Timely Policy: Administrative Measures for Digital Printing Take Effect in February

As of February 1, the Measures for the Administration of Digital Printing (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") came into force, marking the start of regulation by the competent industry authorities over digital printing, an emerging field. The Measures consist of 23 articles and set out the entry thresholds for digital printing enterprises, the regulatory content and support priorities of government departments, and the legal liability enterprises bear for violations.

Interview surveys with heads of relevant departments of some local press and publication bureaus, heads of some digital printing enterprises, and industry experts show that most believe the issuance of the Measures is very timely and necessary. They believe that the General Administration of Press and Publication issuing the Measures as an administrative regulation at such a high level is a signal that the competent industry authorities will step up support for emerging printing fields and focus on developing digital printing. Some industry insiders also believe that certain provisions will encounter difficulties in actual implementation and hope the competent industry authorities will further standardize and clarify them.

The Measures Are Timely

"The introduction of the Measures is very timely, very necessary, and highly relevant to current realities—it can be said to come at just the right time," commented Chen Yan, director of the China Printing Science and Technology Research Institute and chairman of the Digital Printing Branch of the China Printing Technology Association.

Chen Yan believes this is a signal that relevant departments are paying attention to the rapidly developing field of digital printing. She said, "Because digital printing is an emerging industry, it is prone to becoming marginalized in terms of regulation. In the past, when our member units met, everyone called for effective regulation. The Measures give everyone rules to follow, and they contain many breakthroughs."

A relevant department head of the Jiangsu Provincial Press and Publication Bureau believes the introduction of the Measures greatly helps strengthen supervision, standardize operations, and support development. The official said, "We need such Measures to promote the development of this emerging industry, because digital printing is a blank spot. Without administrative measures, it is very difficult for us to guide operators." The official believes the Measures are highly practical and instructive; they explain the definition and scope of authority of digital printing and include incentive policies.

A relevant department head of the Shanghai Municipal Press and Publication Bureau believes the Measures define production digital printing presses and specify entry thresholds for digital printing enterprises, providing standards for customs duty exemptions and state support for enterprises.

Dong Tieying, consultant to Intellectual Property Publishing House, and Yang Xinwei, general manager of China Printing Group Digital Printing Co., Ltd., both said the Measures were introduced in a very timely manner and had been long awaited.

Encourage Enterprises to Innovate

"The state supports and encourages digital printing enterprises to adopt new technologies, explore new models, and provide new services." In interviews, several interviewees paid close attention to the above content in Article 4 of the Measures.

Chen Yan believes this article reflects the purpose of the Measures to promote the development of the digital printing industry, encourage innovation, and facilitate growth. Dong Tieying believes: "With this spirit, it shows the state encourages enterprises to explore in practice." A relevant department head of the Jiangsu Provincial Press and Publication Bureau said: "Although this sentence looks fairly simple, enterprises can actually do a great deal with it."

Unlike traditional printing, digital printing is fast, short-run, personalized, and on-demand. The two differ in many ways in printing processes, business models, and customer bases, so many enterprises engaged in digital printing have explored new technologies, new models, and new services.

In terms of adopting new technologies, Chen Yan believes future developments in inkjet technology will bring major changes to digital printing in terms of popularity and application. Dong Tieying believes inkjet technology will greatly reduce the cost of digital printing.

In exploring new models and providing new services, commemorative albums, restaurant menus, genealogies, and picture albums are all innovative digital printing products. Many enterprises try to provide services online. For example, Shanghai Dayi Digital Printing Co., Ltd. tried cooperating with Eastday.com, and Shanghai Shenglong Printing Co., Ltd. handles some business through online submission and logistics delivery. Some enterprises have also developed electronic album systems and new business models.

Entry Thresholds Suit Current Conditions

The Measures set out three quantitative indicators for establishing digital printing enterprises: a building area of no less than 50 square meters; registered capital of no less than 1 million yuan; and at least one production digital printing press. For digital printing chain operators, they are required to consist of five or more chain outlets, and the chain headquarters must have registered capital of no less than 5 million yuan.

"This entry threshold is consistent with the current state of the digital printing industry," Chen Yan said. She said fixed investment in digital printing is not as high as in traditional printing, nor is it like the small workshops of typing and photocopying shops, so this entry threshold is still quite realistic. "Most companies engaged in digital printing are small and medium-sized enterprises, and it would be inappropriate to simply shut these SMEs out with a registered capital threshold," she said.

Pan Xiaodong, consultant to Shanghai Printing (Group) Co., Ltd., believes that the entry threshold is generally relatively relaxed and that the definition of production digital printing presses is also rather vague, but he believes such provisions are likely intentional. "Such provisions are fairly consistent with market demand and the current state of industry development. If standards were set too high, some enterprises with lower-level digital printing presses would find it difficult to obtain certificates. The digital printing industry has only recently started, and an excessively high threshold would clearly be detrimental to the development of this emerging industry," he said.

Wang Jichun of Shenzhen Kuaiyinke E-commerce Co., Ltd., however, believes that this threshold is still relatively high for many quick printing companies, as 70% to 80% of quick printing companies have registered capital of less than 1 million yuan.

Major Breakthrough in Publication Printing

"The Measures provide policy support for industry development, encouraging digital printing enterprises to expand into publication printing business. In the past, the threshold for publication printing was relatively high, requiring 2 offset presses; now 1 production digital printing press is enough." Chen Yan believes this is a major breakthrough of the Measures.

She said that some digital printing enterprises without publication printing qualifications are in fact also printing publications. Now the Measures regulate this irregular behavior and bring it under orderly supervision.

An official from the relevant department of the Jiangsu Provincial Press and Publication Bureau also said that the encouraging policies in the Measures have brought many underground enterprises to the surface. These enterprises only occasionally encounter publication printing business, and digital printing that truly does publications does not necessarily make money. Previously they did it covertly; now, after obtaining certificates, they can do it openly.

In addition to regulating on-demand publication printing, the Measures also regulate online publishing, which is closely related to digital printing. Pan Xiaodong said: "The promulgation of the Measures is conducive to regulating online publishing. Individuals publishing books must also follow the regulations, which is good for protecting intellectual property and standardizing publication supervision."

An official from the relevant department of the Jiangsu Provincial Press and Publication Bureau also said: "Digital printing is usually paired with online publishing, and we have also investigated cases of online book publishing. The introduction of the Measures is conducive both to government management and to standardized business operations by enterprises."

Some Clauses Need Clarification

"These past few days I have received many phone inquiries from quick printing companies. They do not know whether their equipment qualifies as production digital printing presses as defined in the Measures, or whether they should complete approval procedures within 180 days as required." Wang Jichun, who has studied the quick printing industry for many years, expressed his confusion to the reporter. He said this confusion arises because the Measures define production digital printing presses only with a qualitative description—"refers to digital printing equipment with relatively high printing speed, stable printing quality, and the ability to achieve industrialized continuous and batch production"—without quantitative technical indicators.

Regarding the provision in the Measures requiring digital printing enterprises to verify printing authorization letters when printing publications, Dong Tieying wants to consult the relevant authorities about whether enterprises must verify authorization letters when libraries commission printing. He said that Beijing Zhongxian Tuofang Technology Development Co., Ltd., under Intellectual Property Publishing House, often receives printing orders from libraries to fill gaps in their collections. These books are mostly out-of-print books that have become unique copies, and libraries want to print many titles, a few copies of each, for lending. Because the books are past their exclusive publication period, publishing units cannot issue authorization letters.

Dong Tieying asked whether, for business like this that has social benefits and involves no copyright infringement, it might be possible not to issue authorization letters entirely according to the original system. He also had another doubt: Are sample books considered publications, and do they require authorization letters? He hopes regulatory authorities will further standardize and clarify these matters during implementation.

Regarding the provision in the Measures requiring digital printing chain operation enterprises to have 5 chain stores, Yang Xinwei said: "Isn't 5 a bit too many? Our chain plan is one in each of the east, south, west, and north." The company set up a flagship store in Beijing's Xicheng District in 2007, opened a branch in Fengtai District last August, and plans to build one or two more branches within this year.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362147.html