Interview With Shen Guoming, director of Law Committee of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress & General Secretary of Shanghai Law Society

By Dai Qian

As the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China is coming, the Expo operation work has been put on schedule. However it is not an easy task to carry out these programs including administration of the Expo site, services for participators, reception of visitors and business management, all of which are closely related to laws and regulations. Therefore, our reporter has a special interview with Shen Guoming, director of Law Committee of the Standing Committee of Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and general secretary of Shanghai Law Society. Now let him to tell us his opinions on the legal issues in the Expo 2010 operation.

In last December, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and the Shanghai Law Society chose "Legal Issues Concerning the Operation and Management of Shanghai Expo" as the major topic of the third Expo 2010 Legal Forum. So what kind of legal issues may arise in the operation of Expo 2010?

Shen Guoming: The Expo is all-inclusive. Its operation is rich in content, concerning the organizers, the participators, the visitors and the suppliers and covering all aspects, and the types of service need be provided are numerous, regarding the construction and administration of the Expo site, the participation of the participators, the reception of visitors and VIP customers and the commercial management of the activities. However, each sector within such a big project is closely related to the laws and regulations.

The problems visitors might face at the Expo site are actually the same with those in their daily life. However some of them may be concentrated at particular time and in particular environment.

Among the 70,000,000 person-times, averagely there are about several hundred thousand visitors coming every day in the Expo 2010. So the service provided to them shall be as considerate as possible, and the potential problems including limitation on the maximum number of people in the site, distribution of visitors, measures to realize waiting in queue, shall be regulated by rules in advance. If the rules are good, the order of the whole Expo will be good and the disputes, if any, will be easily and smoothly resolved.

The protection on the intellectual properties is a hot topic causing wide public concern and a decisive element on whether the Expo 2010 could be held as a successful and splendid event. So can you tell us how to make use of relevant laws and regulations in the operation of the Expo?

Shen Guoming: The protection on the intellectual properties is of critical importance among the legal protection in the Expo. The State Council has promulgated relevant administrative regulations on the protection of Expo 2010 logos, that is, Rules on the Protection of World Exposition Logos. The birth of such a significant administrative regulation about the protection on the intellectual properties will effectively strengthen the protection of the intellectual properties regarding the Expo 2010 logos. And recently the Organizing Committee of Expo 2010 also adopts the Program on the Protection on the Intellectual Properties of World Expo 2010 Shanghai China to exercise all-round protection for various intellectual properties during the Expo 2010.

Now the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination is engaged in the drawing of 9 Special Regulations, which provide specific provisions on various issues of the Expo including construction, installation, accommodation, customs, insurance, common service, intellectual properties and so on. These Special Regulations are going to be submitted to the Bureau of International Expositions before 1st may this year.

Now the market development program has been initiated regarding the Expo 2010 mascot and products of franchised business and the protection on relevant intellectual properties is of great significance. However it needs our more attention that, with the preparation of Expo 2010 going on, the protection on the intellectual properties shall not be merely concentrated on prohibiting the abuse of other people. The law grants the maximum rights and interests to the proteges, and such rights and interests are actually economic interests. Under the protection of the law, the proteges shall make every effort to develop and explore the value of the intellectual properties and use their creativity to enhance the added value of the intellectual properties.

As a global event, the Expo 2010 is expected by the whole world and every one wishes to witness its grandness in person. So the problem of tickets comes. What kinds of legal problems may be concerned with the tickets?

Shen Guoming: It is estimated that visitors to the Expo 2010 will be nearly 70,000,000 person-times and spontaneously the problem of tickets comes. The entry and exit of visitors and the timing are key issues of tickets. Examples of legal disputes arising from the selling of tickets are not rare in the past big events and exhibitions. For instance, if the visitors want tickets while the tickets are not available, they may doubt the fairness and validity of ticket selling. Another instance, if the consumers have bought the tickets but could not get in, they may often complain. If we want to prevent the occurrence of such problems in the Expo 2010, we must give a full consideration to the problems in advance so as to minimize the risks in law.

Besides legal measures, we have to adopt certain technical measures to resolve these problems in many cases. As we all know, Disney Land?ˉs quick pass system is widely praised, however other countries could not copy it at discretion for such system is invested with international patent and protected by the law. Japan in the Aichi Expo also by itself developed a set of independent intelligent chip system, the booking function of which is so precise that an apparently common ticket will be picked out accurately and immediately if the ticket holder is over the time for only ten minutes. The similar problem will also be considered for the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. Without the support of a good system, the administration of ticket affairs will be seriously challenged. Therefore, we need a ticket operation system of our own intellectual properties, while such system must be placed under the protection of the law so as to effectively prevent and resolve potential infringement and disputes.

Besides the aforementioned regulations, what shall the visitors do in concert with a successful, splendid and memorable Expo?

Shen Guoming: The visitors' cooperation is very important. Although of great significance, the regulations are not omnipotent because the implementation of any regulation and measure needs our common efforts. The cooperation and support of the visitors are of extreme importance for a successful, splendid and memorable World Exposition.

The tasks of education on national quality, citizens' legal consciousness and people's etiquette are urgent for us to carry out. Maladies in our daily life such as making noises, jumping the queue and littering always cause trouble to others. And in the Expo we need a large number of volunteers and staff to maintain order and make cleaning and thus the cost of the Expo is higher. If we carry out the above said education in a prompt and effective way, the cost of operation and management of the Expo will be greatly lowered.