ICP Filing Documents: The Checklist

Quick answer
Expect five groups: entity documents, domain certificate, hosting contract, identity verification, and a site description with a security responsibility statement.
Every document must use the same legal name and registered address as the business license.
The domain registrant and the entity must match; a personal registration is the most common rejection.
Foreign-language documents usually need translation, and some provinces require notarisation.
Keep scanned copies at a resolution that lets the reviewer read the seal and the registration number.

What documents does an ICP filing require?

The core package is a business license, the legal representative’s identity document, an authorisation letter if an agent submits, the domain certificate, the mainland hosting contract with the assigned IP, identity verification for the responsible person, and a website security responsibility statement. Some provinces add a site description form or a content commitment letter.

The exact list is provincial, so the authoritative version is the one your hosting provider gives you for your province. Use that as the checklist and treat any generic list, including this one, as a map rather than a substitute. The categories are stable; the forms are not.

How do you avoid the name-mismatch rejection?

Build one canonical string for the entity’s legal name, registered address, and legal representative, and use it everywhere. Transliteration differences, a missing suffix, a shortened trading name, or an old address on one document will be treated as a different entity. Copy the string from the business license rather than retyping it.

Check the domain certificate against that string before submitting. If the registrant is a person, transfer the domain to the entity or, where the province allows, document the relationship and the authorisation. A small administrative fix before submission is faster than a rejection cycle.

Pre-submission consistency check
  [ ] Entity legal name identical on licence, domain, hosting, application
  [ ] Registered address identical everywhere
  [ ] Legal representative name and ID number identical
  [ ] Domain registrant is the entity or documented representative
  [ ] Domain real-name verification status: passed
  [ ] Hosting contract lists the same entity and the IP to be filed
  [ ] Responsible person's ID and phone reachable for verification
  [ ] Site description matches the live content category
  [ ] Scans legible, seals visible, no cropped edges

What does identity verification involve?

Verification confirms that the person behind the application is real and authorised. Depending on the provider and province, it is done through an app-based face check, a video call, or an in-person visit to the provider’s office. The responsible person must be reachable and able to complete it within the provider’s window.

Foreign applicants sometimes need additional verification or a local responsible person. That requirement is easier to satisfy before the application is submitted, because a missing verification stalls the package without any reviewer feedback. Ask the provider which method applies to your province and entity type.

What should the site look like at submission?

The site should be live, readable, and consistent with the declared purpose. Reviewers open it. A construction page with no content can be rejected as unverifiable, and a site whose visible business differs from the description raises a category question. A simple landing page that names the service accurately is enough.

Do not add the filing number before it is issued. After approval, display the number in the footer and link it to the official portal, which is itself a requirement. Remove placeholder text and any unreviewed third-party content before submission.

Where this bites vibecoders
Generated sites often ship with placeholder legal pages, an English brand name, and a domain registered by the developer. Every one of those becomes a filing problem. The cheapest fix is to build the site with the entity’s legal name and a real contact page from the start, because retrofitting legal text after review is another cycle.

Where AI coding assistants get this wrong

Submitting an English brand name where the filing expects the registered Chinese name.
Using a placeholder privacy page or a missing contact page at review time.
Uploading cropped or low-resolution scans where the seal is unreadable.
Assuming a foreign director can complete verification without a local representative.
Sending the package before the domain’s real-name verification has passed.
Adding a filing number to the footer before approval.

Checklist

Get the province-specific document list from the provider.
Copy the legal name and address from the business license.
Match the domain registrant to that entity.
Complete real-name verification before submitting.
Finish the site’s real content and contact page.
Keep a labelled folder of scans for the correction round.

FAQ

Can I submit the filing before the website is built?

You can submit before it is finished, but not before it is reviewable. The reviewer needs to see content consistent with the declared purpose. A blank page or a password-protected staging site usually fails. A simple live landing page is sufficient and is faster than waiting for the full product.

Do documents need to be translated?

Documents in a foreign language generally need a Chinese translation, and some provinces require the translation to be notarised or stamped. The provider’s checklist states the requirement for your province. Budget a few days for translation rather than discovering it during review.

Who is the responsible person?

The person accountable for the site’s content and for responding to authorities, usually a named employee or the legal representative. Their identity is verified and their contact details are recorded. The role is not nominal; it is the contact the administration uses when there is a complaint.

What if the domain is registered in another country?

It may need to be transferred to a CNNIC-accredited registrar and verified before it can be filed. Some country-code domains are not eligible at all. Confirm eligibility before buying hosting, because an ineligible domain cannot be fixed by paperwork after the fact.