ICP
If you are considering a serious web presence in mainland China, you will need to acquire an ICP license or ICP archival registration.
ICP problems you will meet
ICP license (abbreviation for Internet Content Provider) is a value-added telecom license issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) to allow China-based websites to operate profitable Internet information service in China.
ICP archival registration is a basic qualification for all internet content providers, whose applications for an ICP archival registration number are usually submitted to and reviewed by the provincial Telecommunication Administrations by responsible Internet Service Providers (ISP) through connected information administration systems.
Profitable Internet Information Service & Non-operational Internet Information Service
Profitable internet information service refers to the provision with charge of payment of information through internet to web users or of web page designing, etc.
Non-operational internet information service refers to the provision free of charge of public, commonly-shared information through internet to web users.
Before we proceed to expand more details of the process of acquiring an ICP archival registration or an ICP license, please keep in mind that the internet laws and regulations in China have been evolving and will keep changing. Most likely, you won’t be able to keep track of the changes by yourself without the navigation from a local guide.
DO I HAVE TO ACQUIRE ICP ARCHIVAL REGISTRATION?
If you are planning to host your website on servers based within the boundary of mainland China (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are excluded), yes, it is mandatory for you to acquire an ICP archival registration before your website can go live. There’s no other route to avoid it.
CAN I ACQUIRE ICP ARCHIVAL REGISTRATION?
An ICP registration can be applied for through a registered legal entity in China. Here are some examples of the types of entities that are qualified to acquire an ICP archival registration:
- Chinese domestic company with a Chinese business license;
- China based representative office of foreign companies;
- Partially or wholly foreign-owned businesses with Chinese business license, JV or WOFE (Wholly Owned Foreign Enterprise) for example.
An foreign company without a Chinese business entity is not eligible to apply for ICP archival registration.
Above information only for reference, we reserve the right to explain.
Contact us directly or refer to ICP website for more detail Information.