27/08/2020
In order to contribute to the implementation of the State Council’s “Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Internet+ Advanced Manufacturing Industry to Develop the Industrial Internet”, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the “Measures for the Administration of Industrial Internet Identification (Draft for Comments)”. The draft measures were designed with the purpose of standardising the industrial Internet identification services, strengthening the development and application of industrial Internet signs, and thus promoting the healthy development of the industry. The period for comments began on 14 August 2020.
The draft measures include a total of 19 articles. The key highlights can be summarised in six points:
Firstly, the draft measures find their legal basis on six key laws and regulations: (i) Law of the People’s Republic of China on Network Security; (ii) the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Telecommunications; (iii) the Measures for the Administration of Internet Information Services; (iv) the Measures for the Administration of Internet Domain Names; (v) the Measures for the Administration of Telecommunications Business Licenses; and the (vi) Measures for the Administration of the Security Protection of Communication Networks (Article 1).
Secondly, the targets of the draft Measures are providers of industrial internet identification registration services and analytical services, including all relevant operations and maintenance services (hereinafter referred to as ‘identification services’), operating from the territory of the People’s Republic of China (Article 2).
Thirdly, MIIT is the body responsible for supervising identification services nationwide (Article 3), while relevant communication departments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are responsible for supervising identification services within their jurisdictions (Article 4).
Fourthly, any entity that wishes to provide identification services shall apply and obtain a license from MIIT or from local-level communication departments in the locality where the entity is based (Article 6).
Fifthly, the draft measures clearly specify all the specific requirements that entities providing identifications services must meet (Article 7 to Article 16).
Sixthly, local-level communication departments will be responsible for enforcing, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, administrative punishment on identification service providers who violate relevant laws and regulations (Article 17).
Within industrial internet, there is not and there cannot be a globally unified coding system for identification; unified application and visiting models based on identification are also not existing. Indeed, considering that the development of industrial internet is still at its primary stage, all countries have their own focuses and priorities for internet identification. For instance, in the United States, the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership focuses its attention on the supporting role that industrial internet platforms have on manufacturing; in Germany, the Industry 4.0 strategy focuses mostly on the smartification of the manufacturing process; in Japan, the internet industry emphasises the interaction, interconnection and digitalisation among humans, equipment, and systems.
In China, the purpose of these draft measures and of supporting analytical schemes for industrial internet identification, is mainly to ensure a unified entry point for searching and management: any queries should be first directed to this entry point for obtaining the information required. At the current stage, China’s priority is not to achieve interconnectivity with the international community, rather to self-develop an industrial internet identification system that can later be made compatible with other international identification systems.
The period for submitting comments on the draft measures will close on 13 September 2020.
By Charlotte on 21 August
