On Nov.7 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress issued the “People’s Republic of China Film Industry Promotion Law” Which was formally implemented on Mar. 1, 2017 . The law requires the legal persons or other organizations in China can cooperate with organizations outside China on film productions with the approval of the competent department of the State Council; films meeting the requirements for creation, investment, income distribution and other aspects, are treated as films produced by domestic legal persons or other organizations; the state encourages the legal persons and other organizations to make overseas cross-border investment through overseas and other ways, to protect its foreign trade, cross-border financing, investment and other reasonable demands for foreign exchange according to the law.
Film co-productions fall into three categories: co-produced, assisted and entrusted.
A Co- Production Film is a film shot by a China-based film producer and a foreign producer that features joint investments (including funding,labor and materials, joint filming, and joint sharing of both benefits and risks. Such films are subject to preferential policies that are typically applied to domestic Chinese films within the Chinese marketplace.
An Assisted Film is a foreign-invested film that is produced in a China setting. The Chinese partner assists a foreign producer in providing settings or filming locations, facilities and labor at the cost of the foreign producer, but will not own the copyrights as an assisting party. The assisted film must go through import formalities as an imported film and is not subject to the preferential policies typically applied to domestic Chinese films.
An Entrusted Film is a film in which a foreign party has fully entrusted a Chinese party to produce according to specified content and technical requirements.The Chinese party completes all work at the expense of the foreign party,but will not own the copyrights. A film of this type is thoroughly considered an import entering the domestic market and is not subject to the preferential policies typically applied to domestic Chinese films.
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