China's Move to Regulate Automatic Renewal Services in the Internet Industry

TapTechNews July 26th news, in recent years, with the rapid development of the Internet and the continuous change of user needs, the business model centered on paid services has been widely applied, attracting user attention.

In order to further regulate the automatic renewal service, the Tail Terminal Laboratory of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (referred to as CAICT) relied on the Telecommunication Terminal Industry Association (referred to as TAF) to start the standard compilation work of the Evaluation Specification for Automatic Renewal of Mobile Internet Application Programs (Apps) in September 2023.

The Evaluation Specification for Automatic Renewal of Mobile Internet Application Programs (Apps) covers four key links such as service explicit, content provision, renewal reminder, and subscription cancellation, and puts forward 16 specification suggestions for 10 typical scenarios.

On July 16, 2024, the WG4 of TAF Information Security and User Data Protection Technology Group held the second meeting in 2024 in Xining. At the meeting, nearly 110 representatives from more than 40 Internet enterprises, terminal manufacturers, and security companies had in-depth discussions on the automatic renewal service standard, and basically reached an agreement on informing users in a prominent position before opening, synchronously providing a single-service option when opening, free trial not being bound to automatic renewal, service provision being consistent with the explicit content, reminding users in a prominent way 5 days before renewal, and providing users with a convenient unsubscribe method, etc.

In the next step, under the guidance of the Information and Communication Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the CAICT will continue to strengthen exchanges and discussions with the industry and promote the release of relevant standards.

TapTechNews noticed that the Implementing Regulations of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests has been implemented since July 1, 2024, clearly stating that when an operator provides services in the form of automatic renewal, etc., it shall draw the attention of consumers in a prominent way before the consumer accepts the service and before the date of automatic renewal, etc.