The Notice divides the timeline of the supervision of App filing into the work preparation stage (before the end of August 2023), the existing App filing stage (September 2023 to March 2024), the supervision and inspection stage (April 2024 to June 2024) and the normalized supervision stage (from July 2024). For Apps that are already online in business, the holders are required to fulfill their ICP Filing formalities within a grace period of approximately 10 months (by the end of March 2024); and for Apps that intend to be put online in business after the issuance of the Notice, the holders should fulfill the filing formalities before starting such business.

As such, for the App holders who have already carried out business with existing mobile Apps, it is especially necessary for them to pay attention to the relevant timing requirements. In particular, after the grace period, from April 2024 to the end of June 2024, the telecommunication authorities will organize supervision and inspection actions on filings of Apps and dispose of Apps that still fail to comply with the filing formalities requirements in accordance with the law.

II. Background of the New Regulations

China promulgated the Administrative Measures for Internet-based Information Services (the "Administrative Measures") in 2000 and subsequently revised the Administrative Measures in 2011. According to the Administrative Measures, Internet information service refers to the service activities of providing information to Internet users through the Internet and is categorized into two types: commercial and non-commercial services.[2]China implements a licensing (the "ICP Licensing") system for commercial Internet information services and a filing (the "ICP Filing") system for non-commercial Internet information services.

The ICP Licensing and ICP Filing system have been in practice since the Administrative Measures came into force over 20 years. In the past practice, the MIIT and local telecommunications authorities have laid out relatively clear regulatory requirements concerning Internet information service via websites. With the rapid development of media providing mobile Internet information services such as Apps, however, the supervision of mobile Internet information service should also be implemented soon. In recent years' practice, there have been different regulatory opinions and requirements of telecommunication authorities in different localities. While the telecommunication authorities in some areas (such as Shanghai) have not included Apps and other mobile Internet service media under the ICP Filing supervision before the promulgation of the Notice, the telecommunication authorities in some other areas indicated in their responses to public consultations that Internet information services carried out by mobile Apps and other mobile Internet media should also be subject to the requirements of ICP Filings.

The Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law, which came into effect on December 1, 2022, also stipulates at the central legislation level that the establishment of mobile Internet applications shall be subject to licensing or filing formalities with the competent telecommunications authorities in accordance with relevant national regulations. In response to the above situation and legislation developments, the MIIT issued the Notice, formally clarifying that the holders of mobile Internet applications should apply for ICP Filings.

III. Introduction to the Filing Procedure

1. Subjects of the Filing

The Internet Information Service Filing Registration Form, an appendix to the Notice, states: "Apps, as referred to in this Notice, refer to programs that are pre-installed, downloaded, and installed on intelligent terminals, as well as programs based on the open platform interface of application software that are open and can be used by users without installation." The MIIT further clarified in "MIIT Micro News" (its official WeChat public account) that programs (including mini programs, quick apps, etc.) based on the open platform interface of application software that are open and can be used by users without installation, should also fulfill the filing formalities to the provincial telecommunication authorities through its distribution platforms.[3]The above already indicates that, after the issuance of the Notice, in addition to the commonly understood Apps installed through application stores and other channels, mini programs and quick Apps that are commonly seen on WeChat and other App platforms are also regulated under the supervision of ICP Filing requirements under the Notice.

2. Filing Procedure

According to the newsletter published by "MIIT Micro News", the ICP Filing procedure of Apps will be divided into steps such as application by the holders, material verification, confirmation by the holders, material review and issuance of results, and publication of results etc.

(1) Application by the Holders and Material Verification

Different from the traditional website-based Internet information services, Internet information services via Apps mainly rely on its network access service providers or application distribution platforms. For the convenience of App holders, MIIT states in the Interpretation, upon filling in the relevant filing materials and real-name verification, the App holders’ network access service providers or application distribution platforms will submit the online filing applications to the telecommunication authorities of App holders’ domicile via the "National Internet Basic Resource Administration System". Therefore, APP holders do not need to line up for filing onsite at the local telecommunication authorities. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the burden of the App holders, for the holders who have fulfilled the filing formalities for their websites, they do not need to re-do the filling in the identity information, and only need to supplement the APP information.

In fact, before the issuance of the Notice, some App platforms and distribution platforms (e.g., Huawei App Store, WeChat Mini Programs) have already set up their own review requirements for Apps or Mini Programs stationed therein, and for App holders in certain industries; some of such platforms have further put forward the requirements for ICP Filing and other relevant formalities for the holders of relevant categories of Apps. The Notice further confirms such requirements. We understand that network access service providers and application distribution platforms will further "play a major role" in assuming the responsibility of checking the real user identities, network resources and other information of relevant organizations or individuals (they shall not fulfill the filing formalities on behalf of those organizations or individuals whose information is known or ought to be known as inaccurate) and submitting applications to the relevant provincial telecommunication authorities through the filing system from their own enterprise’s access.  

The Notice also requires that network access service providers, distribution platforms, and smart terminal manufacturers shall not provide network access, distribution, and pre-installation services for Apps that have not fulfilled the filing formalities. The Notice also requires that network access service providers, distribution platforms, and smart terminal manufacturers shall establish and improve the monitoring and disposal mechanism of illegal and irregular information, and when it finds information issued or transmitted that is prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, it shall immediately stop transmitting such information, take disposal measures such as elimination to prevent the information from dissemination, and keep the relevant records, report to the competent telecommunication authorities, and dispose of it according to the requirements of the competent telecommunication authorities.

In addition, similar to the requirements of the Administrative Measures[4], the Notice requires that holders engaged in news, publishing, education, film and television, religion and other App Internet information services should separately submit the approval document issued by the competent authorities to the local provincial telecommunications authority in fulfilling the filing formalities.

(2) Confirmation by the Holders

After verification, the holder will receive a text message and then confirm with the text message prompts in the MIIT's filing system website (https://beian.miit.gov.cn).

(3) Material Review, Result Issuance and Public Announcement

The Notice requires that, if the materials are complete and accurate, the provincial telecommunication authority shall file within twenty working days after receiving the filing materials and inform the App holder through SMS or email, and the holder can also search by itself through the filing system website; if the materials are incomplete or inaccurate, the provincial telecommunication authority shall not file and state the reasons. The MIIT will also publicize the approved filing results in its filing system website.

Consistent with the previous requirements for ICP Filing of websites, the Notice also requires App holders to expressly mark their filing numbers (e.g., in the part of "Settings" or "Introduction") in the App’s user interface, and the distribution platforms to expressly mark the filing numbers of Apps distributed by them. In addition, in case of change or cancellation of App information, the App holders should fulfill the formalities of change or cancellation to the original filing authority.

IV. Conclusion

As mentioned above, in addition to the requirement of ICP Filing for non- commercial Internet information services, China has also set up the requirement of ICP Licensing for commercial Internet information services. The Notice has incorporated App into the supervision of Internet information services under the Administrative Measures, but has not yet explicitly mentioned the ICP license requirement for Apps involving commercial Internet information services. If the regulation of mobile Apps is consistent with the existing regulation of websites, it is also necessary to further clarify the regulatory requirements for mobile Apps involved in commercial Internet information services.

Nonetheless, the Notice and the related Interpretation of MIIT have clearly included mobile Internet into the regulation of Internet information services, and put forward new compliance requirements for App holders, network access service providers, distribution platforms and smart terminal manufacturers. Enterprises in China should be careful to the ICP Filing requirements under the Notice and use the grace period stipulated in the regulations as soon as possible.

[1] Sarah Wang and Victoria Liao (intern) also contributed to the preparation of this article.

[2] Article 3 of the Administrative Measures: Commercial internet information services refer to the service activities of compensated provision to online subscribers through the internet of information or website production.

Non-commercial internet information services refer to the service activities of non-compensated provision to online subscribers through the internet of information that is in the public domain and openly accessible.

[3] Six questions + one diagram, an interpretation on the "Notice of the MIIT on the Filing of Mobile Internet Applications", the "MIIT Micro News"

[4] Article 5 of the Administrative Measures: Where, according to the laws, administrative regulations or the relevant provisions of the State, engagement in the provision of internet-based information services in respect of news, publishing, education, medical treatment, health, pharmaceuticals or medical apparatus requires the examination and consent of the relevant competent authority, the consent of the relevant competent authority shall be obtained in accordance with the law before applying for an operating permit or carrying out record-filing procedures.