China's public relations (PR) sector is to become more standard and also develop more healthily and rapidly, after the "Service Guidance of the PR Industry" was issued on Friday.

The guidance, released by the on-going China International Public Relations Congress, is to take effect on July 1. The guidance covers working procedure, company management, strategy and marketing, human resources and occupational morality for the PR industry.

"Since China's consulting market became fully liberalized to the outside world last year, we have formulated these rules to keep in line with international practices," said Li Daoyu, president of the China International Public Relations Association.

According to China's commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO), foreigners have been allowed to establish solely foreign-funded PR firms in China from the beginning of last year.

Under the guidance, foreign-funded PR firms should meet the same requirements their domestic counterparts do.

All PR companies in China should have registration capital of no more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,000). Set working offices, sound communication facilities, service-providing networks, a list of long-term clients and at least two PR consultants with more than five years' professional experience are required.

So far, foreign public relations conglomerates including APCO, Burson-Marsteller, Edelman, Fleishman Link and Hill & Knowlton have set up solely funded enterprises or joint ventures in China.

Under the guidance, PR companies must adopt standard service procedures and provide clients with standard PR proposals. The guidance specifically puts forward examples of standard service procedures and proposals.

The charging system consists of professional consulting fee, project service fee (not less than 5 percent of the project investment) and a long-term agent's fee (not less than US$3,600 per month).

"In particular, human resources management is highlighted in the guidance, given public relations consulting service is an intellectually intensive, knowledge intensive, experience intensive and resource intensive occupation," said Li.

More efforts will be paid to certifying PR consultancy qualification and training, according to Li.

The guidance also encourages PR firms to make their own incentive measures, such as awards, bonuses, high-level training and welfare, to prevent brain drain, since qualified professionals are the most crucial elements for the success of PR firms.

Charles Van Straten, president of International Public Relations, appreciates the newly issued guidance and predicts that China's PR industry will progress very fast along a sound track.

Though the concept of public relations was introduced to China a decade ago, the industry is shaping up in the nation, said Straten.

Statistics from the China International Public Relations Association show that the total number of public relations firms across the Chinese mainland exceeded 1,500, with the total number of public relations practitioners topping 15,000 at the end of last year.

The combined revenue of the Chinese mainland's PR industry amounted to 3.3 billion yuan (US$397 million) in 2003, an increase of about 800 million yuan (US$96.39 million) over the 2.5 billion yuan (US$301 million) of 2002, according to sources with the association.

"China's PR industry is to maintain the momentum of speedy yet steady growth in 2004, and the annual growth rate this year is estimated to be more than 30 percent," Li said.

(China Daily June 26, 2004)