E-sports Hotels with the selling point of "E-sports + accommodation" have been favored by young people in recent years. However, there are some problems in this field, such as unclear industry characterization, accepting a large number of minors in the name of hotel accommodation and unlimited Internet access. Some lawyers believe that while encouraging the expansion of diversified business models and consumption scenarios, it is also necessary to timely foresee and prevent multiple risks brought by new business forms, which tests the regulatory wisdom of relevant departments.
On the eve of the children's day, the Supreme People's Procuratorate reported 8 typical cases of special action for legal supervision of the protection of minors, and a new type of business regulation and governance case handled by the people's Procuratorate of Suqian City, Jiangsu Province was included. This case is also the first civil public interest litigation case in China where E-sports hotels illegally accept minors to provide Internet services.
As a new business form, E-sports hotels are favored by young people because of their dual functions of Internet access and accommodation. The question also follows: is the e-sports hotel a hotel or an Internet service business place? This has also produced many unsolved problems in terms of industry standards, the definition and attribution of law enforcement departments.
Previously, in Henan, the people's Procuratorate of Xingyang City publicly proposed to implement the dual management of "Hotel + Internet cafe" for E-sports hotels and prohibit minors from entering. This proposal has aroused the attention of all parties.
Breeding a number of crimes involving minors
On May 12, Suqian intermediate people's court heard a civil public interest litigation case and ruled that an E-sports Hotel prohibited providing Internet services to minors.
The case shows that the e-sports Hotel accepted minors, but did not apply for the online culture business license. Within 3 months, the e-sports hotel has received minors for 387 times. In order to avoid inspection, the hotel often takes measures such as not registering minors for check-in.
During the local law enforcement inspection, it was found that it is very common for E-sports hotels to accept a large number of minors for unlimited Internet access in the name of hotel accommodation. Only in Sucheng District, where the crime was committed, there were more than 800 records of minors' admission in the 12 home appliance hotel registration system.
The people's Procuratorate of Xingyang City, Henan Province handled a number of cases of minors' infringement in the past year, which occurred in E-sports hotels.
"It is very convenient for consumers to book rooms through the online platform." Wanglili, the procurator of Xingyang people's Procuratorate who is in charge of minors' procuratorial work, led the team to find that during the investigation and handling of cases, some E-sports hotels did not strictly implement the relevant provisions of the law on the protection of minors during the operation process, and did not ask and record the contact information and identity relationship of the guardian when receiving minors; Some E-sports hotels have fulfilled the obligation to inform their guardians, but in order to seek benefits, they use the method of not telling the truth. For example, they only tell the guardians where the minors are, but do not tell the minors that they will check in.
The investigation of Xingyang people's Procuratorate also found that the e-sports hotel has the situation of one person registering for multiple accommodation, mixed living of men and women, etc; The cheaper E-sports hotels have only applied for business licenses, but have not applied for business licenses for special industries. Some have not even applied for business licenses, so they have hidden the Internet access fees in the accommodation fees, cleverly avoiding the rules and restrictions that prohibit young people from entering the business places of Internet access services.
"Many cases of minors' infringement occurred in E-sports hotels, which is enough to show that such E-sports hotels have great regulatory loopholes in the protection of minors, and are likely to become a breeding ground for new illegal and criminal acts." Wanglili said.
The properties of hotels and Internet cafes overlap
According to the data, there will be 15000 E-sports hotels nationwide in 2021. Correspondingly, E-sports hotels, which are still in the savage growth period, lack unified industry standards and have low barriers to entry. In recent years, the COVID-19 has caused a huge impact on the hotel industry. Many hotels have transformed themselves, and E-sports hotels have become an important direction. However, some E-sports hotels play the "edge ball", simply set up a bed in the room and add a computer with a higher configuration, so they use E-sports gimmicks to attract underage consumers.
Because there is no clear legal basis, the current characterization of E-sports hotels has yet to be clarified. If the e-sports hotel is defined as an Internet service business place, the operator must apply for the network culture business license and prohibit minors from entering; If the e-sports hotel is defined as a place of accommodation, according to the relevant provisions of the law on the protection of minors, the operators can accept minors after fulfilling their inspection, reporting and other obligations, which makes it difficult to effectively supervise their online service behavior.
This means that there is a vacuum of regulatory policies in the overlapping area of hotels and Internet cafes in E-sports hotels.
In the above civil public interest litigation case involving E-sports hotels in Suqian, the "permitted operation" item in the enterprise registration form of the e-sports hotel does not include Internet access services, but its doorplate clearly indicates that the service scope includes "online accommodation and catering". In its Internet platform marketing advertisement, it advertised that "new hotels relying on E-sports games can not only enjoy high-quality E-sports services comparable to Internet cafes, but also have a comfortable experience in hotels".
After hearing, the court held that article 2 of the regulations on the administration of Internet service business places stipulates the Internet service business places. The site has three elements: non specificity of service objects, profitability and provision of Internet access services. Although the e-sports hotel is called a hotel, it is obviously different from ordinary hotels in terms of facilities, consumption mode and charging mode. In essence, it takes the provision of Internet access services as its main purpose and consumption mode, and belongs to the Internet access service business place.
Supervision should adhere to the principle of "most beneficial to minors"
Jiayongjian, associate professor of the Law School of Henan University, told the worker's Daily that under the catalysis of "E-sports +", the selling point of E-sports hotels is also "E-sports + online" services. Its core functions include online services and accommodation services, which should be subject to relevant supervision.
In order to strengthen the management of this new type of business, Nanjing, Jiangsu and other places have made explorations. According to relevant regulations, if the number of computers in the room is greater than the number of beds (except for one or two computers), the e-sports hotel needs to apply for the Internet culture operation license. Referring to the management of Internet cafes, it is not allowed to provide Internet services for minors, and it is not allowed to open it to people other than accommodation.
"E-sports hotels should not only benchmark the operation of 'accommodation' sites, but also refer to the management of 'Internet cafes', which will certainly raise the threshold of the industry." An analyst engaged in the promotion of E-sports said that compared with traditional Internet cafes, E-sports hotels are characterized by comfort and privacy. "If video surveillance is installed in the rest place, no one will want to come.".
On May 26, the people's Procuratorate of Daguan District, Anqing City, Anhui Province issued an announcement of civil public interest litigation against a number of E-sports hotels. According to the announcement, these E-sports hotels have not obtained the network culture operation license, provided Internet access services for minors, and failed to take Internet protection measures for minors, which may damage the physical and mental health of minors, resulting in damage to social and public interests.
"When it comes to the supervision of online services of E-sports hotels, we should always adhere to the principle of 'most beneficial to minors'." Chenhongwei, a lawyer of Henan Liangcheng law firm, believes that although hotels are a traditional industry, they have achieved cross-border business through e-sports, thus forming a new business form. While encouraging the expansion of these diversified business models and consumption scenarios, it is also necessary to timely foresee and prevent multiple risks brought about by new business forms, and effectively eliminate the harm of E-sports hotels to the rights and interests of minors, which tests the regulatory wisdom of relevant departments.
The people's Procuratorate of Xingyang city issued procuratorial suggestions to the Public Security Bureau of Xingyang City, urging it to conduct a comprehensive investigation of E-sports hotels within its jurisdiction, establish and improve the supervision mechanism for minors' occupancy, and strengthen the legal education for E-sports hotel employees. At the same time, the Procuratorate issued procuratorial suggestions to Xingyang municipal market supervision and Administration Bureau to urge them to perform their duties according to law, take effective measures to deal with the e-sports hotels operating without licenses in a timely manner, and conduct regular troubleshooting to prevent the phenomenon of operating without licenses.