All about the ICP license to host your site in China

The Chinese government has many rules and regulations when it comes to streaming content in China. These laws are constantly changing which creates a challenge for companies wishing to enter the Chinese market. To overcome this problem, a service exists : the ICP license. Do you want to launch your sales site to conquer the Chinese market ? Read this article.

An ICP license is required for the Chinese market

The best way to reach the Chinese market is to place your content in China as close as possible to your customers. You can visit the site to see everything. Hosting in China requires a Bei-An type ICP content provider repository. Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is required to open the operation of websites in China. This license was established by the Telecommunications Regulations of the Peoples Republic of China promulgated in September 2000. 

Any website sharing content from servers in China must compulsorily & legally obtain this PKI license. Without it, Chinese internet service providers automatically block the site. For clarification, international companies can already access the Chinese market as long as they are not hosted on Chinese territory. On the other hand, websites will not load as quickly as local hosting.

New rules and strengthening of the application : domain names and Chinese entity

On November 27 2017 the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued new regulations for domain names for Internet content services. On January 1, 2018, the new laws took effect. This rule impacted new ICP applications and existing ICP holders that were not compliant with the updated regulations. 

First the company must establish a corporation in China and register a domain in China. If you do not follow all of these rules, your ICP application is likely to be rejected. Companies that circumvent the new regulations risk definitively having their domains banned or blacklisted by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.