European Chamber comments on (draft) Administrative Measures for Internet Domain Names

2016-04-25 | Beijing

Since its establishment 15 years ago, the European Chamber has been committed to engaging with relevant ministries and other government agencies, and to actively participating in public consultations of laws and regulations.

The European Chamber welcomes the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China(MIIT)’s decision to call for comments on the (draft) Administrative Measures for Internet Domain Names and the timely clarification the MIIT made on it. We appreaciate the efforts the MIIT made to regulate domain name serviecs, however, with regard to some uncertainties in some articels, we would like to make some further comments, and hope that these comments can serve as meaningful references for the (draft) Administrative Measures for Internet Domain Names.

First of all, given that if Article 37 of the draft regulations is used to require websites with servers in China and domain names registered abroad to move their registration to China, it will only make the Chinese market less attractive by creating unnecessary complications and expenses, we sugget to delet this articel. If it can not be deleted, we sugget the points below should be clarified:

whether Article 37 applies only to physical connections or also to virtual connections, i.e. the routing from a domestic Chinese website to a foreign website according to the Articel 37;

whether Internet acceleration companies are regarded as ‘Internet service providers’ according to Article 37 and also whether
or not Internet acceleration companies that provide their services within China, but to websites hosted and registered abroad - i.e. websites with foreign domain names - are in compliance with Article 37.

Based on the concerns above, we provided some suggestion on Articel 37, and also on the Articel 55, 39, 50 accordingly.

Should you require further clarification, please kindly contact Ms. Xiaowen Ma, Working Group Coordinator from the Chamber’s Beijing Chapter (Tel: +86 (10) 6462 2066 ext. 52, Email: xwma@europeanchamber.com.cn).