W3C-Legal-Entity-And-China
Background Information
China Government approved the "The Foreign NGO Management Law (中华人民共和国境外非政府组织境内活动管理法)" on April 28, 2016. The law took effect on Jan 1, 2017. The main content of the law is listed as follows:
According to the law, NGOs registered legally at foreign countries (or locations in HK, Taiwan, Macau), willing to take activities in mainland China, are required to follow the instructions of the law, and will be protected by the law.
You may find more information from:
- The original text of the law (in Chinese) [1].
- English Translation of the Law. [2]
- AmCham China [3].
Possible Impact and Solutions for W3C
Impacts
- Article 7 and Article 40: High levels of oversight and supervising
- Article 28: Forbid foreign NGO doing member recruiting in China
Possible Solutions
- Article 53: maybe W3C could fit in?
- A Foreign NGO Survival Guideline by a Chinese lawyer
How Other Internatinal Peers Say About this
W3C China team reached out to GSAM, OASIS, WiFi Alliance, Bluetooth Alliance, ACM and IEEE in China.
- GSMA China: was not aware of this law, will send it to their attorney in UK to evaluate [May 8 2017];
- OASIS China: no staff or office in China now, talking to their US management directly [May 8 2017];
- WiFi Alliance China team:
- Bluetooth China team: was not aware of this law [May 8 2017]
- ACM China: was not aware of this law until we contacted them, no plan for this yet [May 8 2017]; as an academic organization, ACM might apply to article 53, individuals members may join (and keep) as a member. Waiting for China government to release a detail guidelines on article 53.
- IEEE China: was not aware of this law until we contacted them, no plan for this yet [May 8 2017]; as an academic organization, IEEE might apply to article 53, individuals members may join (and keep) as a member. Waiting for China government to release a detail guidelines on article 53.