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On 25 August 2022, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the Notice on Promoting Development of Intelligent and Connected Vehicles and Protecting Security of Geographic Mapping Information (“Notice”).
In this article, we highlight the key provisions of the Notice and set out our observations.
BACKGROUND
Under the Surveying and Mapping Law (“SML”), only companies licensed by the government are permitted to conduct any surveying or mapping activities. Results of any surveying or mapping activities must be submitted to the government, which will publish a catalogue of surveying and mapping results received.
The rapid development of the intelligent and connected vehicles (“ICV”) industry has given rise to concerns of the government as to the collection of geographic mapping data. In 2016, the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping issued a notice that requires all automotive manufacturers and research institutions to engage licensed institutions to conduct any surveying and mapping activities relevant to digital maps. In addition, any mapping data used for road testing and experiment of autonomous driving technology should also be treated as confidential surveying results that must not be provided to foreign organisations or individuals or foreign-invested companies.
The Notice is a step further taken by the government to bring more geographic mapping data processing activities in the ICV industry under the jurisdiction of surveying and mapping laws.
KEY PROVISIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
I. What activities are regulated by the Notice?
The Notice specifies that the following activities (“Regulated Activities”) are considered surveying and mapping activities: collecting, storing, transferring and processing by vehicles geographic mapping information (“Regulated Data”) of vehicles and surrounding road infrastructure, such as spatial coordinates, images, point clouds and attribute information. The vehicles here refer to the ICVs installed or equipped with sensors, such as satellite signal receiver and positioning receiver modules, inertial measurement units, cameras, and LIDAR.
Notably, the Notice explicitly excludes the manufacturing, integration and sale of vehicle sensors and ICVs from the scope of surveying and mapping activities.
II. Who will be subject to the Notice?
The Notice applies to the processors of the Regulated Data. In particular, the Notice applies to automotive manufacturers, service providers and certain intelligent driving software providers (“Regulated Entities”), who collect, store, transfer and process geographic mapping data, but excludes from the scope drivers and passengers of ICVs.
III. Licensing requirements and foreign investment
As the SML requires entities engaged in surveying and mapping activities to obtain a relevant license first, under the Notice only licensed entities can carry out the Regulated Activities. Where the Regulated Entities do not hold the license for mapping and surveying, they must engage the licensed entities to carry out the Regulated Activities on their behalf.
Whilst it is possible for the Regulated Entities to obtain the license, the requirements are relatively onerous for new applicants to meet, and some may opt to cooperate with licensed entities.
As foreign investment is prohibited in most categories of mapping and surveying activities, the Notice requires foreign-invested entities to engaged licensed entities to carry out the Regulated Activities.
IV. Export of Regulated Data
The Notice requires that entities providers of after-sale and operation services in relation to ICVs should seek approval of the authorities before exporting the Regulated Data.
Under the current laws and regulations, export of the Regulated Data must be approved if the Regulated Data contains the following information:State secret: the authorities have identified the scope of surveying and mapping data that is likely to be identified as state secrets;
Important data: the geographic information of important and sensitive areas such as military administration zones, defence science and industry entities, and party and government offices of county level or above (for our comments on important data in the automotive industry please click here);
mapping data used for road testing and experiment of autonomous driving technology; and
results of surveying and mapping activities conducted by a collaboration between Chinese and foreign parties.
CONCLUSION
The Notice brings the processing of geographic mapping data in the ICV industry into the scope of surveying and mapping activities, which are now under close scrutiny by the authorities. The Regulated Entities in the ICV industry are now required to obtain a license or engage a licensed entity to process geographic mapping data. Export of such data is also subject to strict approval process. Entities in the ICV industry are advised to take immediate measures to adapt to the requirements of the Notice.
