Business Overview
Regulation of Express Delivery Services
The PRC Postal Law, which took effect in October 2009
and was most recently amended in 2015, sets forth the
fundamental rules on the establishment and operation
of an express delivery company. According to the
Postal Law, an enterprise that operates and provides
express delivery services is required to obtain a Courier
Service Operation Permit. Pursuant to the Postal
Law, “delivery” refers to delivery of correspondence,
parcels, printed materials and other items to specific
individuals or entities according to the names and
addresses on the envelopes or packages, including
mail acceptance, sorting, transportation, delivery, and
“express delivery” refers to rapid mail “delivery” within
a specified time limit.
The PRC Postal Law also requires that a company
operating express delivery services must apply for
and obtain the Courier Service Operation Permit prior
to applying for its business license. Pursuant to the
Administrative Measures on Courier Service Operation
Permits, which was promulgated by the Ministry of
Transport in June 2015 and most recently amended
in November 2019, any entity engaging in express
delivery services is required to obtain a Courier Service
Operation Permit from the State Post Bureau or its
local counterpart and is subject to their supervision
and regulation. The express delivery business must
be operated within the permitted scope and the valid
term of the Courier Service Operation Permit.
On March 2, 2018, the PRC State Council promulgated
the Provisional Regulations for Express Delivery, or
the Provisional Regulations, which came into effect
on May 1, 2018 and was amended on March 2, 2019.
The Provisional Regulations reiterate that a company
operating express delivery services must obtain the
Courier Service Operation Permit and sets forth specific
rules and security requirements for express delivery
operations.
Regulation of Internet Security
The Decision in Relation to Protection of Internet
Security enacted by the Standing Committee of the
National People’s Congress of China on December
28, 2000, as amended, provides that the following
activities conducted through the Internet are subject to
criminal punishment:
• gaining improper entry into a computer or system
of strategic importance;
• disseminating politically disruptive information or
obscenities;
• leaking State secrets;
• spreading false commercial information; or
• infringing intellectual property rights.
The Administrative Measures on the Security Protection
of Computer Information Network with International
Connections, issued by the Ministry of Public Security
on December 16, 1997 and amended on January 8,
2011, prohibit the use of the Internet in a manner that
would result in the leakage of State secrets or the
spread of socially destabilizing content. The Provisions
on Technological Measures for Internet Security
Protection, or the Internet Security Protection Measures,
promulgated on December 13, 2005 by the Ministry
of Public Security require all ICPs to keep records of
certain information about their users (including user
registration information, log-in and log-out time,
IP address, content and time of posts by users) for
at least 60 days and submit the above information
as required by laws and regulations. Under these
measures, value-added telecommunications services
license holders must regularly update information
security and content control systems for their websites
and must also report any public dissemination of
prohibited content to local public security authorities.
If a value-added telecommunications services license
holder violates these measures, the Ministry of Public
Security and the local security bureaus may revoke its
operating license and shut down its websites.
The Communication Network Security Protection
Administrative Measures, which were promulgated
by the MIIT on January 21, 2010, require that all
communication network operators, including
telecommunications service providers and Internet
domain name service providers, divide their
own communication networks into units. These
communication network units shall be rated in
accordance with degree of damage to national
security, economic operation, social order and
public interest in the event a unit is damaged.
Communication network operators must file the
division and ratings of their communication networks
with MIIT or its local counterparts. If a communication
network operator violates these measures, the MIIT or
its local counterparts may order rectification or impose
a fine up to RMB30,000 in case a violation is not duly
rectified.
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