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The U.S. and Japan expressed concerns about a recent measure by China that they claimed imposed local content requirements on information and telecommunications equipment used by the banking sector.

The U.S. is concerned about measures that would severely limit access to China's banking sector for many foreign ICT products. China stressed the necessity of protecting security in the banking sector, adding that many countries are doing the same thing, but said it is reviewing the measure in the light of views it has received. Press sources subsequently reported that the rule has been temporarily suspended and will be re-issued after being amended.

In December 2013, the Tariff Commission of the State Council issued the Announcement of the Tariff Execution Plan 2014 (Shuiweihui [2013] No. 36). Among the relevant matters announced in the tariff execution plan is that 10 non-complete taxable-item information technology products shall continue to be subject to customs inspection management.

MOFCOM Notice 97/2013 imposes non-automatic import licensing procedure upon certain chemicals, machinery and electrical goods.

All domestic and foreign websites are required to apply for an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license to operate their website in China. This obligation applies both to domestic and foreign businesses. Without an ICP number, a website can be shut down by the hosting provider with no notice. Local establishment is also required.

All private news services are required to be managed by party-sanctioned staff. All such platforms must have editorial staff who are approved by the national or local government internet and information offices, while their workers must get training and reporting credentials from the central government. The new rules apply to all political, economic, military, or diplomatic reports or opinion articles on blogs, websites, forums, search engines, instant messaging apps and all other platforms that select or edit news and information.

China's General Admnistration of Press and Publications agency selects which publications and audiovisual products may enter China, while the State Admninistration on Radio, Film and Culture and the Ministry of Culture review various media. Additionally, China's Ministry of Culture selects which entitites may import finished audiovisual products. This effective monopoly on the import and distribution of multimedia products means that China tightly restricts the import of cultural media into the country. These measures have been the focus of a WTO investigation launched by the United States in 2007 (DS363). The panel ruled in favour of the complainant, deeming that China had not had adequately substantiated its defense, which concerned the need to protect public morals. In total, the panel found 29 WTO violations throughout various Chinese regulations, catalogs, rules, opinions and legal instruments. Rather than fully implimenting the panel's recommendations, China and the US reached a memorandum of understanding via negotiated settlement. Many of the associated laws remain in place, and their influence is amplified by provincial and local-level regulations that cite them.

In August 2015, it was reported reported that the Chinese government will station police officers inside large internet companies, including e-commerce giant Alibaba and online media firm Tencent. So-called “network security offices” in major internet companies are set up “in order to be able to find out about illegal internet activity more quickly”.

There are national guidelines on cloud computing with the objective to improve the level of cloud usage in both the private and public sectors and deploy the technology across all sectors. However, the guidelines also stress the need to develop "indigenous innovation capabilities" and to ensure that security is a focus of China's cloud deployment, including personal privacy and regulation of cross-border data. The guidelines have been reported as a restriction to digital trade.

There are no confirmed reports of content prioritisation. However, in 2013, the media reported government plans to support the establishment of charges for the use of WeChat. According to these reports, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was analizing the possibility that telecommunication companies (e.g. China Mobile and China Unicom) were paid a fee for the use of the app given its large data bandwidth use.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security of China mantain control over cross-border internet communication through a firewall known as the "Golden Shield", which can slow down Internet traffic crossing the country’s borders and cause errors. The Golden Shield makes use of the Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology for Internet surveillance, which causes slowdown of websites.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued draft measures that would require those wanting to host a website in China to register with a Chinese government-licensed service provider.

The Provisions on the Management of Internet News Services require each internet news provider to obtain a permit for Internet News Information Services before providing any of the services stated above. The applicant’s person-in-charge or chief editor must be a Chinese citizen. In addition, the applicant must separately obtain an ICP license or an ICP filing from telecom industry regulators.

These provisions also broadened the definition of “internet news information services” to “services of collecting, editing, and releasing internet news information; reposting such news information; and providing a platform to spread such news information.” They also broaden the definition of “news information” to includes relevant reports and commentaries on politics, the economy, military affairs, foreign affairs, and other public affairs, as well as relevant reports and commentaries on social emergencies.

Website providers are required to apply for an Internet Content Provider (ICP) license to operate their website in China. This restriction applies to both domestic and foreign businesses. Local establishment is also required.

Domestic internet firms must prevent banned content from circulating as part of their licensing requirements. Sina, one of the biggest online media companies in China, got its online publication license canceled in 2014 for allegedly having spread online publications with banned content.

Government-owned ISPs reportedly place filtering devices in the backbone and in provincial-level internal networks, a development that could potentially allow for interprovincial filtering. It is reported that at least 14,000 search terms on search engines are filtered.

It is reported that a state-backed campaign being undertaken against pornography and illegal publications forced five online data storage providers to shut down their services. The companies who reported having their services shut down are KuaiPan, UC Net Disk, Vdisk, 115 Technology, and Weiyun, and are all based in China. Foreign cloud storage providers, such as Dropbox and Google Drive have long been blocked in China. The working group cited concerns that cloud storage accounts were stock-full of porn, which is illegal in China. The campaign was undertaken by the National Working Group Against Pornography and Illegal Publications.