As many people wish to expand the Asian market, they regard China as the first choice to start their business. However, some webmasters feel developing a China-based website is a messy task because they must apply for an ICP license at first. In this article, we introduce the details about this permit, and show the application methods to help readers get this ICP license effortless.
About ICP License
ICP license is short for Internet Content Provider. Due to Chinese regulations, for all the websites hosted in the server in China mainland, they should be approved by Chinese government and get the ICP license. The websites without ICP license are regarded illegal and will be blocked by Chinese government and also data centers automatically. So, this permit has become the must-have for the webmasters or business owners who target the market in China.
Preparation
When applying for an ICP license, you should present all needed documents to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Only after all the documents are approved, you can get this license and start the website in China mainland successfully. We list the required documents as below.
- Copy of business license attached the company seal
- ID card cop and photo ID of the contact person
- Website details (name, domain name, type, homepage)
- The individual information of contact person (ID number, mobile phone number, email account, office line number)
Application Procedure
- Create an account on the official site (http://www.miibeian.gov.cn) of Ministry of Industry & Information with your email and phone number.
- When receiving a code from the Ministry of Industry & Information, you can access to your account with this code.
- You need to fill your detailed individual information in an on-line form, including your name, phone number, address, website information, etc.
- Develop a partnership with a local company.
For the foreign websites, it usually takes around 3 weeks to finish the application, sometimes it will spend up to 2 months according to the type of the site. Actually, many people cannot wait for such a long period to start their businesses. Frankly, the website without ICP license can still operate in China successfully, only if webmasters choose the hosting providers offering the Hong Kong web hosting no need for ICP license.
Some Common Misunderstanding on ICP License
When helping foreign business to get ICP license, we found they have some common misunderstanding on this license, and list out in below.
To increase the access speed of Chinese visitors, I need to host my data in China mainland?
This is not exactly right. Actually, a lot of business choose Hong Kong to host their web sites in stead of China mainland.
Hong Kong is a great alternative since ICP license is not required for that area. But when choosing Hong Kong server, you will need to find a data center with China Telecom connection to gain a good performance.
We have done a test, there is no latency difference between Hong Kong Data Center and Guangdong Data center.
Any one could Help Issue ICP License?
This is not correct. You need help from your hoster, actually, it’s your Hoster to apply for ICP license for you. So if you choose Aliyun as your hoster, you have to apply for ICP license go through Aliyun.
I have to Setup a Business in China to Get ICP License？
This is not right as well, but you do need a local contact when applying for a ICP license, try to find a local partner or agency to be your local contact. It will be ok.
Get Hong Kong Hosting from Bisend.com – ICP License Worry Free
Bisend is offering Hong Kong web hosting aiming at providing customers with the best hosting services. For some people don’t want to take too much time and effort to apply for the ICP license, this company offers various premium hosting solutions without a need for ICP license, which are especially suitable for the people who plan to start their business in Asia and mainly target the Chinese customers.
