With the aim of protecting the audiovisual rights and interests of the public; safeguarding the rights for communications of the various cultures of our nation, as well as shaping an environment that can effectively facilitate the development of the nation’s media services industry, the NCC, on July 15, passed the draft bill of Over-The-Top Media Services Management Act (the Draft).
The Draft consists of 5 sections encompassing 20 articles with the primary content including the scope of management and registration; rules on disclosure of important information; prohibition of inappropriate content; self-disciplinary measures; and guidance and incentive measures for content.
The Draft version of the act also adopts a system of ‘voluntary registration.’ Yet, with the aim of protecting the audiovisual rights and interests of the public, NCC shall, in the spirit of “grasping the large and freeing the small”, issue a public notice, requesting over-the-top media service providers that have reached a specific level of business scale or market influence to register accordingly. Such providers shall be required to report the number of users, revenue, use status and other business information to NCC on a regular basis. In the meantime, they shall be obliged to co-establish or join a self-regulation organization and act in accordance to its rules so as to maintain the rights and interests of consumers.
Furthermore, business entities that are obliged to register per public notice shall also publicly enact specific measures and provide a certain proportion of domestic content, regardless of whether the content has been self or jointly produced. The Draft also specifies that, asides from relevant guidance and incentive measures, the government shall propose plans that encourage media service providers to safeguard the rights for communications of the various cultures of our nation and enhance the production and broadcasting capacity of the nation’s content industry.
Moreover, to prevent business entities that have not acquired a license in accordance with “Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area” from illegally providing media services, relevant supporting measures have also been stipulated in the Draft. For example, relevant businesses or services providers shall be prohibited from providing telecommunications equipment, telecommunications services, data center services, content transmission network services, cloud services and other services or products to the said illegal business entities. Relevant businesses or services providers shall also cooperate to block the content of illegal media services or adopt necessary measures.
Finally, it can be noted that NCC has been proactive in finalizing the details of the Draft since last February; and, during this period, held a number of seminars with scholars, experts and industry players to consult extensively, compiling a wide range of opinions and reaching consensus with all circles of society. In the near future, the articles of the Draft will be publicly announced on the NCC website and a public hearing will be held accordingly. All are welcome to submit their views and opinions on the Draft by entering “Over-The-Top Media Services Management Act” zone on NCC’s Global Information Network at https://www.ncc.gov.tw/chinese/gradation.aspx?site_content_sn=5305&is_history=0.
