National Bureau of Statistics’ No. 23 Order : Incorporating “Anime, Games and Digital Content Services” into Strategic Emerging Industries

On November 26th, the official website of the National Bureau of Statistics released Order No. 23 – “Strategic Emerging Industries Classification (2018)” (hereinafter referred to as the 2018 classification), which was approved in the 15th executive meeting of the National Bureau of Statistics on October 12, 2018 and announced now, implemented from the date its publication.

It can be learned from its content that China’s strategic emerging industries have increased from five major areas to nine major fields, and the 2018 classification has also undergone large-scale adjustments on the scope and applicable fields of the digital creative industry. In addition, the key products and service catalogues of the digital creative industry are also announced.

The revision is based on the national strategic emerging industry development policy, based on the current “National Economic Industries Classification” (GB/T 4754-2017), focusing on practical operability, based on current statistical systems and methods, and fully considering the availability of data, to ensure that the statistical department is able to collect data on “strategic emerging industries” activities.

The “2018 Classification” clearly states that according to the “Decision of the State Council on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of Strategic Emerging Industries” (Guo Fa [2010] No. 32), the classification is formulated to accurately reflect the “13th Five-Year” national strategic emerging industry development planning situation and statistically measure the scale, structure and speed of strategic emerging industries.

The strategic emerging industries stipulated in the “2018 Classification” are knowledge & technology intensive, low physical materials consuming industries with great growing potential, comprehensive effectiveness and a major tie-setting effect on the overall economic and social development,based on major technological breakthroughs and development needs, including a new generation of information technology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new materials industry, bio-industry, new energy auto industry, new energy industry, energy & environment friendly industry, digital creative industry and related services.

After comparing the “13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Strategic Emerging Industries”, it can be seen that four major fields of industries have been included in the national strategic emerging industries – new materials industry, new energy automobile industry, new energy industry and related service industries.

The 2018 classification of the digital creative industry has also changed a lot compared with the 2012 version of the classification:

It is worth noting that the “2018 Classification” corresponds with the National Economic Industry Classification (GB/T 4754-2017). Only some of the activities in a certain industry category of the national economy belong to strategic emerging industries, with the mark “*” added after the industry code, and the corresponding key products and services given in the “Key Products and Services Catalogue”. For all of the strategic emerging industries, the specific scope and description of the corresponding industry categories can be found in “the 2017 National Economic Industry Classification Notes”.