Administrative Regulations on Internet Information Search Services

Effective Date: 08-01-2016

Source: Cyberspace Administration of China

Chinese Title: 互联网信息搜索服务管理规定

Article 1 With a view to regulating internet information search services, promoting the sound and orderly development of internet information search service industry, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations and safeguarding national security and public interest, these Regulations are enacted in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Strengthening Internet Information Protection and the Notice of the State Council on Authorizing State Internet Information Office to Take Charge of Administration of Internet Information Content.

Article 2 These Regulations apply to the internet information search services provided within the territory of the People’s Republic of China. For the purpose of these Regulations, the term “internet information search services” refers to the services provided by using computer technology to collect or process all types of information from internet for retrieval by users.

Article 3 The State Internet Information Office takes charge of law enforcement work relating to supervision and administration of national internet information search services, while a local internet information office is in charge of law enforcement work relating to supervision and administration of the internet information search services within the administrative division according to its responsibility.

Article 4 Internet information search service industry organization shall establish a sound industry self-regulation system and industry guidelines to guide internet information search service providers to establish their service standards, to urge such providers to provider services by law and accept social supervision and to improve the professionalism of such services practitioners.

Article 5 Internet information search service providers shall obtain relevant qualification as required by laws and regulations.

Article 6 Internet information search service providers shall take the main responsibilities to establish a sound information security management system for information review, real-time inspection of public information, emergency response and personal information protection, with safe and controllable precautions, so as to provide necessary technical support to relevant authorities in performing duties by law.

Article 7 Internet information search service providers shall not provide information content prohibited by laws and regulations in the form of links, abstracts, snapshots, associated words, related searches, related recommendation and so on.

Article 8 Internet information search service providers shall, in the process of providing such services, cease to provide relevant search results, keep the relevant records, and timely report the case to the State or local internet information office if they find that the search results obviously contain information, websites or applications that are prohibited by laws and regulations.

Article 9 Internet information search service providers and their employees shall not seek illegitimate interests by such means as disconnecting links or providing search results containing false information.

Article 10 Internet information search service providers shall provide objective, impartial and authoritative search results, and shall not harm national interest, public interest as well as the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.

Article 11 For paid search services, internet information search service providers shall examine by law their customers’ relevant qualification, specify the ceiling of paid search pages, strikingly distinguish the natural search results from paid search information, and notably mark paid search information one by one.Internet information search service providers shall abide by relevant laws and regulations in providing commercial advertising information services.

Article 12 Internet information search service providers shall establish a sound system for lodging complaints or whistleblowing by the public and protecting users’ rights and interests, disclose in a prominent position the ways of complaints and whistleblowing, take the initiative to accept public supervision, timely process complaints and whistleblowing, and shall bear the liability for damage to the rights and interests of users by law.

Article 13 These Regulations shall become effective on 1 August 2016.