I ran this past our Export Controls & Trade Compliance people, one of them came back saying that it's notoriously hard to this this kind of information out of the Chinese authorities.
However he did provide a link to a Bloomberg article http://www.mmlcgroup.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/encryptionbloombergmmlc_murphy_xia_article.pdf
The exceptions list the following:
Mobile phones
Windows software
Browser software
Further, the article goes on to say:
“Interestingly, the SEAB has a policy which is essentially another exception based on intellectual property issues. This is potentially a very useful exemption for many high-tech organizations. Currently, the SEAB claims that it will allow the import and use of a product with encryption technology if its main purpose is for protecting the intellectual property in a product.. This policy does not have legislative support in China, however we have seen it applied to various software and telecommunications products that are brought into China”
SEAB = Chinese Encryption Administration Bureau
So – always remembering the principles of IANAL (I am not a lawyer – so this is not legal advice) – it seems that day-to-day business use of encrypted mobile phones and Windows computers is fine. In addition, it also seems that dongles protecting the use of software would be fine.
Macintosh computers now – they might be different as they’re not Windows-based……………………
Note though that the Bloomberg article is dated 2011 and I guess a lot could have happened in that time.
HTH
Cheers
↧