This topic provides an overview of the preparations that you must make before you apply for an Internet Content Provider (ICP) filing. For a quick approval of an ICP filing, we recommend that you make preparations in advance.

Read and understand ICP filing regulations

The communications administrations (hereinafter referred to as authorities) in different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities have different regulations and require different materials for an ICP filing application. We recommend that you read and understand the ICP filing regulations of different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. For more information, see ICP filing regulations of MIIT in different regions or visit the .

Prepare a domain name

You must provide the domain name of your website when you apply for an ICP filing. Your domain name must meet the following requirements:
  • The top-level domain name is approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
  • The domain name is valid for more than three months. The authorities in some provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities require that the domain name be valid for more than 45 days.
  • The domain name registrar is approved by the MIIT.
    Note The Alibaba Cloud International site (alibabacloud.com) provides registration services only for internationalized domain names. Such domain names must meet the following requirements:
    • From January 1, 2018, if your domain names are registered with international domain name registrars such as the Alibaba Cloud International site (alibabacloud.com), you must transfer the domain names to registrars in mainland China and complete real-name verification before you apply for an ICP filing. For more information about how to transfer the domain name to the Domains service of the Alibaba Cloud China site (aliyun.com), see Transfer a domain name to Alibaba CloudTransfer a domain name to Alibaba Cloud.
    • Some domain names that were registered with international domain name registrars, such as the Alibaba Cloud International site (alibabacloud.com), before January 1, 2018 have obtained ICP filing numbers. In this case, you do not need to transfer these domain names.
  • For an ICP filing application from an individual, the domain name registrant must be the individual. For an ICP filing application from an organization or a company, the registrant can be a shareholder, the major principal, or a senior executive of the organization or company.
  • The domain name has passed real-name verification.
    Note If real-name verification is not completed, or the real-name verification information is inconsistent with the ICP filing entity information, the ICP filing application may not be submitted or may fail the review. You must submit the required ICP filing information based on the regulations of the local authorities. For more information, see ICP filing regulations of MIIT in different regions.
  • The entity information provided during ICP filing application must be consistent with the real-name verification information of the domain name registrant. Such information includes the name, certificate type, and certificate number.
For more information about how to prepare and check your domain name, see Prepare and check the domain name.

Purchase and prepare an instance

To apply for an ICP filing by using the Alibaba Cloud ICP Filing system, you must purchase an Alibaba Cloud instance in Mainland China. If your websites are hosted on the instances of Alibaba Cloud services listed in the following table, you can apply for ICP filings for your websites.
Table 1. Supported instance service types and the maximum number of service identification numbers allowed
Instance service type Requirement for purchase Purchase URL Number of service identification numbers
Elastic Compute Service (ECS)
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be three months or more (including renewal).
  • You must purchase an Internet bandwidth package.
Note
  • You cannot apply for service identification numbers if the instance is a pay-as-you-go instance.
  • For more information about how to purchase an Internet bandwidth package, see the Modify public bandwidth section of the Overview of instance upgrade and downgrade topic.
ECS Up to five per instance
Cloud Web Hosting
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be three months or more (including renewal).
 Cloud Web Hosting Up to five per instance
Simple Application Server
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be three months or more (including renewal).
 Simple Application Server Up to five per instance
Elastic Web Hosting
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be six months or more (including renewal).
 Elastic Web Hosting has been offline since December 2019. The instances that you purchased before the offline date can still be used for ICP filing application. We recommend that you purchase Cloud Web Hosting instances for future use. Up to five per instance
NAT Gateway
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be one month or more.
 NAT Gateway Up to two per instance
IPv6 Translation Service
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be one month or more.
 IPv6 Translation Service Up to two per instance
Edge Node Service (ENS)
  • The instance is deployed in an Alibaba Cloud region in Mainland China.
  • The subscription duration must be three months or more (including renewal).
 ENS Up to five per instance
IoT Platform Default configuration Resource plans of IoT Platform One per resource plan
Service from Alibaba Cloud Marketplace for website building
  • The initial subscription duration must be 12 months or more.
  • The order amount must be CNY 99 or more.
  • You must carefully read the introduction to the service from Alibaba Cloud Marketplace for website building and confirm that the server used by the service is located in Mainland China before purchase. Otherwise, you will not be able to proceed with the subsequent application procedures. If you are not sure where the server is located, consult customer service to ensure that the server is located in Mainland China.
Alibaba Cloud Marketplace One per service
Note
  • If the duration that remains before your subscription Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance or Elastic Web Hosting instance expires does not meet the requirements of the ICP filing application, you must renew your instance before you apply for an ICP filing.
  • You can apply only for a limited quantity of service identification numbers for each instance. You cannot renew an instance to increase the upper limit. If the quantity of service identification numbers that you have applied for reaches the upper limit, you must purchase another instance for more service identification numbers.
For more information about how to prepare an instance, see Prepare and check the instance and access information.

Prepare the materials required for an ICP filing

You must prepare and upload an electronic copy or a color photo of the following materials:
  • Basic materials
    Note If the entity that applies for an ICP filing is an individual, the identity document of the individual is used as the identity document of the entity leader, the identity document of the website administrator, and the certificate of the organization or company. You are required to upload the identity document only once in the Alibaba Cloud ICP Filing system.
    Material type Scenario Material to upload
    Identity document of the entity leader Verify the identity of the entity leader. Individual: the identity document of the individual, such as the ID card.
    Organization or company: the identity document of the legal representative, such as the ID card.
    Note If the entity leader or website administrator is a resident outside Mainland China, the following valid identity documents must be provided:
    • Residents of Hong Kong (China) and Macao (China): a Residence Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents or a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents.
    • Residents of Taiwan (China): a Residence Permit for Taiwan Residents or a Mainland Travel Permit for Taiwan Residents.
    • Residents outside China outside Mainland China: a passport.
    Identity document of the website administrator Verify the identity of the website administrator.
    Certificate of the organization or company Verify the information about the entity. Individual: the identity document of the individual, such as the ID card.

    Organization or company: the certificate of the organization or company, such as the business license.

  • Auxiliary materials
    Material type Scenario
    Photo of the website administrator that holds the personal identity document If the ICP filing entity is an individual, some provincial and municipal authorities require a photo of the website administrator that holds the personal identity document, such as the ID card or registered permanent residence permit.
    Photo of the website administrator that holds the required certificate of the organization or company If the ICP filing entity is an organization or a company, some provincial and municipal authorities require a photo of the website administrator that holds the required certificate of the organization or company, such as the business license.
    Letter of authorization If the entity leader or the website administrator is not the legal representative of the organization or company, some provincial and municipal authorities require a letter of authorization for the entity leader or the website administrator.
    Certificate of the registrant Some provincial and municipal authorities require that a domain name be registered under an organization or a company. If the domain name is under an individual, a certificate of the registrant must be provided to apply for an ICP filing.
    Website construction proposal The Guangdong provincial authority requires that a website construction proposal be provided if the number of domain names of an ICP filing entity exceeds the upper limit.
    Domain name certificate Some provincial authorities require that you provide a domain name certificate. For more information about the regulations of authorities in different provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, see ICP filing regulations of MIIT in different regions.
    Temporary or permanent residence permit Some provincial authorities, such as the Fujian provincial authority, require that you provide an electronic copy or color photo of the original temporary or permanent residence permit if the domicile indicated in your ID card is not the province where you submit the ICP filing application.
    Certificate issued by the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform (SCOPSR) Provincial authorities of Yunnan, Nei Mongol, Heilongjiang, and Jiangxi require that public institutions and government agencies provide a certificate issued by the SCOPSR when they apply for an ICP filing.
    Certificate of change If the ICP filing entity is an organization or a company, and the organization or company name is changed, you must provide a certificate of change issued by the local industry and commerce administration when you apply for an ICP filing.
    Certificate of employment The certificate number of an entity leader or a website administrator may appear in the ICP filing information of multiple organizations, companies, or individuals. In this case, some provincial authorities, such as the Sichuan provincial authority, require that you provide a certificate of employment of the entity leader or website administrator.
    Business statement The name, business scope, website name, or website remarks of an organization or a company in the Sichuan province may contain commerce-related terms, and such organization or company may not be required to obtain an ICP commercial license as notified by the local authority. In this case, a business statement of the organization or company must be provided for ICP filing application.
For more information about other required materials, see Required materials.
Comply with the following requirements when you upload the materials:
  • Basic requirements
    • Size: The size of each image must be larger than 200 KB and smaller than 4 MB. If the image to be uploaded does not meet this requirement, use a third-party tool to adjust the image size.
    • Format: You can upload images in the JPG, JPEG, PNG, or GIF format. If the image to be uploaded does not meet this requirement, do not directly change the file name extension. Instead, use a third-party tool to convert the image format.
      Note If you fail to upload an image even though the format and size meet the requirements, update the Alibaba Cloud app to the latest version or change your network type. For example, you can switch from a Wi-Fi to a mobile network. Then, restart the app and upload the image again.
  • Requirements for availability
    • Clearness and completeness: You must upload clear, complete, and valid images with a proper size. If you upload a large-sized image, the image may become blurred due to the compression performed by the system.
    • Material type: You must upload the color scanned copies or color photos of the latest certificates or documents including their borders without cover. Photos of scanned copies, copies in black and white, electronic certificates and documents, and reproduced photos of the documents or certificates that are stored on mobile phones or PCs are not supported.
      Note You must use the latest certificates and documents. If the information about the ICP filing entity changes, the original documents and certificates become invalid. If you do not upload the latest materials, your ICP filing application will be rejected.
  • Requirements for validity
    • From the date when you submit the application, the provided certificates and documents, such as the resident identity card and business license, must be valid for at least three months.
    • Materials such as the certificates of change and letters of authorization that are obtained from website administrators must be provided for ICP filing applications within three months from the date of issue. This rule applies to all the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China.
      Note
      • Certificates of employment that are issued in Sichuan and domain name certificates that are issued in Hunan must be provided for ICP filing applications within 45 days from the date of issue.
      • Business statements that are issued in Hubei and letters of authorization that are issued in Hebei must be provided for ICP filing applications within six months from the date of issue.

Create an Alibaba Cloud account

You need to use an Alibaba Cloud account to apply for an ICP filing in the Alibaba Cloud ICP Filing system. Therefore, we recommend that you prepare and create an Alibaba Cloud account in advance to apply for an ICP filing. For more information, see Create an Alibaba Cloud account to apply for an ICP filing.

Obtain a pre-approval (Optional)

If your website involves information about special industries, such as news, publishing, medicine, or medical devices, you must obtain a pre-approval before you apply for an ICP filing. You must also provide the required pre-approval documents during the ICP filing application.

For more information about the industries that require pre-approvals and relevant instructions, see Pre-approval.