Business and Human Rights

The State Council issued a Circular on the Immediate Closure and Rectification of Coal Mines Failing to Meet Safety Standards and Illegally Operating on August 22, which ordered government officials and managers of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to divest all financial interests in coal mines. Compliance with the directive has been mixed, according to several Chinese and external news media reports.

Zhou Hanhua, the head of the State Council-designated drafting team on open government measures, credited WTO accession with raising people's awareness about their rights and the importance of openness and transparency, according to an interview published on October 13 in the Beijing Review. According to Zhou, "[Chinese] citizens are more conscious about their own rights, especially after China entered the World Trade Organization, as the WTO raised the two major principles of openness and transparency." Zhou also credited China's WTO accession, among other factors, with advancing both awareness and acceptance of open government initiatives among Chinese government officials.

Members of over 400 households gathered on the streets of Chengdu, Sichuan province, to hold a press conference protesting the government's inadequate regulation of a local development company, according to an October 15 Radio Free Asia (RFA) report. Riot police eventually dispersed the crowds. A Chengdu Economic Daily report revealed that more than 80 households filed a complaint against the same company with the local investigative unit of the public security bureau on October 10, identifying themselves as victims of fraud.

Chinese government regulators blocked Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.'s plan to operate a television channel in China, according to an August 30 New York Times report (registration required). According to the Times, News Corp. had been distributing the National Geographic Channel, a music channel, and other programming to local cable television companies without government permission. The government's action coincides with its recent promulgation of several regulations that limit foreign access to China's media industry:

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) promulgated a policy (in Chinese) governing trade in autos and automobile-related products on August 10. The policy contains provisions governing both trade within China and the import and export of autos and auto-related products, but no specific provisions that would advance Chinese government efforts to create an export-oriented auto industry. The policy confirms that foreign investors may enter the domestic distribution market for autos; such rights are part of China's WTO accession commitment to open the distribution sector. The policy prohibits imports of used cars, used car parts, and right-side drive autos.

The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) has "tightened its control over the cooperation between Chinese media and foreign companies" by issuing a regulation banning cooperation between local television and radio stations and foreign companies, according to state-run news media. In October 2004, SARFT issued regulations that allowed foreign companies to take non-controlling stakes in Chinese television program producers.

Five government agencies and the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department (CPD) have issued a joint order increasing restrictions on the import of foreign "cultural products," according to an August 2 Xinhua report. The order is entitled the "Measures on Increasing the Administration of the Importation of Cultural Products" and was issued by the Ministry of Culture (MOC), State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT), General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), Office of Customs (Customs), and the CPD. The order clarifies the responsibilities of these agencies with respect to importation and domestic distribution of foreign movies, television shows, and other "cultural products":

The Chinese government released statistics for the first half of 2005 showing that People's Courts at all levels have accepted 1,549 cases related to IPR violations from the manufacture and sale of products. That figure represents an increase of 25.53 percent over the first half of 2004. Officials completed 1,330 investigations, an increase of 22.83 percent over the same period in 2004. This article (in Chinese) attributes the increase in part to the implementation of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate "Interpretation Concerning Certain Questions of Using the Criminal Law to Handle Violations of Intellectual Property Rights" (in English and in Chinese).