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

Are you hosting third-party systems/data?

IDC hook.

Host
02

Whose licence sits on the facility?

Self vs partner.

Licence
03

FIE equity compliant?

Ownership.

FIE
04

CDN also offered?

separate service category.

CDN

Working rule: An IDC licence concerns providing internet data-centre or hosting infrastructure for third parties in China.

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
Colo marketed without IDC analysis
Catalogue miss.
Stop.
Confuse IDC with ICP filing
Wrong stamp.
Filing page.
Assume CDN licence covers IDC
Different items.
Split.
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.

01Customer contractsHosting for whom.
02Facility/partner licencesAuthority.
03Network topologyWhat you operate.
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 a WFOE hold IDC?

Often no under foreign-investment restrictions for this catalogue item — verify current negative list and MIIT practice with counsel.

Where is CDN?

Open /cdn-licence-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