ICP license and .cn registration
Take advantage of the speed improvements that hosting in China can bring. To take the first step, your company will need to apply for an 'ICP' licence to host there. We take care of this process for you, along with a .cn domain name if required. All will be registered legally to your company, and that's the important part.
What is an ICP?
An ICP licence is short for an 'Internet Content Provider' licence or ICP备案 and is issued by the Chinese Ministry of Industry & IT (MIIT). You'll need an approved ICP licence to host websites and web assets in mainland China. We take care of the application for you, both guiding you through the documentation process and providing an authorised IP address.
ICP licenses are available to firms with some legal presence in China. We'll ensure the ICP is registered correctly to your legal company so you have full ownership. If you don't have any legal presence in China, Hong Kong can offer a good alternative with no ICP needed.
ICP application process
The ICP application process is undertaken at the provincial level within China and is normally done once the server provisioning process has already been completed. The ICP application process is commonly lodged with the Internet Service Provider in China in order to successfully link up your chosen URL to your web server. We take care of this process.
You will need to involve the representative of your company in China in the process to be your firm's local contact. Our staff also act as an additional fallback contact for future communication.
Full future ICP support
Once the ICP is issued, you can host in China using your stem domain, using 'www' and also any subdomains. The authorities will check the compliance of your ICP licence ongoing, so future correspondence will need to be monitored and acted on.
This is where our service excels - we engage with and monitor communications from the ICP authorities ongoing. You have no need to worry about staff turnover of local contacts as our company provides an additional constant contact and monitoring point.
Choice of URL
Do you need to have a '.cn' Chinese domain name to host in China? No, that's not the case, .com will also work just fine. Your organisation can host with any TLD. There are considerations as to which you should choose - both from a legal standpoint and also considering how you intend to portray your brand to your users.
For example, if 'Westerness' is part of your brand USP, then using a .com domain says that far more. A .cn tends to imply a local Chinese-run firm. Irrespective, it's always a good idea to get the '.cn' and '.com.cn' domains registered to your company to stop someone else from registering and using them.
Global .CN availability
Any company can register a Chinese domain name. The company does not need to be based in China. Unlike physical hosting in China, which requires an ICP licence and a Chinese legal entity, this is not true for a .cn URL.
To register the URL to your company, irrespective of where you are based in the world, it's necessary to provide documentation. Online providers don't bother with this important step. This usually means a proxy 3rd party will register your domain in China on your behalf. You can be sure through us your company will be the legal owner.
URL registration is inexpensive. so why take the risk?
