VI. Movie Import

The business of importing movies shall be operated by the movie import entities designated by the film administrative department under the State Council; without being designated, no entity or individual shall operate the business of importing movies. Whoever intends to import films for public projection shall, before the import, submit a sample of the film to the movie examination institution for examination. At present, China Film Group Corporation (CFGC) is responsible for the introduction of overseas films for theater publication, and only CFGC and Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd. have the right to distribute the imported films. Other entities or individuals who import foreign films for theater projection must obtain the aforementioned two companies' (or one of their) delegated authority, specifi cally by box offi ce accounting, copyright buyout, etc.

F or the film which is submitted to the movie examination institution for examination, the designated movie import entity shall go through the temporary film import formalities at customs with the approval documents for temporary import issued by the administrative department for film under the State Council; after the temporarily imported film has passed the examination by the movie examination institution and the “License for Public Projection of the Film” and approval documents for import have been issued, the movie import entity shall go through the import formalities at customs with the approval documents for import.

An import entity which intends to import special topic films for reference in science research or teaching shall report to the relevant administrative department under the State Council for examination and approval, go through the import formalities in the customs with the approval documents, and report to the film administrative department under the State Council for record within 30 days as of the date of import. However, it shall not import feature films in the name of science research or teaching. China Film Archive may, when importing archival films, directly go through the import formalities at customs. China Film Archive shall report by quarter the archival films it has imported to the film administrative department under the State Council for the record. Otherwise, no entity or individual shall import the films which have not been examined to be qualified by the film administrative department under the State Council.

A n international film festival (exhibition) to be held in China shall be subject to the approval of the film department of the State Council or the film department of the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government. Films that have finished shooting must obtain the Permit for Public Projection before participating in the film festival (exhibition).