On January 13, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") issued the Circular on Launching the Pilot Program on Classified and Graded Management of Cybersecurity of Industrial Internet Enterprises (the "Circular").

The Circular provides that, in light of the actual development of the industrial Internet in various regions, and by taking into full consideration the willingness of various regions to participate in the program, 15 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) including Tianjin, Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Xinjiang are initially scheduled to launch the pilot program. 

The Circular requires that, through the pilot program:

  • the rationality, effectiveness and operability of rules, standards and procedures of classification and grading for cybersecurity of industrial Internet enterprises, and security-series protection specifications for industrial Internet shall be perfected, and the construction of a classified and graded management system for cybersecurity of industrial Internet enterprises shall be accelerated;
  • the main responsibility of the cybersecurity of pilot enterprises shall be performed, to form a reproducible and popularized classified and graded management model of cybersecurity of industrial Internet enterprises; and
  • a batch of typical solutions for cybersecurity of industrial Internet shall be summarized, a batch of excellent demonstration enterprises shall be selected, and a batch of professional service organizations shall be cultivated.

https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/waj/gzdt/art/2021/art_eb95e60794794fc29f768233e7d7739d.html

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