Other BriefingsChina Regulatory Brief: Personal Access to VPNs to be Blocked, Tax Approval Items Streamlined
Telecoms service providers told to block individuals’ access to VPNs
China’s central government has given directives to the country’s three largest telecommunications providers, namely China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile, to block individuals’ access to virtual private networks (VPNs) by February 1, 2018.
Previously, China’s ‘Great Firewall’, the government’s tool to enforce ‘internet sovereignty’, has hindered access to VPNs, but did not make access impossible. While there have been government drives in many forms to crack down on VPN usage and further censorship in the past, few have come to any real result.
However, the latest directive has been a serious concern for internet users. On June 22, VPN service provider Green announced that it would stop operations on July 1, while many other services have disappeared from app stores all together.
Businesses depending on VPNs for operation will also be affected, but may be able to lease lines to access international internet, meaning that the move primarily affects individuals. So far, government authorities have not released any official statements on the matter.
New draft regulations on securing critical information infrastructure released
China’s Cyberspace Administration published draft regulations on protecting the security of critical information infrastructure (CII) for public consultation on July 10.
It further clarifies the scope of what constitutes CII, a source of much debate for firms affected by the rules set out in China’s Cybersecurity Law, which came into effect earlier this month.
According to the draft regulation, CII can include network facilities and information systems operated by entities involved in sectors such as energy, finance, transportation, health, education, and public utilities, among others. It also implicates telecommunications networks, internet, cloud computing, national defense, broadcasting, and news agencies, etc.
However, infrastructure falling under such categories will also need to meet other criteria to be classified as CII, such as severity of impact on national security, the economy, and livelihood or well-being of the public if such infrastructure was damaged or lost.
The regulation stipulates that operators of CII should establish a system to inspect their information infrastructure in order to evaluate its risks, which may be done internally or through a third party.
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Tax administrative approval items further streamlined
China’s State Administration of Tax has released an announcement which further streamlines the procedures for handling tax administrative approval items, and updates the templates of tax administrative approval documents and the list of tax administrative approval sub-items.
It means that, from July 1, when a tax approval application is processed by local tax authorities and is able to be done then and there, authorities will directly issue a decision on the granting of administrative licensing.
Where application materials require permits or licenses issued by other government authorities, tax authorities are now able to find them on the centralized information sharing database.
Further, where taxpayers need to get approval from tax authorities located in another tax district, application materials can now be transmitted to the relevant responsible tax authority via the local tax office.
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