356. China would like to thank South Africa for developing this proposal and I will address the second question in the proposal.
357. China has always supported a right balance between IP protection and public interests. We believe IP system should protect right holders' legitimate rights and at the same time benefit social welfare. Limitations and exceptions to the copyright system helps achieve the balance between authors' exclusive rights and the availability of works to the general public, which is conducive to the dissemination of knowledge and creation of works.
358. Specifically, in China's Copyright legal system, we have based our domestic rules of copyright limitations and exceptions on relevant provisions in international agreements, namely the Berne Convention, TRIPS Agreement and the WIPO Copyright Treaty. In China's Copyright Law, Article 22 stipulates 12 situations which allow free use of copyrights. Our law does not explicitly use the term "free use". I am just using the term "free use" for the sake of convenience to refer to the scenario in which a work may be exploited without the permission from the author, and without payment of remuneration to the author, provided the name of the author and the title of the work are mentioned and that other rights enjoyed by the author are respected.
359. The 12 situations include, for example: (1) for personal study, research and appreciation, (2) appropriate quotation from a published work in one's own work for the demonstration of a point, (3) reproduction of a work in its collections by a library; (4) translation of a work published by a Chinese citizen which is created in the Han language (Mandarin Chinese), into a minority group language for publication and distribution within China. Article 23 of our Copyright Law stipulates one situation under which non-exclusive license can apply. Again we do not use the term "non-exclusive license" in the legal text and I am just using "non-exclusive license" for the sake of convenience to refer to the situation where a work can be used without an author's permission, but remuneration has to be paid, the name of the author has to be mentioned, and other rights enjoyed by the author have to be respected. The non-exclusive license is used for compiling or publishing textbooks for the purpose of implementing the nine-year compulsory education in China.
360. Furthermore, China's Regulation on Implementing the Copyright Law and Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Communicate Works on Information Networks enacted by the State Council embedded more detailed rules on limitations and exceptions to copyright. The Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Communicate Works on Information Networks specifies exceptions to copyright in the digital environment. To alleviate poverty, a published work of a Chinese citizen on such topics as planting and breeding, disease prevention and elimination, disaster prevention and reduction can be made available free of charge to people in the rural area over the internet. No prior permission from the author is needed but the author is entitled to collect remuneration paid by the internet service provider.
361. In summary, China is of the view that limitations and exceptions to copyright is an important aspect to balance IP rights with public interests and is consistent with the objective of the TRIPS Agreement. We welcome other Members' interventions under this proposal.
