Regulation on the Protection of the Right to Network Dissemination of Information, linking safe harbour and notice-and-takedown (Arts. 14-17, 23)

Article 23 gives a network service provider that offers a search or link service a safe harbour from damages liability once, on receiving a rights holder's written notice, it disconnects the link to the allegedly infringing work, unless it knew or should have known that the linked work was infringing, in which case it bears joint infringement liability.

That safe harbour runs through the same notice-and-counter-notice mechanism the Regulation gives a hosting provider under Article 22: Article 14 requires a rights holder's takedown notice to name the rights holder, identify the work and its network address, and include preliminary proof of infringement; Article 15 requires the provider to act on it immediately, forwarding the notice to the party that supplied the material; and Articles 16-17 let that party submit a written counter-statement to have the material or link restored, after which the rights holder may not issue a further notice over the same material.

The Regulation was promulgated by State Council Order No. 468 on 18 May 2006 and amended by a State Council decision dated 30 January 2013; the currently effective text's own commencement article states an effective date of 1 July 2006. No reported Chinese decision applies Article 23 specifically to a news aggregator's display of links to third-party journalism, as opposed to file-hosting or search-engine link cases generally.