Measures for the Administration of Printed Advertisements

Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of Advertising and other relevant State provisions, for the purpose of strengthening the administration of printed advertising materials, protecting the lawful rights and interests of consumers and operators, and maintaining a market order of fair competition.

Article 2 Printed advertising materials administered under these Measures refer to printed advertising materials in general form, which are published by advertisers themselves or by advertising operators entrusted by them in the form of leaflets, posters, brochures, etc., to promote the goods or services they sell, as well as printed advertising materials in fixed form, which are published by advertising operators in dedicated advertising collections with a fixed name, specification and style, to promote the goods or services sold by others.

Article 3 Printed advertising materials must be truthful, lawful and in conformity with the requirements of socialist spiritual civilization. They shall not contain false content, nor shall they deceive or mislead consumers.

Article 4 Printed advertising materials shall be identifiable, enabling consumers to clearly recognize them as printed advertising materials. They shall not contain news reports or other non-advertising information.

Article 5 The publication of printed advertising materials shall not disrupt public order, social production or people's daily life. Printed advertising materials shall not be published in places or areas where such publication is prohibited by laws, regulations or the people's governments at or above the county level of the locality concerned.

Article 6 Where an advertiser publishes printed advertising materials in general form on its own, it shall indicate its name and address; where an advertiser entrusts an advertising operator with the design, production and publication of printed advertising materials in general form, the name and address of the advertising operator shall also be indicated.

Article 7 Where advertisers or advertising operators use printed materials to publish advertisements for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, pesticides, veterinary drugs and other commodities, or other advertisements that shall be subject to examination as prescribed by laws and administrative regulations, they shall obtain the corresponding advertisement examination and approval documents in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations, and publish the advertisements in accordance with the contents of such documents.

Article 8 An advertising operator applying to publish printed advertising materials in fixed form shall meet the following conditions:

(1) Its main business is advertising, its business scope covers advertising agency and publication, and the word "advertising" is indicated in its enterprise name as the industry to which the enterprise belongs;

(2) It has registered capital of more than 1.5 million yuan;

(3) The enterprise has been established for more than 3 years.

Article 9 An advertising operator publishing printed advertising materials in fixed form shall file an application with the administration for industry and commerce of the province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government or city under separate State planning where it is located, and submit the following application materials:

(1) An application report (which shall state the name and specification of the printed advertising materials in fixed form applied for, the number of issues, time, quantity and scope of publication, the types of commodities and services introduced, the recipients, methods and channels of distribution, etc.);

(2) A photocopy of the business license;

(3) An application form for registration of printed advertising materials in fixed form;

(4) The front-page layout of the printed advertising materials in fixed form.

Article 10 Where the application materials are incomplete or do not conform to the statutory form, the administrative organ for industry and commerce of the province, autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government or city under separate State planning shall, within five days, inform the advertising operator at one time of all the contents to be supplemented or corrected; where the application materials are complete and conform to the statutory form, it shall issue a notice of acceptance and make a decision within twenty days from the date of acceptance. If approved, it shall issue the Registration Certificate for Printed Advertising Materials in Fixed Form; if not approved, it shall state the reasons in writing.

Article 11 The Registration Certificate for Printed Advertising Materials in Fixed Form shall be valid for two years. An advertising operator may, thirty days before the expiry of the validity period, apply to the original registration authority for renewal.

Article 12 An advertising operator shall indicate, at the top of the front page of each issue of its printed advertising materials in fixed form, the name of the printed advertising materials in fixed form, the name and address of the advertising operator, the registration certificate number, the issue number, the time of publication and the unified mark "DM".

The name of the printed advertising materials in fixed form shall be composed of the following three parts in sequence: the administrative division in the enterprise name of the advertising operator, the enterprise trade name, and the word "advertising". The lettering of the name of the printed advertising materials in fixed form shall be conspicuous, with all components of a uniform size and consistent typeface, occupying an area of not less than 10% of the front page.

Article 13 The front page and the back page of printed advertising materials in fixed form shall be advertising pages, and advertising operators shall not print advertising titles or tables of contents on the front page. Printed advertising materials in fixed form shall not use such terms as sponsor, co-organizer, producer, editorial department, editor, publisher, this publication, magazine and special issue, which are likely to be confused with newspapers and periodicals.

Article 14 The advertising catalog or index in a fixed-form printed advertisement shall be the name of the commodity (trademark) or the advertiser, and the corresponding advertising content must be able to specifically and clearly identify the advertiser and the commodities or services it promotes. Advertising operators shall not publish advertisements in the form of news reports.

Article 15 Where advertising operators need to publish fixed-form printed advertisements in parallel Chinese and foreign-language versions for special groups, they shall not violate the relevant State provisions on spoken and written languages.

Article 16 Advertising operators shall publish fixed-form printed advertisements in accordance with the approved name, specifications, and format; they shall accept supervision and inspection by the administrative departments for industry and commerce, submit samples of fixed-form printed advertisements and other relevant materials as required, and shall not conceal the true situation or provide false materials.

Advertising operators shall not alter, resell, lease, or lend the Fixed-form Printed Advertisement Registration Certificate, or transfer fixed-form printed advertisements to others for publication and operation.

Article 17 For printed advertisements published in shopping malls, pharmacies, medical service institutions, entertainment venues, and other public places, advertisers and advertising operators must obtain the consent of the managers of the aforementioned places. The managers of the aforementioned places shall be responsible for managing printed advertisements distributed, displayed, and posted within areas under their jurisdiction, and shall refuse the publication of printed advertisements that violate advertising laws and regulations.

Article 18 Enterprises that print printed advertisements shall comply with relevant provisions and shall not print printed advertisements containing illegal content.

Article 19 Violations of these Measures shall be punished in accordance with the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of Advertising, and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, as well as the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Advertising. If the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of Advertising, and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, as well as the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Advertising, do not provide for such violations, the administrative department for industry and commerce shall order the illegal act to be stopped and impose a fine of not more than three times the amount of illegal gains, depending on the circumstances, but not exceeding 30,000 yuan; if there are no illegal gains, a fine of not more than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed.

For individuals who illegally distribute or post printed advertisements, the administrative department for industry and commerce shall order them to stop the illegal act and impose a fine of not more than 50 yuan.

Article 20 If a fixed-form printed advertisement operator's circumstances change and it no longer meets the conditions specified in Article 8 of these Measures, the original registration authority shall withdraw its Fixed-form Printed Advertisement Registration Certificate.

If a fixed-form printed advertisement violates Article 3 of these Measures and the circumstances are serious, the original registration authority may, in accordance with Articles 37, 39, and 41 of the Advertising Law, order the violator to cease its fixed-form printed advertisement business and cancel its Fixed-form Printed Advertisement Registration Certificate.

Article 21 Where bills, packaging, decorations, product manuals, etc. contain advertising content, the relevant content shall be governed by these Measures.

Article 22 These Measures shall come into force on January 1, 2005. The Measures for the Administration of Printed Advertisements promulgated by Order No. 95 of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce on January 13, 2000 shall be repealed simultaneously.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362035.html