China has passed a new law to govern film content and regulate the promotion of the film industry. The film law was approved by the National People's Congress standing committee at a meeting in Beijing. This is the first instance of a formal legislation for China's film industry.

To properly regulate the growing market, the new film law seeks to clamp down on dubious ticket frauds, which are believed to be behind the steep decline in box office collections. The revenue in the month of October was lower a quarter on a year-over-year basis.

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The legislation provides for confiscation of illegal earnings made by film theaters and distributors. A fine of 500,000 yuan ($73,800) may be imposed for falsifying the ticket sales data. However, the fine will be up to five times the illegitimate earnings, if the earnings are higher than 500,000 yuan.

The film law also seeks to regulate the content shown by the films. It requires films to promote "socialist core values" while content considered injurious to the "dignity, honour and interests" of the country will be banned.

The films are also banned from showing material which may cause opposition to the constitution or law or exposes national secrets. Other banned subjects are those which harm Chinese security or spread extremism. The new film law asks the movies to "serve the people and socialism."

Shi Chuan, vice president of Shanghai Film Association, called the new film law "a milestone." China is one of the fastest growing film markets in the world. Its 2016 box office revenue as of October exceeded $5.5 billion (38 billion yuan).

Tagschina, films, Shanghai Film Association