Just got this from my inbox: China to regulate Internet Email Service

… in order to regulate Internet Email Services and safeguard the legal rights of the end users, Ministry of Information Industry (MII) of P. R. China enacted the first national anti-Spam regulation on March 30th, 2006, which is hereby formulated in accordance with related national laws on telecommunications and Internet.

Great news! China has anti-spam regulation now! Wohoo!

But wait, it goes on:

According to the Regulation, any organization or individual is not allowed to provide Internet Email Services within the territory of the P. R. China if it does not receive the License for value-added telecommunication services, or not fulfill the registration procedures for non-profit Internet information services.

The original text from MII’s regulation:

第四条 提供互联网电子邮件服务，应当事先取得增值电信业务经营许可或者依法履行非经营性互联网信息服务备案手续。
未取得增值电信业务经营许可或者未履行非经营性互联网信息服务备案手续，任何组织