Shanghai, 20th-Feb. 2006; Decree No 38. of the Ministry of Information Industry.

“The Measures For Administration of Internet Email Service, deliberated and ratified by the 15th Working Meeting of the Ministry of Information Industry on November 7th, 2005 , is hereby promulgated for implementation as of March 30th, 2006.

Signed by Wang Xudong, Minister of the Ministry of Information Industry on February 20th, 2006

Article 1

With a view to regularizing the email service on the Internet, safeguarding the lawful rights of the email service users, the Measures is therefore formulated on the basis of the provisions of laws and administrative regulations, namely, Telecommunication Regulations of the People's Republic of China and Measures for Administration of Internet Information Service.

Article 2

The Measures is applicable where the Internet email service or access service for such email service is provided, or emails are sent on the Internet within the territory of the People's Republic of China .
For the purpose of this Measures, “the Internet email service” means setting an email server to provide conditions as necessary for the Internet users to send and receive emails on the Internet.

Article 3

The confidentiality of email correspondence for any citizen is protected by law. In no case shall any organization or individual be allowed to violate the correspondence confidentiality of any citizen for any reason unless the agency of public security or prosecutor deems correspondence inspection necessary solely for the purpose of national security or crime investigation and such inspection shall be done according to the procedures as provided by law.

Article 4

Anyone, who intends to provide email service on the Internet, shall beforehand acquire a business license for value-added telecommunication service or register with certain authority a record of non-profit Internet information service operation as required by law.
Where a business license for value-added telecommunication service is pending or no record of non-profit Internet information service operation has been registered, any organization or individual is not allowed to provide the Internet email service within the territory of the People's Republic of China.

Article 5

Those telecommunication service providers such as an Internet access provider, shall not provide Internet access to the organizations or individuals for operating Internet email service if they are not awarded a value-added telecommunication service license or fail to register a record of non-profit Internet information service operation.

Article 6

An email service provider shall register with the government its IP address of email server for unified management and such an IP address of email server shall be registered with the Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as “MII”) or a communication administration bureau at the level of province, prefecture and municipality (hereinafter referred to as “communication administration bureau”) twenty days prior to run-in-service of the said server.
Where the Email service provider intends to alter its IP address of email server as registered, it shall go through formalities with the competent authority as required thirty days prior to the alteration.

Article 7

Where the Email service provider builds up its Internet email service system, it shall comply with the technical criteria as formulated by the Ministry of Information Industry to disable the anonymous forwarding function on its email server, enhance the security management of its email service system and take any protection measures deemed necessary in a timely manner in case any vulnerability on network security is discovered.

Article 8

Where the email service provider serves its users, it shall explicitly inform its users of the service items available and the rules to use this service.

Article 9

The email service provider is obligated to keep the personal information registered by its user and his email address strictly confidential.
The email service provider and its staff shall in no case employ the personal information registered by its user and his email address; nor shall they disclose the said information and address without the prior consent of the user unless the applicable laws and administrative regulations provide otherwise.

Article 10

The email service provider shall record the sending or receiving time of any email sent or received via its registered email server, as well as the respective email address and IP address of the sender and the receiver. The said record file shall be reserved for up to sixty days and available at any time when the related authorities of the State deem it necessary to initiate an inquiry according to law.

Article 11

No organization or individual is allowed to produce, replicate, release or distribute an email that covers any contents as provided in Article 57 of Telecommunication Regulations of the People's Republic of China.
Either an organization or an individual is not allowed to engage into the activities that endanger network and information security as explicitly prohibited by Article 58 of Telecommunication Regulations of the People's Republic of China.

Article 12

Any organization or individual shall not engage into any of the activities as follow:
(I) sending emails through a computer system of others without due authorization;
(II) acquiring an email address of others by the means of automatic on-line collecting or a random set of alphabet or numerals for the purpose of selling, sharing or interchanging, or sending emails to the address acquired by the above-said means.

Article 13

No organization or individual is allowed to engage into any of the following activities related to sending or entrusted sending of an email:
(I) deliberately concealing or counterfeiting envelope information of an Internet email;
(II) sending an email containing commercial advertisement without the explicit consent of the email receiver;
(III) sending an email containing commercial advertisement without attaching a label “AD” in front of the title of the said email.

Article 14

Where an email receiver explicitly agrees to receive an email containing commercial advertisements but rejects further email messages coming later on, the Internet email sender shall stop the sending unless the two parties agree otherwise.
Where an email sender sends an email containing commercial advertisements, it shall provide a contact that a receiver may use to reject or unsubsribe further email messages, including the email address of the sender and shall ensure this contact as provided remains valid within 30 days.

Article 15
An email service provider and a telecommunication carrier who provides access service to the email service provider shall accept the complaints of the users about email service and therefore provide a complaint channel deemed convenient and feasible to the users.

Article 16

Where an email service provider and a telecommunication carrier who provides access service to the email service provider handle the complaints from the users, they shall meet the following requirements:
(I) report timely to the related authority of the State where the email in complaint is found to cover the contents as prohibited in the first paragraph of Article 11 herein;
(II) Emails in complaint other than those specified in paragraph (I) above shall be reported to Internet Email Complaint Center (hereinafter referred to as “Complaint Center”) established by Internet Society of China with the due authorization of MII;
(III) Start immediately the investigation, take reasonable and effective measures either precautionary or not, and inform the related authorities of the State or the Compliant Center of the event and results after investigation where the complaint points to the said service provider or carrier.
Article 17

The Complaint Center shall perform the following responsibilities in compliance with the working rules and procedures as promulgated by the Ministry of Information Industry:
(I) handle any complaints related to Internet emails;
(II) provide assistance to MII and communication administration bureaus in identifying whether the email in complaint has violate the relevant provisions herein and also in finding out people who shall be liable;
(III) provide assistance to the related authorities of the State in finding out people held liable for violation of Article 11 herein.

Article 18

An email service provider and a telecommunication carrier who provides access service to the email service provider shall actively cooperate with the related authorities of the State and the Complaint Center as required in any investigations.

Article 19

Where an email service is provided before a business license for value-added telecommunication service is awarded or a record of non-profit Internet information service operation is registered, which constitutes a violation of Article 4, the penalties as provided in Article 19 of Measures for Administration of Internet Information Service shall be imposed.

Article 20

Where Article 5 herein is violated, MII or communication administration bureaus may order correction in combination of a fine no more than ten thousand yuan within their terms of reference.

Article 21

Where the obligations provided in Article 6, 7, 8 or 10 are not performed, MII or communication administration bureaus may order correction in combination of a fine no more than ten thousand yuan but no less than five thousand yuan.

Article 22

Where Article 9 herein is violated, MII or communication administration bureaus may within their terms of reference order correction in combination of a fine no more than ten thousand yuan or a fine no more than thirty thousand yuan if there is any illegal gain.

Article 23

Where Article 11 herein is violated, the provisions of Article 67 of Telecommunication Regulations of the People's Republic of China shall be applicable.
Where any telecommunication service provider, including email service provider, is found to engage into activities as prohibited by Article 11 herein, MII or communication administration bureau may impose penalties in compliance with Article 78 of Telecommunication Regulations and Article 20 of Measures for Administration of Internet Information Service.

Article 24

Where Article 12, 13 or 14 is violated, MII or communication administration bureau may within their terms of reference order correction in combination of a fine no more than ten thousand yuan or a fine no more than thirty thousand yuan if there is any illegal gain.

Article 25

Where Article 15, 16 and 18 are violated, MII or communication administration bureau may within their terms of reference issue a warning in combination of a fine no more than ten thousand yuan but no less than five thousand yuan.

Article 26

For the purpose of this Measures, the email address as mentioned above means a unique and single label marking the destination, comprising a user name and a Internet domain name and through which emails can be sent to the email user occupying that address.
The envelope information of an Internet email as mentioned above means the information attached to an Internet email and intended for marking the email sender, receiver and delivery router to reflect the origin, the destination and the delivery process of an Internet email.
The title as mentioned above means the information attached to an Internet email and intended for marking the theme of the contents delivered in an Internet email.

Article 27

This Measures enters into force for implementation as of March 30th, 2006