Newspaper and Periodical Quality Management Regulations – China

General Administration of Press and Publication

Date: 2020-5-28

Article 1: These provisions are formulated on the basis of the “P.R.C. Domestic Product Quality Law”, “Regulation on Publication Administration”, “Provisions on Newspaper Publication Administration”, and other relevant laws and regulations, so as to strengthen quality management for newspapers and periodicals, to regulate the order of newspaper and periodical publication, a to promote increases in the quality of newspapers and periodicals.

Article 2: These Provisions apply to newspapers and periodicals that have been approved by the State departments in charge of news and publications, possess domestic unified serial publication numbers, and have acquired permits for publishing newspapers or periodicals.

Article 3: Newspapers’ and periodicals’ quality includes four items; the quality of content, proofreading, publication form, and printing; which graded as Satisfactory or Substandard. Where all four items are satisfactory, quality is satisfactory; where any of the four items is substandard, quality is substandard.

Article 4: Where newspapers and periodicals have content provided for in articles 25 or 26 of the “Regulations on Publication Administration”, and are within the scope of business approved by the state departments for the administration of press and publication, the content quality is Satisfactory; where it not within the scope of permitted business the content quality is Substandard.

Article 5: Assessment of errors in the proofing of newspapers and periodicals is to be based upon laws and regulations, state standards, and industry standards and specifications;

Where newspapers’ proofreading error rate of less than 3 in 10,000, the proofreading quality is Satisfactory; where the proofreading error rate exceeds 3 in 10,000, the proofreading quality is Substandard. Calculation of the frequency of errors is to be conducted in accordance with the “Methodology for Calculating Newspaper Proofreading Error Rates” attached to these Provisions.

Where Periodicals proofreading error rate is less than 2 in 10,000, the proofreading quality is Satisfactory; where the proofreading error rate exceeds 2 in 10,000, proofreading quality is Substandard. Calculation of the frequency of errors is to be conducted in accordance with the “Methodology for Calculation Periodical Proofreading Error Rates” attached to these Provisions.

Article 6: Assessment of errors in the publication form of newspapers and periodicals is to be based on relevant laws and regulations, state standards, and industry standards and specifications.

Where the number of publication forms in a newspaper is less than three, the publication form quality is Satisfactory; where the number of errors exceeds three, the publication form quality is Substandard. Calculation of the number of errors is to be conducted in accordance with the “Methodology for Calculation of the Number of Publication Form Errors in Newspapers” attached to these Provisions.

Where the number of printing form errors in periodicals is five or less, the printing form quality is Satisfactory; where the number exceeds 5, the printing form quality is unsatisfactory. Calculation of the number of errors is to be conducted in accordance with the “Methodology for the Calculation of the Number of Publication Form Errors”

Article 7: Newspaper printing errors include printing errors in individual copies and in batches, periodical printing errors include errors in individual copies and in batches. Where newspaper and periodical printing meets current national and industry standards and specifications, the printing quality is Satisfactory; where these are not met, printing quality is substandard.

Article 8: The national departments in charge of press and publication are responsible for the quality management efforts on newspapers and periodicals nationwide, each provincial department in charge of press and publication is responsible for quality management efforts on newspapers and periodicals in the corresponding jurisdiction. The departments in charge of press and publication at all levels shall perform their regulatory duties, to carry out inspections of newspaper and periodical quality, and promptly publish the results of the inspections to the public.

Article 9: The organizers responsible for newspapers and periodicals shall urge the publishing units to establish and complete systems for quality management and oversee their implementation, incorporating the newspapers and periodicals quality into the publishing units’ social benefit evaluation, and putting forward handling opinions and rectification measures for Substandard quality newspapers and periodicals. Newspaper and periodical publishing units shall implement management systems such as “three review, three proofs” systems, to strengthen business training, and ensure the quality of publications. [the three review /three proof system refers to a system of content and copy editing in three phases by different persons]

Article 10: Quality inspections of newspapers and periodicals are to be conducted through sampling. Inspection samples for newspapers’ content, proofreading, and publication form quality are of all content pages, middle seams, and inserts. The sample for inspections of periodical content, proofreading, and publication form quality should be the full text, cover one (including spine), cover two, cover three, cover four, the copyright page, table of contents page, advertising page, insert pages, and so on. Sampling for testing the printing quality of newspapers and periodicals is to be conducted in accordance with relevant standards.

Article 11: The departments in charge of press and publication are to implement quality inspections for newspapers and periodicals and written notice of the specific circumstances of newspapers and periodicals with Substandard inspection results is to be given to the publishing unit or organizing unit. If publishing units or organizing units have objections, they must submit a request for a re-examination within 15 days of receiving the notice; and those with objections to the re-examination outcome must submit a request for a reconsideration to the department in charge of press and publication at the level above within 7 days of receiving notice.

Article 12: Where the quality of newspaper and periodical content, proofing, or publishing forms is Substandard, the department in charge of press and publication at the provincial level or above it to order that corrections be made and give warnings on the basis of the “Regulations on Publishing Administration”, “Provisions on the Administration of Newspaper Publication”, “Provisions on the Administration of Periodical Publication”, and other relevant laws and regulations; where the circumstances are serious, order a suspension of operations for rectification within a certain period of time or have the organ that originally issued publishing credentials revoke them.

Where serious problems occur at newspapers or periodicals, the publishing units shall employ measures such as recall or destruction to eliminate the negative impact.

Article 13: Where the printing quality of newspapers or periodicals is Substandard, the publishing unit shall promptly recall and replace them. Where publication units violate these provisions by continuing to print Substandard quality newspapers or periodicals, it is to be addressed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the “P.R.C. Product Quality Law” and the “Regulations on Publication Administration”.

Article 14: Departments in charge of press and publication at the provincial level and higher are to give commendations and awards to units and individuals that make outstanding contributions in quality management of newspapers and periodicals.

Article 15: These Provisions come into force on the date of printing and issue.

Attachment:

1. Calculation method of newspaper error rate
2. Calculation method of error rate of periodical editing
3. The method of calculating the number of errors in newspaper publishing

4. Calculation method of error number in periodical publication form

The General Administration of Press and Publication [新闻出版总署] is the government’s administrative agency responsible for drafting and enforcing China’s prior restraint regulations, as well as for screening books discussing “important topics.”