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China Telecom and Wireless telecom and wireless penalties and enforcement exposure

China penalties for unlicensed telecom equipment, radio model approval, station licensing, interference, and mobile app violations.

Match the actor and conduct to the governing provision. The same product can create separate telecom network-access, radio, app, product-quality, customs, or criminal exposure.

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Author
Sorena AI
Published
Jul 5, 2026
Updated
Jul 24, 2026
Sections
3

Structured answer sets in this page tree.

Primary sources
8

Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata
Sorena AI
Published Jul 5, 2026
Updated Jul 24, 2026
Overview

China has no single telecom-and-wireless fine. Identify the actor, the equipment or app, and the exact conduct first. Selling an unlicensed telecom terminal, producing radio equipment without model approval, using an unlicensed station, causing harmful interference, and violating preinstalled-app rules lead to different remedies, penalty ranges, and authorities. A claimed must be tested against the exact catalogue and operating conditions before excluding radio approval or station-licence exposure.

Section 1

Telecom equipment and network-access penalties

The Telecom Regulations and the Telecom Equipment Network Access Measures cover sales, permit misuse, application truthfulness, and post-approval consistency. The RMB amounts below apply only to the stated conduct.

For an exposure record, identify the seller, applicant or permit holder; the affected model and units; the approval status; illegal income or equipment value where the provision uses it; any correction order; and whether the actor refused to correct. Those facts select the penalty branch and determine whether confiscation, a percentage-based fine, revocation or a reapplication bar can apply.

  • Selling a telecom terminal that requires but lacks network access approval: the provincial communications administration orders correction and imposes a RMB 10,000-100,000 fine.
  • Forging, misusing, or transferring a network access permit, or fabricating a permit number: MIIT or the provincial communications administration confiscates illegal income and imposes a fine of three to five times that income. If there is no illegal income or it is below RMB 10,000, the fine is RMB 10,000-100,000.
  • Concealing relevant facts or submitting false materials before approval: MIIT refuses to accept or denies the application, issues a warning, and bars a new application for one year.
  • Obtaining approval through deception, bribery, or another improper method: MIIT revokes the permit, issues a warning, and bars a new application for three years.
  • Failing to keep the approved product consistent, failing to implement required after-sales service, or obstructing the applicable supervision process: the authority may order correction and, for serious circumstances, issue a warning. A product-quality reduction after approval is handled separately under product-quality law.
  • Select the penalty provision from the seller, applicant, permit holder, product type, approval status, and conduct. A network-access defect does not automatically carry a RMB 100,000 fine.
Sources for this answer
Telecom Regulations of the People's Republic of China
Articles 68 and 76 establish the permit-misuse and sale-without-network-access penalties; Article 77 routes post-approval quality reductions to product-quality law.
Measures for the Administration of Network Access of Telecom Equipment
Articles 28-32 set the sales, permit misuse, false-material, consistency, after-sales, supervision, warning, revocation, and reapplication consequences.
MIIT telecom-equipment network-access online service page
The current service page states the one-year consequence for concealed facts or false application materials and the three-year consequence for approval obtained by deception, bribery, or other improper means.
Section 2

Radio equipment, station, and interference penalties

The Radio Regulations provide conduct-specific consequences. A applies only when the device is listed in, and complies with, MIIT Announcement No. 52; calling a product micro-power does not remove model-approval or station-licence exposure if its actual configuration or use falls outside those conditions.

Calculate exposure from the conduct proved. Production or import without required model approval, sale of unapproved equipment, unlicensed frequency or station use, operation outside licence terms, and harmful interference use different bases and escalation conditions. Preserve the model, quantity, value, illegal-income calculation, licence terms, interference report, correction order and response.

  • Producing or importing for domestic sale or use radio-transmitting equipment that requires but lacks model approval: correction and a RMB 50,000-200,000 fine; refusal to correct can lead to confiscation of the equipment and a RMB 200,000-1,000,000 fine.
  • Selling radio-transmitting equipment that requires but lacks model approval: correction, confiscation of the unlawfully sold equipment and illegal income, and a possible fine of up to 10% of the equipment's value; refusal to correct raises the fine to 10%-30% of value.
  • Using radio frequencies without permission, or setting up or using a station without a required licence: correction, confiscation of the equipment used and illegal income, and a possible fine up to RMB 50,000. Refusal to correct carries RMB 50,000-200,000. An unlicensed station used for fraud or similar unlawful activity, where the conduct is not criminal, carries RMB 200,000-500,000.
  • Operating outside station-licence terms: correction, confiscation of illegal income, and a possible fine up to RMB 30,000. Serious consequences can lead to licence revocation and a RMB 30,000-100,000 fine.
  • Causing harmful interference: the authority first orders correction. Refusal can lead to confiscation of the interfering equipment, a RMB 50,000-200,000 fine, and revocation of the station licence. Interference with navigation, distress, safety, or other protected frequencies involving personal safety carries RMB 200,000-500,000.
  • For licence-exempt 2400/5100/5800 MHz stations and compliant micro-power equipment, harmful interference still triggers an immediate duty to stop use and eliminate the interference before resuming. Licence-exempt equipment remains subject to interference controls.
Sources for this answer
Radio Regulations of the People's Republic of China
Articles 70, 72, 73, 76, and 78 establish the unlicensed-frequency or station, licence-deviation, harmful-interference, missing-model-approval production or import, and sale penalties.
MIIT notice on 2400 MHz, 5100 MHz, and 5800 MHz radio management
Clauses 3, 5, and 9 define the model-approval rule, the outdoor-power station-licence trigger, and the immediate stop-and-correct duty for harmful interference from stations that do not require a licence.
MIIT Announcement No. 52 on micro-power short-range radio equipment
Clauses 1-6 make the micro-power exemption conditional on catalogue compliance and impose operating, antenna, power, user-information, and harmful-interference duties.
Section 3

Mobile-terminal app enforcement

The 2017 interim provisions and the additional rules effective 1 January 2023 do not contain a self-contained RMB fine table. They require communications authorities to order correction and apply the penalty provision in the law governing the actual violation.

  • Administrative penalties imposed on a terminal manufacturer or internet information service provider for violating the 2017 provisions are entered in its reputation file and published.
  • Communications authorities may require correction, supervise removal of malicious apps, publish supervision and test results, and require other lawful emergency handling where an app is not removed as directed.
  • The 2023 notice reinforces manufacturer responsibility for removability, the limited basic-function categories, operating-system security, app review, monitoring, retention, removal, complaints, and personal-information protection. Violations are handled under the applicable laws and regulations.
  • Suspected criminal app conduct is reported to public-security authorities. Do not convert that referral rule into a claim that every app violation is criminal.
  • To assess exposure, record the app, version, preinstaller or distributor, affected users, permission and personal-information behavior, removal status, retained records, notice and consent evidence, correction order, and whether the conduct falls under another law with its own penalty.
Sources for this answer
MIIT interim provisions on preinstallation and distribution of mobile smart terminal apps
Articles 8-11 establish distribution controls, supervision, removal and correction mechanisms, published test results, reputation-file publication, lawful penalties, and criminal referral.
MIIT and CAC notice on further regulation of preinstalled mobile smart terminal apps
Clauses 3-7 set the additional preinstalled-app controls and state that violations are handled under the applicable laws and regulations rather than under a fine table in the notice.
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Primary sources

References and citations

MIIT telecom-equipment network-access online service page
ythzxfw.miit.gov.cn
Referenced sections
  • The current service page states the one-year consequence for concealed facts or false application materials and the three-year consequence for approval obtained by deception, bribery, or other improper means.
Radio Regulations of the People's Republic of China
gov.cn
Referenced sections
  • Articles 70, 72, 73, 76, and 78 establish the unlicensed-frequency or station, licence-deviation, harmful-interference, missing-model-approval production or import, and sale penalties.
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