China ICP

[dusty]

After doing a little research on Google it seems most web masters are guessing that only websites hosted in mainland China need an ICP. Does anyone have a primary source to confirm this? Is this true for IDN.cn as well, or would their be different rules for .cn

What is the least expensive path to getting an ICP license? Does one have to incorporate in China? Can it be a wholly foreign owned enterprise?

I assume the information is here: http://www.miibeian.gov.cn/ , but my Chinese is not at a level to determine these things.

Any information or law firm recommendation would be appreciated.

[chineseidn]

From my experience I'd say that only when you host a website on mainland servers you'll need an ICP license. That's also the only way the Chinese gov can enforce this, unless they decide to block all icp-less websites.

I don't host in the mainland myself and never went through the whole procedure myself but web design companies etc I know here in Shanghai do this for their clients.

Depending on what kind of content you host, news, product info and whether comments or forums are part of it, there will be additional regulations you'll have to comply with in order to get a license.

One way I notice that some websites try to get around this, or maybe it's the Chinese hosting providers, is by hosting the website on the www subdomain while anyone surfing to the www-less domain will find a message they haven't got a a license.

I don't know whether the regulations apply to .cn domains as well, being that having a .cn domain will force you to get an icp license. I have never heard of it.

Regarding your other questions, I have no definite answers.

The companies I know that got their icp license are incorporated in China, whether local, rep or wholly foreign owned. I've never heard of a company/individual that had no presence in China but still wanted to host in China but maybe there are.

Would like to know myself as well the other answers actually. I'll ask around.