State Press and Publication Administration (State Copyright Bureau)

State Press and Publication Administration (SPPA), directly under the State Council, oversees China’s publication activities and deals with its copyright issues. Since 1954, press and publication have been regulated by SPPA. In January 1987, SPPA was first established wearing concurrently the hat of the State Copyright Bureau.

It has corresponding administrations, named ‘bureaus’, in provinces and cities.

On 25 June 1998, as a result of a reform of government institutions, SPPA was reorganized, with its responsibilities reallocated: import of audio/video products going to the Ministry of Culture and import of programmes used for radio and television broadcasting to the State Administration for Radio, Film and Television. SPPA began to take on the duties of supervising printing and planning for processing and publishing ancient books. Jobs such as overseeing China’s ISBN (shuhao), issuing IDs to journalists and identifying works whose copyrights have been violated were delegated to non-profit organizations directly under SPPA and related community agencies.

SPPA has eight departments of 140 staff whose responsibilities include drafting codes and ordinances related to press and publication, drawing up development plans, examining and approving new publishing houses, monitoring publication activities, supervising the publication and replication of audio and video products, organizing and offering consultation to projects that publish and distribute the important government documents and works of state leaders, cracking down on copyright violation, engaging domestic publication circles in negotiations over bilateral and multilateral international copyright treaties, and managing exchange and cooperation programmes with foreign countries.

HU MINGRONG