

3 simplify the examination and approval process, improve administrative efficiency

such as canceling the administrative license of "film production license (single film)", and lowering the application standard of "film production license" (revised from "production of more than 2 films approved for public release according to law" to "with personnel, funds and other conditions appropriate to the film production activities engaged in") Lower the level of examination and approval of the Film production license (lowered from the competent department of film under the State Council to the competent department of film at the provincial level), and specify the time limit for the examination and approval of the Film production license (20 days). The change will further lower the barriers to entry for film production activities.

if the general subject matter screenplay outline is changed from the review system to the record system. After the adoption of the draft, for films with general themes, we do not have to wait until they pass the examination before filming, which is conducive to shortening the shooting cycle and improving the production efficiency.

for example, simplify the examination process of the Film release license (the first examination by the provincial film department and the second review by the film department under the State Council will be simplified to the first examination by the State Council or the provincial film department), and shorten the time limit for the examination of the film production license (from 20 days of initial examination plus 30 days of review to 30 days of one review). This revision will reduce the time cost of film distribution and screening, and help to shorten the film investment return cycle.

4 define film censorship standards and attach importance to expert opinions

the draft stipulates for the first time the process of formulating specific standards for film censorship, requiring public opinions to be solicited and experts to be organized to demonstrate. It also stipulates that specific standards for film censorship should be published to the public.

Film censorship standards are vague and private, which has been criticized by the industry, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the film industry. The new regulations will help to improve the specific standards of film censorship, facilitate practitioners to accurately evaluate and avoid related risks, and guide film investment and production activities.

the draft also stipulates that in order to conduct film censorship, experts should be organized to conduct a review, and the experts shall put forward their opinions. If an enterprise or other organization has any objection to the opinion of the expert evaluation, it may organize the expert to evaluate the opinion again. The evaluation opinions of experts shall be used as an important basis for making review decisions. The draft also stipulates that if a party is not satisfied with the administrative act taken in accordance with this Law, he may apply for administrative reconsideration or bring an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the law.

accordingly, if the film fails the censorship, the parties may seek multiple remedies in terms of procedure: first, for those who have not yet made a review decision but disagree with the expert review opinion, they may organize another expert review; secondly, for those who have made the review decision, they may apply for administrative reconsideration or bring administrative proceedings. Lawyer Zheng Houzhe predicted that after the passage of the Law on the Promotion of the Film Industry, the administrative litigation against the film administration department over film censorship will not be an isolated case, and judicial reform is worth looking forward to.

5 refine the obligations of film projectors and crack down on fraudulent box office

such as the draft further clarifies the time during which cinemas are not allowed to show advertisements (from "not after the film showing time to the audience" to "after the beginning of the film showing time to the audience to the end of the film show").

for example, the draft extends the scope of cinemas where computerized ticketing systems that meet national standards should be installed (from "cinemas joining cinemas" to all "cinemas").

for example, the draft requires cinemas to truthfully count the box office (from "no concealment of box office revenue" to "truthful statistics of sales revenue"). And for the first time, the draft clearly defines the measures of administrative punishment: "if a cinema fails to truthfully count the sales revenue, the competent film department of the people's government at the county level shall impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan and not more than 500000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend business for rectification; if the circumstances are especially serious, the license shall be revoked by the original license issuing authority."

with the increasingly rich means of film marketing, the ways of false box office statistics in cinemas are constantly updated, including not only the traditional underreporting behaviors such as underreporting, but also overreporting. Cinemas are required to "truthfully count sales revenue" than "not to conceal box office revenue", leaving room for a comprehensive crackdown on all kinds of false box office statistics.

6 establish a social credit file system

A new provision in the draft "establishes a social credit file system, and records in the social credit file the administrative penalties imposed by enterprises, other organizations and individuals engaged in film activities for violating the provisions of this Law, and publishes them to the public." This regulation is of positive significance for practitioners to realize honest management, and at the same time, publicizing illegal acts is also beneficial for practitioners to choose partners with good credit and control risks.

7 lower the punishment standards for minor violations, and increase the penalties for multiple violations

for minor violations (those with no illegal gains or less than 50,000 yuan), the draft is lower than the draft for soliciting opinions. For example, "A fine of not more than 500000 yuan may be imposed concurrently" as stipulated in some of the provisions of the draft for soliciting opinions, which shall be revised to "a fine of not more than 250000 yuan".

for repeated illegal acts (administrative penalties twice within two years for violating the provisions of this Law, and illegal acts that should be punished in accordance with the provisions of this Law), the new provisions of the draft shall be given a heavier punishment.

8 reduce administrative intervention and release market vitality

the draft deletes or modifies the following terms with certain administrative overtones in the draft:

for employment qualifications, delete "the state gradually establishes a professional qualification system for film technicians and skilled personnel"

with regard to the use of financial funds, "using financial funds to subsidize the creation and production of films with major themes" is revised to "financial funds should be comprehensively considered and arranged as a whole according to the development of the film industry in different stages and periods, combined with the financial situation of our country and the needs of economic and social development", which is more flexible.

for film financial services, delete "policy-oriented financial institutions shall, within their business scope, give priority to providing financial services for the overseas promotion of domestic films", and delete "the production of films published by the competent department of radio, film and television under the State Council in accordance with the provisions of this Law shall be subsidized by loans and insurance premiums in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State".

in a sense, reducing administrative intervention is the protection and promotion of industry.

the previous article gives an overview of the major changes that have taken place in the draft compared with the draft for soliciting opinions. With regard to the interpretation of the specific terms, let's listen to the next breakdown.

columnist: Zheng Houzhe. The founding member of the Law-clearing lawyers team and the person in charge of the entertainment law business. The entertainment law team provides consulting legal services for entertainment companies, directors and artists, provides special legal services for the whole process of film production, and provides legal services for dispute resolution in the entertainment industry.

Edit: queenie