Regulation on the Administration of Commercial Performances (2016 Revision)

Regulation on the Administration of Commercial Performances (2016 Revision) Regulation on the Administration of Commercial Performances (Promulgated by Order No.439 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on July 7, 2005; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Amending the Regulation on the Administration of Commercial Performances on July 22, 2008; and revised for the second time in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Abolishing and Amending Some Administrative Regulations by the Order No. 638 of the State Council on July 18, 2013; and revised for the third time in accordance with the Decision of the State Council on Amending Some Administrative Regulations ) Chapter I General Provisions Article 1 This Regulation is formulated with a view to strengthening themanagement of commercial performances, promoting the development of culturalindustry, boosting the socialist art cause, catering to the cultural needs ofthe people and promoting the socialist spiritual civilization. Article 2 The "commercial performances" as mentioned in thisRegulation refer to the live art performances geared towards the general publicfor commercial purposes. Article 3 The commercial performances shall adhere to the direction ofserving the people and the socialism, give priority to the social benefits,harmonize the social and economic benefits and enrich the cultural life of thepeople. Article 4 The state encourages the excellent programs that unify thecultural and artistic performance groups, creation of performers as well as thespirits and artistic quality of performances, reflect the good nationalcultural tradition and are popular among the people, and encourages theperformances that are gratuitously or preferentially offered to rural areas,industrial and mining enterprises, as well as the children. Article 5 The culture administrative department of the State Councilshall be responsible for the supervision and management of the commercialperformances throughout the country. The public security department and theindustry and commerce administrative department of the State Council shall,according to their respective functions, be responsible for the supervision andmanagement of the commercial performances. The culture administrative departments of the local people's governmentsat or above the county level shall be responsible for the supervision andmanagement of the commercial performances within their respectiveadministrative area. The public security departments and the industry andcommerce administrative departments of the local people's governments at orabove the county level shall, according to their respective functions, beresponsible for the supervision and management of commercial performances. Chapter II Establishment of Business Subject of Commercial Performances Article 6 A cultural and artistic performance organization that appliesfor engaging in commercial performance activities shall have full-timeperformers and equipment suitable for its business, and file an applicationwith the competent culture administrative department at the county level; and aperformance brokerage institution that applies for engaging in commercialperformance brokerage shall have three or more full-time performance brokersand funds suitable for its business, and file an application with the cultureadministrative department of the people's government of the province,autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government. Theculture administrative department shall make a decision within 20 days ofaccepting the application. If the application is approved, a commercialperformance permit shall be issued to the applicant; or if the application isdisapproved, the applicant shall be notified in writing of the decision with anexplanation of the reasons for the disapproval. Article 7 When establishing a business entity of commercial performanceplace, the applicant shall go through the registration formalities in theindustry and commerce administrative department, get a business license, and gothrough the examination and approval formalities in accordance with therelevant laws and administrative regulations on fire protection, sanitation,etc. The business entity of commercial performance place shall, within 20days after it obtains the business license, go through the archival filingformalities in the culture administrative department of the people's governmentat the county level of the place where it is located. Article 8 Where a cultural and artistic performance group intends tochange its name, domicile, legal representative or major person-in-charge, orbusiness items of commercial performances, it shall file an application withthe original license issuing organ for changing its commercial performancelicense and go through the formalities for modifying the registration in theindustry and commerce administrative department. Where a business entity of commercial performance place intends tochange its name, domicile, legal representative or major person-in-charge, itshall go through the formalities for modifying the registration in the industryand commerce administrative department and shall, once again, go through thearchival filing formalities in the original archival filing organ. Article 9 The self-employed performers engaged in commercialperformances (hereinafter referred to as the self-employed performers) and theself-employed performance brokers engaged in the activities such as intermediaryand agency for commercial performances (hereinafter referred to as theself-employed performance brokers) shall each go through the registrationformalities in the industry and commerce administrative department to get abusiness license. A self-employed performer or self-employed performance broker shall,within 20 days after it obtains a business license, go through the archivalfiling formalities in the local culture administrative department of thepeople's government at the county level. Article 10 Foreign investors may, jointly with Chinese investors,establish Sino-foreign equity joint and Sino-foreign contractual performancebrokerage institutions and business entities of performance place. No foreigninvestor may establish any Sino-foreign equity joint, Sino-foreign contractualor solely foreign-funded cultural and artistic performance group, or establishany solely foreign-funded performance brokerage institution or business entityof performance place. When establishing a Sino-foreign equity joint performance brokerageinstitution or business entity of performance place, the investment proportionof the Chinese party shall not be less than 51%. When establishing aSino-foreign contractual performance brokerage institution or business entityof performance place, the Chinese party shall have the decision-making power. The formation of a performance brokerage institution or an entityoperating performance places as a Chinese-foreign equity joint venture or aChinese-foreign contractual joint venture shall undergo the approvalformalities under the provisions of laws and regulations on foreign investment. As a Chinese-foreign equity joint venture or a Chinese-foreigncontractual joint venture, a performance brokerage institution that applies forengaging in commercial performance brokerage activities or an entity operatingperformance places that applies for engaging in performance place operationactivities shall, through the culture administrative department of the people'sgovernment of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly underthe Central Government, file an application with the culture administrativedepartment of the State Council; and the culture administrative department ofthe people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipalitydirectly under the Central Government shall, within 20 days of receipt of theapplication, issue its examination opinion and submit it to the cultureadministrative department of the State Council for approval. The culture administrativedepartment of the State Council shall make a decision within 20 days of receiptof the examination opinion of the culture administrative department of thepeople's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directlyunder the Central Government. If the application is approved, a commercialperformance permit shall be issued; or if the application is disapproved, theapplicant shall be notified in writing with an explanation of the reasons forthe disapproval. Article 11 The investors from the Hong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion or the Macao Special Administrative Region may invest in or establishequity or contractual joint-venture or solely-funded performance brokerageinstitutions or business entities of performance places in the mainland; theperformance brokerage institutions of the Hong Kong Special AdministrativeRegion or the Macao Special Administrative Region may set up branches in themainland. The investors from Taiwan region may establish equity or contractualjoint-venture performance brokerage institutions and business entities ofperformance places in the mainland. However, the investment proportion of themainland party shall not be less than 51% and the mainland party shall have thedecision-making power. No investor from Taiwan region may establish any equityor contractual joint-venture or solely-funded cultural and artistic performancegroup, or solely-funded performance brokerage institution or business entity ofperformance places. A performance brokerage institution formed under the provisions of thisarticle that applies for engaging in commercial performance brokerageactivities or an entity operating performance places formed under theprovisions of this article that applies for engaging in performance placeoperation activities shall file an application with the culture administrativedepartment of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, ormunicipality directly under the Central Government. The culture administrativedepartment of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, ormunicipality directly under the Central Government shall make a decision within20 days of receipt of the application. If the application is approved, acommercial performance permit shall be issued; or if the application isdisapproved, the applicant shall be notified in writing of the decision with anexplanation of the reasons for the disapproval. The formation of a performance brokerage institution or an entityoperating performance places under the provisions of this article shall alsocomply with the provisions of other laws and regulations of China. Chapter III Norms on Commercial Performances Article 12 A cultural and artistic performance group or self-employedperformer may stage commercial performances independently, and may participatein any cooperative commercial performances. The cooperative commercial performances shall be arranged by aperformance brokerage institution, but a business entity of performance placemay stage cooperative commercial performances at its own performance place. A performance brokerage institution may be engaged in the activitiessuch as intermediary, agency and brokerage for commercial performances; aself-employed performance broker may only act as a middleman or agent forcommercial performances. Article 13 When hosting commercial performances, the applicant shallfile an application with the culture administrative department of the people'sgovernment at the county level of the place where the performances are hosted.The culture administrative department of the people's government at the countylevel shall make a decision within 3 days after it accepts the application. Ifthe application meets the requirements as prescribed in Article 26 of thisRegulation, it shall grant the applicant an approval document; if theapplication does not, it shall make a decision of disapproval and shall notifythe applicant in writing and make an explanation. Article 14 With the exceptions of performance brokerage institutions,any other entity or individual shall not host commercial performancesparticipated in by foreign or Hong Kong or Macao cultural and artisticperformance groups or individuals. However, when a cultural and artisticperformance group hosts commercial performances by itself, it may inviteforeign, Hong Kong and Macao cultural and artistic performance groups andindividuals to participate in the commercial performances. When hosting commercial performances with participants of foreign, HongKong and Macao cultural and artistic performance groups and individuals, thehosting party shall meet the following requirements: (1) Having the fund that can meet the relevant needs of the commercialperformances; (2) Having 2-year or more experience of hosting commercial performances;and (3) Having no record of violating this Regulation within 2 years priorto the to-be-hosted commercial performances. Article 15 To host commercial performances in which foreign cultural andartistic performance groups or individuals participate, the hosting entityshall file an application with the cultural administrative departments of thepeople's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipalitydirectly under the Central Government where the performances are located. With regard to the commercial performances with participants of HongKong and Macao cultural and artistic performance groups and individuals, thehosting entity shall file an application with the culture administrativedepartment of the people's government of the province, autonomous region ormunicipality directly under the Central Government of the place where thecommercial performances are hosted. With regard to the commercial performanceswith participants of Taiwan cultural and artistic performance groups andindividuals, the hosting entity shall file an application with the cultureadministrative department of the State Council jointly with the examination andapproval or......