People's Republic of China Legal Update - The Notice on the Prevention of Online Gaming Addiction in Juveniles

Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/glr2.2019.0002The General Administration of Press and Publication of the People’s Republic of China published the Notice on the Prevention of Online Gaming Addiction in Juveniles (the ‘Notice’) on 25 October 2019. The Notice imposes new legal obligations on online gaming service providers in order to ensure the protection of juveniles from online gaming addiction. ‘Juveniles’ are defined by Section 7 of the Notice as citizens of the People’s Republic of China under the age of 18. The Notice has been effective since 1 November 2019.The legal burdens imposed can be summarised as follows: (i), an obligation to verify the identity of all users using their unique national identity number (only this obligation is uniquely imposed also in relation to adult users, as the verification process is necessary to determine whether the user is an adult or a juvenile for the purposes of the other obligations imposed); (ii), a shutdown law imposed as an obligation to stop providing online gaming services to juveniles between 22:00 and 8:00 the next morning; (iii), maximum gameplay time limits imposed as an obligation to stop providing online gaming services to juveniles after 3 hours on public holidays (including weekends) and 1.5 on other days; (iv), maximum in-game spending limits imposed as an obligation not to provide paid services beyond a certain monetary limit (or not at all) depending on the age range of the juvenile user in question

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