Published by ChinaMNC · Kedong

Website Identity Certification for Government Portals: What Foreign Founders Should Know About China's Label Management System

A practical look at how China's website identity label system works, using the Heilongjiang Provincial Government portal's certification record as a worked example of the data foreign founders will encounter when operating in China.

Why a Website Identity Label Matters to Foreign Founders

Foreign founders setting up or running a company in China quickly discover that digital compliance extends well beyond company registration and tax filing. Websites, portals and online service channels operated by Chinese entities are expected to carry proper identity marks, and the authorities publish detailed certification records for them. Understanding what these records contain — and who issues them — helps foreign operators judge the credibility of Chinese online platforms and plan their own digital footprint.

This article uses a publicly posted certification record for a provincial government portal as a concrete example. The record is a useful specimen because it lays out, field by field, the kind of information that China's website identity label system captures. It is not a template for private companies, but the structure of the data is instructive.

Who Runs the Label System

According to the published record, the website identity label system is overseen at the top by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which acts as the supervising authority. The body that actually issues the labels is the Internet Society of China. For foreign founders, this division of roles is worth noting: policy oversight sits with a central ministry, while issuance and administration are handled by an industry association.

Each certified website also receives an electronic identity number. In the example record, the portal is assigned the identifier DZJG20260300003507PW. This kind of code allows the certification to be tracked and verified against the issuing body's records.

What the Certification Record Contains

The record reviewed here is for the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Government portal, published under the website name "Heilongjiang Provincial People's Government" at the address www.hlj.gov.cn. The operating institution is listed as a party and government organ, with the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Government as the sponsoring unit.

The certification covers two versions of the site — the PC website and the WAP (mobile) website — and the same validity window applies to both. The following elements appear in the record:

• Certification validity: two years, running from 5 March 2026 to 4 March 2028, for both the PC and WAP sites.
• Regular inspections: scheduled for 4 September 2026, 4 March 2027 and 4 September 2027, with the recorded result marked as passed.
• Certificate validity: again two years, matching the label period of 5 March 2026 to 4 March 2028.
• Downloadable report: a stamped PDF titled as the accessibility and age-friendliness evaluation report for the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Government portal.

Two features stand out for anyone used to Western certification schemes. First, the label has a fixed term and must be renewed — it is not a one-off award. Second, the term is punctuated by periodic inspections, so certification is actively maintained rather than simply granted.

Age-Friendliness and Accessibility Scores

A substantial part of the record is devoted to accessibility and age-friendliness evaluations, broken down by site version and by who is doing the scoring. Three evaluator categories appear: self-assessment by the institution, assessment by the institution's peers or evaluating bodies, and user assessment.

PC Website Results

• Age-friendliness: self-assessment 100, institutional assessment 82, user assessment 80.
• Accessibility: self-assessment 100, institutional assessment 83, user assessment 84.
• Effectiveness index: comprehensiveness 100%, reliability 100%, robustness 100%.
• Overall evaluation score: 85.8.

WAP Website Results

• Age-friendliness: self-assessment 100, institutional assessment 83, user assessment 83.
• Accessibility: self-assessment 100, institutional assessment 80, user assessment 83.
• Effectiveness index: comprehensiveness 100%, reliability 100%, robustness 100%.
• Overall evaluation score: 85.8.

Notice that the self-assessments are uniformly perfect while the institutional and user scores sit in the low-to-mid 80s. The overall score of 85.8 is identical for both site versions. For foreign founders, the takeaway is that Chinese digital evaluations are multi-source: self-reported figures are published alongside independent and user ratings, and the composite score reflects all three.

Practical Lessons for Foreign Founders

Foreign founders should not assume this exact certification applies to commercial websites. The record concerns a government portal, and the sponsoring institution is a government organ. Nevertheless, several practical points carry over to anyone building an online presence in China:

• Expect identity marks to be public. Certification data, including issuing bodies, validity dates and inspection schedules, is published openly. Partners and customers may check it.
• Plan for renewal cycles. A two-year term with interim inspections means digital compliance is a recurring administrative task, not a one-time filing.
• Accessibility is measured. Age-friendliness and accessibility are scored dimensions in China's website evaluation framework, with separate results for PC and mobile versions.
• Keep documentation. The record includes a downloadable stamped evaluation report, illustrating the emphasis on paper trails.
• Verify before you rely. When dealing with a Chinese platform, check its label number, issuing body and validity window against official records.

For a foreign founder, the most reliable approach is to treat website identity labelling as part of the broader compliance map — alongside business registration, tax, and sector-specific licensing — and to confirm current requirements with a qualified local adviser before launch.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.