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CHINA
26
CHINA
Paul Weiss
Philippines
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan
SINGAPORE Loo & Partners
Vietnam
Indochine Counsel
MALAYSIA
Wong & Partners
INDonesia
Bastaman Enrico
Each month, ALB draws on its panel of country editors to bring readers up to date with regulatory developments across the region
Online Map Services: Can Private Operators Compete with the Chinese Government Website? The recently launched mapping website of the Chinese government, MapWorld (tianditu.cn), has been widely reported in the press as an attempt to preempt private Internet content providers, and especially foreign services such as Google Earth and Google Maps, from capturing Chinese users’ demand for online interactive maps. Foreign investment in online mapping and location-based services is restricted by regulations of the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (the “Surveying Bureau”), which apply in addition to the general regulatory framework for foreign investment in telecommunications services. The Surveying Bureau prohibits foreign investment in certain map-related services (including digital navigation) and limits foreign ownership in all others to 49% of the registered capital of the service provider. In addition, all providers of online mapping services in China must be licensed by the Surveying Bureau. On May 10, 2010, the Surveying Bureau issued a Notice regarding the Standards for Specialized Online Mapping Service (the “Notice”), which sets more onerous requirements for obtaining a license for online mapping services. Most importantly, the Notice changes the scope of services for which a Class A must be obtained from the Surveying Bureau. Under the Notice, only a holder of a Class A license may provide download services for maps. Class A licenses are issued by the Surveying Bureau at central government level (whereas Class B licenses are issued at provincial or lower level). The Surveying Bureau also requires that its provincial level counterparts must approve all maps posted online.
These licensing and approval requirements would not be an obstacle to the launch and development of a government sponsored service like MapWorld, but may be more difficult to satisfy for private and foreign-invested competitors. To date, only 40 companies (including a joint venture established by Nokia) have obtained a Class A license for online mapping services. Value-added map-related services may also suffer from pervasive government concerns about the security risks associated with readily available geographical information. Thus, the Surveying Bureau issued a notice on December 28, 2009, requiring service providers to take effective measures to regulate the uploading of users’ tagging information, monitor the points of interests tagged by users regularly and ensure that all relevant information is in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Every six months, the online mapping service provider shall file the new points of interests for the record with the local counterpart of the Surveying Bureau. Written by Hans-Günther Herrmann, Counsel Yi Hu, China law consultant Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Hong Kong Club Building, 12th Floor 3A Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong Email: hherrmann@paulweiss.com Ph: (852) 2846-0300
Philippines
Philippine PPP Center Established In line with his administration’s avowed policy of focusing on public-privatepartnerships as a way of addressing the Philippines’ infrastructure needs, on September 9, 2010, President Benigno S. Aquino III issued Executive Order No. 8, renaming the existing Build-OperateAsian Legal Business ISSUE 10.12