On this coming Saturday, August 1, 2009, China's new regulations on media reproduction will take effect. Compared to the previous version (enacted in 1996), the new regulatory policy is tightening the control of media reproduction equipment, including high-precision injection molding machines.

Under the new law, a government approval must be in place for any purchase, import, addition or modification of media storage disc manufacturing equipment. The General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) is the administrative agency responsible for drafting and enforcing the regulations.

It's worth noting that GAPP is actually the same agency as the National Copyright Administration (NCAC), which is typical China's "one agency, two nameplates" structure.

According to the new regulations, the purchase, import, addition or modification of manufacturing equipment for read-only CD/DVDs must apply for approval from GAPP in Beijing. GAPP's provincial level branches will be regulating the purchase, import, addition or modification of manufacturing equipment for writable CD/DVDs.

Equipment manufacturers in China are required to report the production and sale of any CD/DVD reproduction equipment within 30 days.

It'll be interesting to see whether this new regulation will be strictly enforced and whether it will in any way affect the high-precision injection press market.

(The GAPP Web site is currently down. I'll post the URL of the new law once the site is back online.)