Laws of the People's Republic of China

Article 1: These measures are formulated in accordance with the Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations, to standardize and provide guidance for the sound development of social survey activities, to maintain socioeconomic order, and to ensure successful implementation of the open‑door policy and building socialism in China.

Article 2: Foreign‑related social survey activities mentioned in these measures refer to the social survey activities carried out by foreign investment enterprises, Sino‑foreign equity joint ventures in which foreign parties have controlling shares, Sino‑foreign contractual joint ventures operated by the foreign parties, and foreign organizations' offices in China (hereinafter referred to as foreign‑related organizations); and the social survey activities conducted by Chinese survey organizations commissioned or funded by, or otherwise cooperating with, foreign organizations, foreign individuals or foreign‑related organizations.

Article 3: Organizations and individuals outside China, affiliated and resident organizations and representative offices of foreign enterprises in China, and resident offices of other foreign organizations, are not permitted to conduct social surveys in China. In case they need to have a survey conducted, these entities shall have it done by Chinese organizations authorized to conduct such surveys. Organizations without authorization cannot accept commissions to conduct such surveys.

Article 4: Foreign‑related social surveys shall not be a repetition of surveys conducted by central government statistics authorities, government industry statistics departments or local government statistics authorities.

Article 5: Organizations and individuals conducting foreign‑related social surveys shall not conduct such surveys in the name of government statistics organizations or government statistics personnel.

Article 6: Organizations or individuals shall not take advantage of foreign‑related social survey activities to acquire confidential state information, to harm state security and state interests or social and public interests, or to conduct fraud. Organizations or individuals shall not take advantage of foreign‑related social survey activities to harm the interests of other people, and they are obliged to keep the information acquired from survey respondents confidential.

Article 7: Statistics authorities above the provincial level are the competent authorities for foreign‑related social survey activities, responsible for administering foreign‑related social survey activities. Their major functions are as follows:

1. to publicize and implement policies, laws, decrees and regulations relevant to foreign‑related social survey activities;

2. to plan, guide, coordinate and promote foreign‑related social survey activities, and conduct training and professional ethics education for personnel engaged in foreign‑related social survey activities;

3. to certify the organizations qualified to conduct foreign‑related social surveys and conduct annual reviews of their work;

4. to examine and approve foreign‑related social survey activities;

5. to carry out law enforcement inspections on organizations conducting foreign‑related social surveys, and to penalize, in accordance with the law, any acts that violate laws during foreign‑related social survey activities;

6. to conduct other functions as specified by law.

Article 8: Organizations engaging in foreign‑related social survey activities must be certified and obtain the "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys". The latter permit shall be printed by the provincial people's government

statistics authorities or statistics authorities at higher levels, and no other organizations or individual shall forge this permit. Applicants for certification of qualification to conduct foreign‑related social surveys must have the following qualifications:

1. The applicant must be a legal person according to the law.

2. Organizations must be either registered with the industrial and commercial administrative authorities, or approved by the authorities that oversee the size of the government body, with the business of social surveys in their business license.

3. Organizations must be competent in conducting foreign‑related social surveys.

4. Organizations must have a system in place for keeping information confidential.

5. The legal representative of the organization must not have received any criminal law penalty in the past five years, or any administrative penalty or penalty such as, or more serious than, dismissal from a position in the past two years.

Individuals and uncertified organizations shall not conduct foreign‑related social surveys.

Article 9: To apply for certification of qualification to conduct foreign‑related social surveys, the applicant organizations shall submit the following:

1. an application report;

2. an application form for certification to conduct foreign‑related social surveys;

3. the following certifications or approval documents: the business license of the legal corporation entity and its copy, the social organization registration certificate and its copy, and the approval documents from authorities that oversee the size of the government body or other relevant departments;

4. the bibliographical information of the legal representative, a certificate from personnel file departments certifying the clean record of the representative, free from any criminal or administrative penalty, and the original copy of his/her identification card and its photo copy;

5. other relevant documents required by the certifying authorities.

Article 10: Organizations certified to conduct foreign‑related social surveys and having a "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys" shall be subject to annual review in March every year concerning their qualification to conduct foreign‑related social surveys and concerning the foreign‑related social surveys they conducted the previous year. For annual reviews, the following information shall be supplied:

1. a "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys";

2. foreign‑related social survey annual review forms;

3. an annual report on the foreign‑related social surveys conducted.

In the event that the organization subject to annual review cannot go through with the review due to special circumstances, it must apply to the certifying authorities for postponement. Failure on the part of organization to go through annual review, or failure to apply for postponement of the annual review, may cause the "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys" to be taken away temporarily or revoked.

Article 11: The State Statistical Bureau shall be in charge of certifying qualifications to conduct foreign‑related surveys and of annually inspecting those survey agencies that conduct surveys in several different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government. The individual statistics agencies of provincial, regional, and municipal governments shall be in charge of certifying qualifications to conduct foreign‑related surveys and of annually inspecting other survey agencies that conduct surveys within a certain province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government.

Article 12: Applications to conduct foreign‑related social surveys must be submitted to the statistics agency at or above the provincial level for review and approval. Applications to conduct a survey in several different provinces, autonomous

regions, and municipalities directly under the central government must be submitted to the State Statistical Bureau for review and approval. Applications to conduct a survey within a certain province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government must be submitted to the individual statistics agency of the provincial regional and municipal governments for review and approval.

Article 13: When an application to conduct a foreign‑related social survey is submitted for review and approval, the following documents must also be submitted:

1. a "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys";

2. an application form for the investigation items needed to conduct a foreign‑related social survey project;

3. a survey plan that covers purpose, content, scope, timing, respondents, form, and methods;

4. a written survey commissioning contract;

5. other documents as requested by the reviewing and approving agency.

Article 14: The reviewing and approving agency should make a prompt decision upon receipt of the application documents and issue the "Review and Approval Decision on the Application to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys". It shall generally not take more than 14 days to review and approve an application. In case of special circumstances, the time limit for review and approval can be extended for 10 days. Applications deemed "qualified" upon review shall be approved. Applications deemed "not qualified" upon review shall not be approved, and the reasons shall be explained.

Article IS: Foreign‑related social surveys must be carried out in accordance with the approved survey plan, and no alterations shall be made at will. If alteration is necessary, a written application shall be submitted to the original reviewing and approving agency for review and approval of the part to be altered. No organization or individual shall forge the "Review and Approval Decision on the Application to Conduct Foreign Related Social Surveys".

Article 16: The following need to be prominently indicated on the first page of the survey form:

1. the approving agency of the survey and the approval document number;

2. a note that participation in the survey is voluntary.

Article 17: Before the survey data or related study results of any approved foreign related social survey are provided to an overseas organization, individual or foreign‑related agency, the relevant agency shall submit said data or results to a security department at the same level as the original reviewing and approving agency for review and approval. The data or results may be provided only after being approved.

Article 18: The agencies and personnel involved in a foreign‑related social survey that conduct the survey in the name of government statistics organizations and personnel shall be issued a warning by the government statistics organization above the provincial level. For non‑profit surveys, a fine of more than RMB 500 (US$60.5) and less than RMB 1,000 (US$121) shall be imposed. For profit‑making surveys with illegal income, the illegal income shall be confiscated and a fine of one to three times the illegal income, but no more than RMB 30,000 (US$3,628) shall be imposed. If there is no illegal income, a fine of more than RMB 5,000 (US$605) and less than RMB 10,000 (US$1,209) shall be imposed. If a crime has been committed, criminal responsibility shall be determined through investigation of the case.

Article 19: Illegal activities such as those listed below shall be handled according to the relevant laws and regulations. An agency that has engaged in serious malpractice shall have its "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys" suspended or cancelled, and a recommendation shall be made to the competent authority to cancel its legal person status:

1. obtaining state secrets, damaging state security and interests, damaging social and public interests, and taking advantage of foreign‑related social surveys to engage in deceitful activities;

2. taking advantage of foreign‑related social surveys to damage the interests of other people, or revealing survey data of persons surveyed without their consent;

3. forging a "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys", and the "Review and Approval Decision on the Application to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys".

Article 20: If one of the illegal activities listed below is committed, the statistics organization above the provincial level shall order the survey agency to stop surveying. For non‑profit surveys, a fine of more than RMB 500 (US$60.5) and less than RMB 1,000 (US$121) shall be imposed. For profit‑making surveys, the illegal income shall be confiscated and a fine of one to three times the illegal income but less than RMB 30,000 (US$3,628) shall be imposed. If there is no illegal income, a fine of more than RMB 5,000 (US$605) and less than RMB 10,000 (US$1,209) shall be imposed. An agency that has engaged in serious malpractice shall have its "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys" suspended or cancelled. If a crime has been committed, criminal responsibility shall be determined through investigation of the case:

1. conducting unauthorized foreign‑related social surveys without certification or after failing to pass the annual review;

2. conducting unauthorized foreign‑related social surveys without following the approved survey plan;

3. failing to indicate prominently on the front page of a questionnaire the approving authority, approval document number and a note that participation in the survey is voluntary.

Article 21: The domestic survey agency that provides its survey data and research results to overseas organizations, individuals and foreign‑related institutions without proper examination and approval shall be dealt with according to the relevant provisions of the state security department.

Article 22: Functionaries of the competent authority for foreign‑related social surveys who have neglected their duty, abused their power, engaged in malpractice to benefit their friends or relatives, or illegally revealed the commercial secrets of the relevant survey organization during the implementation of duties shall be disciplined according to the law. If losses were incurred, those concerned shall be investigated for civil responsibility. If a crime was committed, those concerned shall be investigated for criminal responsibility.

Article 23: An agency whose "Permit to Conduct Foreign‑Related Social Surveys" was suspended may apply for reinstatement of the permit no earlier than three months after the suspension. An agency whose permit was cancelled may apply for re‑qualification no earlier than two years after the cancellation.

Article 24: A foreign‑related social survey organization that does not acknowledge the decision or punishment made by the statistics departments of provincial governments, autonomous region governments, municipal governments directly under the central government or the State Statistical Bureau according to said measures, can request the State Statistical Bureau to review the case according to the law, or take legal action directly at the People's Court.

Article 25: Social survey activities related to cooperation projects between the Chinese government and foreign governments or international organizations shall be implemented according to the relevant state regulations.

Article 26: Said regulations apply to social surveys conducted by the organizations and individuals of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

Article 27: The State Statistical Bureau is in charge of interpreting said measures.

Article 28: Said measures come to effect on August 15, 1999.