Business and Human Rights
On April 26, 2010, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC, a commission under the State Council, which holds, supervises, and manages state-owned assets, including central-level state-owned enterprises) published the Interim Provisions on the Protection of Commercial Secrets of Central Enterprises (Provisions). The provisions came into effect on the date of publication. Though the Provisions apply only to central-level state-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to a May 5 post on the China Law Blog, "It would also come as no surprise if provincial-level authorities would take SASAC's lead and issue regulations aimed at provincial-level SOEs in the near future."
Scope of the Commercial Secrets Provisions
Congressional-Executive Commission on China | www.cecc.gov
Congressional-Executive Commission on China Releases 2010 Annual Report on Human Rights and the Rule of Law in China
October 15, 2010
Transcript (PDF) (Text)
For several years, this Commission has noted that intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement in China remains weak, and counterfeiting and piracy continue to be widespread across many sectors of the Chinese economy. This is the case despite significant changes to China's intellectual property rights regime since China began preparing for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The following text was retrieved from the National People's Congress Web site on February 1, 2013.
According to a February 10, 2010, report by Xinhua, China's state-run news outlet, the Shanghai People's Procuratorate has decided to prosecute four employees of the Anglo-Australian mining firm Rio Tinto—an Australian citizen of Chinese descent, Stern Hu, and three Chinese nationals, Wang Yong, Ge Minqiang and Liu Caikui—for "bribery and infringing trade secrets." According to an August 13, 2009, Caijing report, Chinese security agents detained the four men, the general manager of Rio Tinto's iron ore division in Shanghai and three division colleagues, on July 5, 2009, on what Caijing described as "preliminary charges" of stealing state secrets. This crime is not clearly defined in Chinese law, providing authorities with latitude to construe it broadly when applied to information that is not public.
In a report dated August 12, 2009, a World Trade Organization (WTO) expert panel (Panel) found that certain Chinese regulations restricting the ability of foreign companies and Chinese-foreign joint ventures to import or distribute (1) reading materials, (2) audiovisual home entertainment (AVHE) products, and (3) sound recordings, as well as to import films for theatrical release, were in violation of WTO rules. According to the Panel's report, reading materials include books, newspapers, periodicals, and electronic publications; AVHE products include videocassettes, VCDs, and DVDs; and sound recordings include recorded audio tapes and CDs as well as "ringtones" and "ringback tones." The Panel's report stems from a Request for Consultations filed by the United States in April 2007, according to the WTO Web site.