Some Provisions to Standardize Internet Information Service Market Order

People’s Republic of China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Decree

No. 20

The “Some Provisions to Standardize Internet Information Service Market Order” were passed on the 22nd Ministerial meeting of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China on 7 December 2011, are hereby promulgated, and take effect on 15 March 2012.

Minister; Miao Wei

29 December 2011

Some Provisions to Standardize Internet Information Service Market Order

Article 1: In order to standardize Internet information service market order, safeguard the lawful rights and interests of internet information service providers and users, stimulate the healthy development of the Internet sector, on the basis of the “Telecommunications Law of the People’s Republic of China”, the “Internet Information Service Management Rules” and other laws and administrative regulations, these Provisions are promulgate.

Article 2: Any activity of engaging in Internet information service within the territory of the People’s Republic of China and related to Internet information service, shall abide by these Provisions.

Article 3: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and all provincial, autonomous region and municipal telecommunications management bureaus (hereafter jointly named telecommunications management organs) implement supervision and management over Internet information service activities according to the law.

Article 4: Internet information service providers shall provide services abiding by the principles of equality, voluntariness, fairness and honesty.

Article 5: Internet information service providers may not conduct the following acts infringing the lawful rights and interests of other Internet information service providers:

(1) maliciously interfering with other internet information service providers’ service on user terminals, or maliciously interfering with the downloading, installation, operation and upgrading of software and other products related to internet information services (“software and other products related to internet information services” is hereafter simply named “products”);

(2) concocting or disseminating false facts to damage the lawful rights and interests of other Internet information service providers, or defaming the services or products of other Internet information service providers;

(3) maliciously creating incompatibilities with other Internet information service providers’ services or products;

(4) cheating, misleading or coercing users unto using or not using the services or products of other Internet information service providers;

(5) maliciously altering or cheating, misleading or coercing users into revising the parameters of services or products of other internet information service providers;

(6) other acts violating the provisions of State laws or infringing the lawful rights and interests of other Internet information service providers.

Article 6: Reviews of Internet information service providers’ services or products shall be objective and fair.

Where the reviewing side publishers or users provide review results, they shall at the same time provide the reviewer, the reviewing methods, data sources, the original user appraisal, review methods, the review environment and other information related to reviewing activity. Reviewing results shall be accurate and correct, and information related to reviewing activity shall be comprehensive and complete. Where the reviewed services and products have similar functions to the services and products of the reviewer, the review results may not contain reviewers’ subjective appraisals.

Where the reviewed side does not agree with the review results, they may on their own accord or by entrusting a third party, conduct re-review on the basis of the review results, the reviewing side shall provide cooperation.

The reviewing side may not use review results to cheat, mislead or coerce users into  dispose of  the reviewed side’s services or products.

Reviewing as named in these Provisions, relates to providing platforms for user appraisal, or using other means to conduct appraisal or testing the capacity, etc., of internet information services or services.

Article 7: Internet information service providers may not conduct the following acts infringing the lawful rights and interests of users:

(1) refusing, delaying or terminating provision of Internet information services or products to users without proper cause;

(2) limiting users’ use or non-use of their appointed Internet information services or products without proper cause;

(3) using cheating, misleading or coercive methods to provide Internet information services or products to users;

(4) where provided Internet information services or products do not conform to the propaganda or commitments made to the users;

(5) changing the user agreement or terms of business without authorization, reducing service quality or increasing the responsibility of users;

(6) in case of incompatibility with other internet information service providers’ services or products, not actively pointing this out or explaining this to users;

(7) without having indicated this to users and users having actively chosen to agree, changing users’ browser installation and other installation;

(8) other acts violating the provisions of State laws, infringing the lawful rights and interests of users.

Article 8: Where Internet information service providers conduct operations such as software download, installation, operation, upgrading, uninstallation, etc., on user terminals, they shall provide a clear and complete software functioning information, etc., and seek approval from the user in advance.

Internet information service providers may not carry out the following acts:

(1) cheating, misleading or coercing users into downloading, installing, upgrading or uninstalling software;

(2) not providing uninstalling methods equal to the software installation methods or that are convenient;

(3) under circumstances where there has been no influence from other software or man-made destruction, without active approval choice of users, leaving executable code or other unnecessary files on user terminals after software installations.

Article 9: Where internet information service terminal software limits other software, it shall be pointed out clearly to users, the user actively chooses whether or not to install or use it, and independent uninstall or closing methods are to be provided, no unreasonable conditions may be attached.

Article 10: Where Internet information service providers launch advertising on user terminals or other information windows that are unrelated to the functioning of the terminal software, they shall provide a clear symbol for closing or quitting functions in the window to users.

Article 11: Without user agreement, internet information service providers may not collect information related to users, by which the user can be identified independently or in combination with other information (hereafter simply named individual user information), may not provide individual user information to other persons, except where laws or administrative regulations provide otherwise.

Where Internet information service providers collect individual user information with the agreement of users, they shall clearly inform the user of the method, content and purpose of collecting and processing individual user information, they may not collect information other than that necessary to provide service, and may not use individual user information for purposes other than providing services to them.

Article 12: Internet information service providers shall appropriately preserve individual user information; where the preserved individual user information is leaked or may be leaked, remedial measures shall be adopted immediately; where it creates or may create grave consequences, it shall be immediately reported to the telecommunications management organ that gave the internet information service permit or filing, and investigation and handling shall be conducted in cooperation with the relevant department.

Article 13: Internet information service providers shall strengthen system security protection, safeguard the security of users’ uploaded information according to the law, guarantee that users can use, revise or delete their uploaded information.

Internet information service providers may not carry out the following acts:

(1) revising or deleting users’ uploaded information without authorization or proper cause;

(2) without user agreement, providing users’ uploaded information to other persons, except where laws or administrative regulations provide otherwise;

(3) transferring users’ uploaded information without authorization or using the name of the user, or cheating, misleading or coercing users to transfer uploaded information;

(4) other acts that harm the security of users’ uploaded information.

Article 14: Internet information service providers shall publish effective contact methods clearly, accept complaints from users or other Internet information service providers, and reply to them within 15 days of receiving the complaint.

Article 15: Where internet information service providers believe that other internet information service providers conduct acts violating these provisions, infringe their lawful rights and interests, and create or may create a large influence on the rights and interests of users, they shall immediately report this to the telecommunications management organ that granted the said internet information service provider’s permits or filing.

Telecommunications management organs shall inspect the acts that were reported or discovered to possibly violate these Provisions; where the influence is especially major, corresponding provincial, autonomous region and municipal telecommunications management bureaus shall report this to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Telecommunications managements may require Internet information service providers to provisionally cease corresponding activities before they make a punishment decision on the basis of these Provisions, the Internet information service provider shall implement this.

Article 16: Where internet information service providers violate the provisions of Article 5, Article 7 or Article 13 of these Provisions, the telecommunications management shall order rectification on the basis of its official power, issue a warning, and may impose an additional fine of more than 10.000 Yuan but less than 30.000 Yuan, and publish this to society; in those cases where legal liability arises through the provisions of the “Telecommunications Regulations of the People’s Republic of China” or the “Internet Information Service Management Rules”, matters shall be handled according to these provisions.

Article 17: Where reviewers violate the provisions of Article 6 of these Provisions, the telecommunications management issues a warning on the basis of its official power, and may impose an additional fine of 10.000 Yuan or more but less than 30.000 Yuan, and publish this to society.

Article 18: Where internet information service providers violate the provisions of Article 8, Article 9, Article 10, Article 11, Article 12 or Article 14 of these Provisions, the telecommunications management issues a warning on the basis of its official power, and may impose an additional fine of 10.000 Yuan or more but less than 30.000 Yuan, and publish this to society.

Article 19: Where Internet information service providers violate the provisions of Article 15 of these Provisions, and do not implement the requirement of the telecommunications management organ to provisionally cease relevant activities, the telecommunications management punishes this with a warning on the basis of their official powers, and publishes this to society.

Article 20: Internet information service providers violating the provisions of other laws and administrative regulations, are dealt with according to regulations.

Article 21: These Provisions take effect on 15 March.

规范互联网信息服务市场秩序若干规定
中华人民共和国工业和信息化部令
第20号

《规范互联网信息服务市场秩序若干规定》已经2011年12月7日中华人民共和国工业和信息化部第22次部务会议审议通过，现予公布，自2012年3月15日起施行。

部长：苗圩
二〇一一年十二月二十九日
规范互联网信息服务市场秩序若干规定

第一条 为了规范互联网信息服务市场秩序，保护互联网信息服务提供者和用户的合法权益，促进互联网行业的健康发展，根据《中华人民共和国电信条例》、《互联网信息服务管理办法》等法律、行政法规的规定，制定本规定。
第二条 在中华人民共和国境内从事互联网信息服务及与互联网信息服务有关的活动，应当遵守本规定。
第三条 工业和信息化部和各省、自治区、直辖市通信管理局（以下统称“电信管理机构”）依法对互联网信息服务活动实施监督管理。
第四条 互联网信息服务提供者应当遵循平等、自愿、公平、诚信的原则提供服务。
第五条 互联网信息服务提供者不得实施下列侵犯其他互联网信息服务提供者合法权益的行为：
（一）恶意干扰用户终端上其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务，或者恶意干扰与互联网信息服务相关的软件等产品（“与互联网信息服务相关的软件等产品”以下简称“产品”）的下载、安装、运行和升级；
（二）捏造、散布虚假事实损害其他互联网信息服务提供者的合法权益，或者诋毁其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品；
（三）恶意对其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品实施不兼容；
（四）欺骗、误导或者强迫用户使用或者不使用其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品；
（五）恶意修改或者欺骗、误导、强迫用户修改其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品参数；
（六）其他违反国家法律规定，侵犯其他互联网信息服务提供者合法权益的行为。
第六条 对互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品进行评测，应当客观公正。
评测方公开或者向用户提供评测结果的，应当同时提供评测实施者、评测方法、数据来源、用户原始评价、评测手段和评测环境等与评测活动相关的信息。评测结果应当真实准确，与评测活动相关的信息应当完整全面。被评测的服务或者产品与评测方的服务或者产品相同或者功能类似的，评测结果中不得含有评测方的主观评价。
被评测方对评测结果有异议的，可以自行或者委托第三方就评测结果进行再评测，评测方应当予以配合。
评测方不得利用评测结果，欺骗、误导、强迫用户对被评测方的服务或者产品作出处置。
本规定所称评测，是指提供平台供用户评价，或者以其他方式对互联网信息服务或者产品的性能等进行评价和测试。
第七条 互联网信息服务提供者不得实施下列侵犯用户合法权益的行为：
（一）无正当理由拒绝、拖延或者中止向用户提供互联网信息服务或者产品；
（二）无正当理由限定用户使用或者不使用其指定的互联网信息服务或者产品；
（三）以欺骗、误导或者强迫等方式向用户提供互联网信息服务或者产品；
（四）提供的互联网信息服务或者产品与其向用户所作的宣传或者承诺不符；
（五）擅自改变服务协议或者业务规程，降低服务质量或者加重用户责任；
（六）与其他互联网信息服务提供者的服务或者产品不兼容时，未主动向用户提示和说明；
（七）未经提示并由用户主动选择同意，修改用户浏览器配置或者其他设置；
（八）其他违反国家法律规定，侵犯用户合法权益的行为。
第八条 互联网信息服务提供者在用户终端上进行软件下载、安装、运行、升级、卸载等操作的，应当提供明确、完整的软件功能等信息，并事先征得用户同意。
互联网信息服务提供者不得实施下列行为：
（一）欺骗、误导或者强迫用户下载、安装、运行、升级、卸载软件；
（二）未提供与软件安装方式同等或者更便捷的卸载方式；
（三）在未受其他软件影响和人为破坏的情况下，未经用户主动选择同意，软件卸载后有可执行代码或者其他不必要的文件驻留在用户终端。
第九条 互联网信息服务终端软件捆绑其他软件的，应当以显著的方式提示用户，由用户主动选择是否安装或者使用，并提供独立的卸载或者关闭方式，不得附加不合理条件。
第十条 互联网信息服务提供者在用户终端弹出广告或者其他与终端软件功能无关的信息窗口的，应当以显著的方式向用户提供关闭或者退出窗口的功能标识。
第十一条 未经用户同意，互联网信息服务提供者不得收集与用户相关、能够单独或者与其他信息结合识别用户的信息（以下简称“用户个人信息”），不得将用户个人信息提供给他人，但是法律、行政法规另有规定的除外。
互联网信息服务提供者经用户同意收集用户个人信息的，应当明确告知用户收集和处理用户个人信息的方式、内容和用途，不得收集其提供服务所必需以外的信息，不得将用户个人信息用于其提供服务之外的目的。
第十二条 互联网信息服务提供者应当妥善保管用户个人信息；保管的用户个人信息泄露或者可能泄露时，应当立即采取补救措施；造成或者可能造成严重后果的，应当立即向准予其互联网信息服务许可或者备案的电信管理机构报告，并配合相关部门进行的调查处理。
第十三条 互联网信息服务提供者应当加强系统安全防护，依法维护用户上载信息的安全，保障用户对上载信息的使用、修改和删除。
互联网信息服务提供者不得有下列行为：
（一）无正当理由擅自修改或者删除用户上载信息；
（二）未经用户同意，向他人提供用户上载信息，但是法律、行政法规另有规定的除外；
（三）擅自或者假借用户名义转移用户上载信息，或者欺骗、误导、强迫用户转移其上载信息；
（四）其他危害用户上载信息安全的行为。
第十四条 互联网信息服务提供者应当以显著的方式公布有效联系方式，接受用户及其他互联网信息服务提供者的投诉，并自接到投诉之日起十五日内作出答复。
第十五条 互联网信息服务提供者认为其他互联网信息服务提供者实施违反本规定的行为，侵犯其合法权益并对用户权益造成或者可能造成重大影响的，应当立即向准予该其他互联网信息服务提供者互联网信息服务许可或者备案的电信管理机构报告。
电信管理机构应当对报告或者发现的可能违反本规定的行为的影响进行评估；影响特别重大的，相关省、自治区、直辖市通信管理局应当向工业和信息化部报告。电信管理机构在依据本规定作出处理决定前，可以要求互联网信息服务提供者暂停有关行为，互联网信息服务提供者应当执行。
第十六条 互联网信息服务提供者违反本规定第五条、第七条或者第十三条的规定，由电信管理机构依据职权责令改正，处以警告，可以并处一万元以上三万元以下的罚款，向社会公告；其中，《中华人民共和国电信条例》或者《互联网信息服务管理办法》规定法律责任的，依照其规定处理。
第十七条 评测方违反本规定第六条的规定的，由电信管理机构依据职权处以警告，可以并处一万元以上三万元以下的罚款，向社会公告。
第十八条 互联网信息服务提供者违反本规定第八条、第九条、第十条、第十一条、第十二条或者第十四条的规定的，由电信管理机构依据职权处以警告，可以并处一万元以上三万元以下的罚款，向社会公告。
第十九条 互联网信息服务提供者违反本规定第十五条规定，不执行电信管理机构暂停有关行为的要求的，由电信管理机构依据职权处以警告，向社会公告。
第二十条 互联网信息服务提供者违反其他法律、行政法规规定的，依照其规定处理。
第二十一条 本规定自2012年3月15日起施行。

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