Chapter I: General Provisions
Article 1: In order to strengthen Internet information content management and stimulate the healthy and orderly development of Internet news information services, on the basis of the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China”, the “ Administrative Measures of Internet Information Services”, and the “Notice of the State Council on Charging the Cyberspace Administration of China with the Content Management of Information on the Internet”, these Regulations are formulated.
Article 2: These Regulations apply to the provision of Internet news information services within the territory of the People’s Republic of China
News information as mentioned in these Regulations includes reporting and comments on politics, economic, military matters, foreign affairs and other such social public affairs, as well as reporting and comments on sudden social incidents.
Article 3: The provision of Internet news information services shall conform to the Constitutions, laws and administrative regulations, persist in the orientation of serving the people and serving Socialism, persist in the correct public opinion orientation, give rein to the role of public opinion supervision, stimulate the creation of a positive, healthy, upward and benign online culture, and safeguard the national interest and the public interest.
Article 4: The Cyberspace Administration of China is responsible for supervision, management and law enforcement work concerning Internet news information services nationwide. Local Internet information officers, on the basis of their duties, are responsible for supervision, management and law enforcement work concerning Internet news information services within their administrative areas.
Chapter II: Licences
Article 5: In order to provide Internet news information services to the social public through Internet websites, application software, forums, blogs, microblogs, public account, instant messaging tools, online live streaming and other such methods, an Internet news information services licence shall be obtained, it is not permitted to launch Internet news information service activities without a licence or in excess of the licence’s scope.
Internet news information services as mentioned in the previous Paragraph, including Internet news information gathering and distribution services, reprinting services, and dissemination platform services.
Article 6: To apply for an Internet news information service license, the following conditions shall be satisfied:
(1) being a legal person lawfully formed within the territory of the People’s Republic of China;
(2) the primary person and editor-in-chief should be Chinese citizens;
(3) having news editing specialist, content investigation personnel, and technological support personnel suited to the services;
(4) having strong Internet news information service management system
(5) having an information security management system and reliable technological support mechanisms;
(6) having the facilities, equipment, and funds suited to the services.
Those applying for an Internet news information gathering and distribution services license shall be news agencies (and/or its subsidiaries) or an entity under the charge of the news and publicity department.
Internet news information service providers meeting those conditions shall be subject to a special shares management system; implementation rules will be formulated separately by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
For the provision of Internet news information service, Internet information service licensing or filing formalities shall be conducted in accordance with the rules and procedures enacted by the telecommunications management department.
Article 7: No organization may establish a Sino-foreign equity or cooperative joint venture, or a foreign-funded Internet news information services news entity.
Internet news information services news entities engaging in partnership or collaborations with a Sino-foreign equity or cooperative joint venture, or a foreign-funded enterprise shall report the matter to the Cyberspace Administration of China for safety and security evaluation.
Article 8: Internet news information service providers’ newsgathering activities and management activities shall be separated, non-publicly owned capital may not enter into Internet news information gathering activities.
Article 9: Applications for an Internet news information services licence, where the applying subject is a Central news entity (including its subsidiary news agency) or a news entity controlled by a Central news and propaganda department, shall be reviewed and determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China; where the applying entity is a local news entity (including its subsidiary news agency) or a news entity controlled by a local news and propaganda department, the provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office will review and decide upon it; where the applying entity belongs to other branches, it shall be decided by the Cyberspace Administration of China after preliminary investigation by the provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office.
Where the national, provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet office decided on approval, an “Internet News Information Services License” is issued. The “Internet News Information Services Licence” is valid for a period of three years. When the period expires, and it requires to continue to engage in Internet news information service activities, applications shall be conducted within thirty days before the expiration date.
Provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information offices shall regularly report the license decisions to the Cyberspace Administration of China.
Article 10: To apply for an Internet news information services license, the following materials shall be submitted:
(1) evidence that the primary responsible person and editor-in-chief are Chinese citizens;
(2) the qualification and credentials of news editing specialists, content investigation personnel, and technical support personnel;
(3) the Internet news information service system;
(4) information security management structures and technical protection measures;
(5) an Internet news information service security assessment report;
(6) evidence of legal person status, facilities, funds and shareholding structures;
(7) other materials provided in laws and regulations.
Chapter III: Operations
Article 11: Internet news information service providers shall appoint an editor in chief, the editor in chief has overall responsibility for Internet news information content. The editor-in-chief appointee shall have corresponding professional experience, conform to relevant qualifications, and report to the national, provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office for documentation.
Internet news information services specialists shall obtain relevant qualifications according to the law, accept special training and assessment. Internet news information services workers engaging in newsgathering activities shall have professional newsgathering qualifications, and hold a journalist badge issued by the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film, and Television.
Article 12: Internet news information service providers shall complete information security management structures for information dissemination verification, public information inspection, emergency response, etc., and have secure and reliable technical protection measures.
Article 13: Internet news information service providers providing Internet news information dissemination platform services to users shall, according to the provisions of the “Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China”, require users to provide legal identity information. When users fail to provide identity information, Internet news information service providers may not provide corresponding services to them.
Internet news information service providers have the duty to maintain the security of users’ information and log information, they may not leak, distort or damage, and may not sell or illegally provide it to other persons or entities.
Internet news information service providers and their employees may not gain unfair benefit through editing, disseminating, reproducing or deleting news information, intervening in news-making process, manipulating search results, etc.
Article 14: Internet news information service providers providing Internet news information dissemination platform services shall provide terms of use and service agreement with users upon registration on their platforms, ensuring both sides’ rights and interests.
When users set up public accounts, Internet news information service providers shall examine and verify their account information, service qualifications, the scope of services and other relevant information, and report the matter to the provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office.
Article 15: Internet news information service providers reproducing news information shall reprint news information issued by Central news work units or work units within the State-determined scope, such as provincial, autonomous region or municipal directly subordinate news agency, etc., clearly indicating the source, original author, original title,etc., they may not distort or misrepresent the original meaning of the title and the content of the news information, and ensure the traceability of the news information’s source.
Internet news information service providers reprinting news information shall abide by relevant copyright laws and regulations, and protect the rights and interests of copyright holders.
Article 18: Internet news information service providers and users may not produce, reproduce, publish or disseminate information content prohibited by laws or administrative regulations.
When Internet news information service providers, in the process of providing services, discover content violating Article 3 of these Regulations or the provisions of the previous Paragraphs, they shall immediately cease the transmission of the information in question according to the law, adopt measures such as deletion, preserve relevant records, and record the matter with the relevant controlling department.
Article 17: Where Internet news information service providers change the primary responsible person, editor-in-chief, main controlling news entity, shareholding structure and other such major matters affecting the licensing conditions, they shall conduct modification formalities with the original license-issuing body.
Internet news information service providers using new technologies, adjusting or adding application functions with a news and public opinion nature or with social mobilization capability, they shall report the matter to the national, provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office to conduct an Internet news information service security assessment.
Article 18: Internet news information service providers shall indicate the serial number of their Internet news information service license in a clearly noticeable position on their websites.
Internet news information service providers shall consciously accept public supervision, establish social complaints reporting channels, open convenient complaints reporting portals, and timely handle with complaints from the public.
Chapter IV: Supervision and inspection
Article 19: National and local Internet information offices shall establish supervision and management structures combining daily inspection and periodical inspection, to conduct supervision and inspection of Internet news information service activities according to the law, relevant news entities and individuals shall provide cooperation.
National and local Internet information offices shall complete law enforcement personnel qualification management structures. Law enforcement personnel engaging in law enforcement activities shall present their law enforcement credentials according to the law.
Article 20: Where any organization or individual discovers an Internet news information service provider violating these Regulations, they may report the matter to national or local Internet information offices.
National and local Information offices shall establish a public compliance system, after receiving a report, they shall handle it in accordance with the law. Internet news information service providers shall cooperate in the process.
Article 21: National and local Internet information offices shall establish Internet news information service trust and safety archive, and establish a blacklist system and an interview system.
The Cyberspace Administration of China will, in collaboration with the State Council telecommunications, public security, press, publications, radio, film and television departments, establish an information sharing system, strengthen communication, coordination, and cooperation, to lawfully conduct joint law enforcement and other specialized supervision and inspection activities.
Chapter V: Legal liability
Article 22: Those launching Internet news information service activities without a licence or in excess of the scope of a licence, in violation of the provisions of Article 5 of these Regulations, will be ordered by the national, provincial, autonomous region or municipal Internet information office to cease the relevant service activity, and fined between 10.000 and 30.000 Yuan.
Article 23: Where Internet news information service providers, in the process of operations, no longer meet the licensing conditions, the original licence-issuing body will order rectification with a limited time; where licencing conditions are still not satisfied after this period expires, news information updating will be provisionally ceased; when licencing conditions are still not met upon expiry of the term of validity of the “Internet News Information Service Licence”, the licence will not be reissued.
Article 24: Where Internet news information service providers violate the provisions of Article 7 Paragraph II, Article 8, Article 11, Article 12, Article 13 Paragraph III, Article 14, Article 14 Paragraph I, Article 17 or Article 18 of these Regulations, the national or local Internet information office will issue a warning according to their duties, and order rectification within a limited time; where circumstances are worsening or rectification is denied, news information renewal will be provisionally ceased, and a fine between 5.000 and 30.000 Yuan imposed; where the matter constitutes a crime, criminal liability will be prosecuted according to the law.
Article 25: Where Internet news information service providers violate the provisions of Article 3, Article 16 Paragraph I, Article 19 Paragraph I or Article 20 Paragraph II of these Regulations, the national or local Internet information office will issue a warning according to their duties, and order rectification within a limited time; where circumstances are grave or rectification is refused, a fine between 20.000 Yuan and 30.000 Yuan is imposed; where the matter constitutes a crime, criminal liability will be prosecuted according to the law.
Article 26: Where Internet news information service providers violate the provisions of Article 13 Paragraph I or Article 16 Paragraph II of these Regulations, the national or local Internet information office will handle the matter according to the provisions of the “Cybersecurity Law of China”.
Chapter VI: Supplementary provisions
Article 27: News entity as mentioned in these Regulations refers to periodical publishers, radio stations, television stations, news agencies and news film studios established according to the law.
Article 28: Where violations of these Regulations simultaneously violate the Internet information service management regulations, the national and local Internet information offices will, after handling with the matter on the basis of these Regulations, transfer the matter to the telecommunications controlling department for processing according to the law.
Where there are separate State provisions concerning Internet audio-visual programme services, online publishing services, etc., their provisions must be followed simultaneously.
Article 29: These Regulations take effect on June 1st 2017. Where there are inconsistencies between relevant provisions issued before these Regulations took effect and these Regulations, these Regulations will apply.