The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Informational site or interactive platform?

Character.

Type
02

China host and filing path?

Bei’an.

Host
03

Any VATS-catalogue features?

Map.

VATS
04

Content licences beyond telecom?

News/culture overlays.

Content

Working rule: Foreign-invested companies commonly operate China-hosted marketing or corporate sites after ICP filing through compliant hosting.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Offshore-only CDN as ‘no China law’
Still China-facing risk.
Counsel.
WFOE + marketplace checkout
Likely more than filing.
VATS/SaaS.
use filing guide
detailed treatment process.
Additional facts can change the ICP, VATS & Telecom / Cloud route, evidence and next step.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Site/app feature listWhat it does.
02Entity business scopeFIE.
03Hosting/filing recordsIf any.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can we just use.com hosted abroad?

Often for pure marketing, with trade-offs. China-hosted + filing is the usual corporate pattern. Platforms differ.

Where is filing detail?

China icp filing guide and /icp-filing-in-china.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)
Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC)
National laws database (NPC)
Telecom business catalogue / MIIT licensing