On January 16, 2012 CNNIC issued the 29th Report of China Internet Network Development Statistics, revealing that the number of Chinese netizens had topped 500 million by the end of 2011. According to the report, the country's population of netizens of 2012 rose by 4% over 2010, entering a plateau period compared with previous years.

On the same day CNNIC launched the “Internet Data Platform of China”, the first free-of-charge product in the country for obtaining Internet statistics.

On March 16, 2012 CNNIC issued the CSR Report 2011, the first of its kind in history, as a new window for enhancing communication, exchange and coordination with various parties to make greater contributions to the healthy development of the Internet.

On 23rd of the same month CNNIC held the 2012 Thematic Meeting of CDNC. At the meeting, in-depth discussions and considerations were given to such issues as facilitating application for new Chinese TLDs, especially barrier-free equivalent operation of simplified and traditional Chinese TLDs.

On March 27, 2012 the CNNIC-initiated “National Domain Security Alliance” was founded under the guidance of the Communications Security Bureau, MIIT. Twenty-eight Domain name registries and registrars from across the country became the first members of the Alliance.

On May 28, 2012, CNNIC released the Announcement on Revising and Implementing “CNNIC Detailed Rules for Domain Registration”. Article 14 of the former Detailed Rules that prescribes the subject of registration was amended. A special chapter was added to address the protection of registration information. Contents regarding domain name registration, transfer, renewal fees, etc., were also revised and improved.

On May 28 2012, CNNIC promulgated the Announcement on Adjustment of “.中国” Domain Name Registration and Services, declaring that as of October 29, 2012 “中文.CN” and “中文.中国” domain names ought to be separately registered.

On June 6 of the same year CNNIC successfully convened the “2012 Summit of China IP Address Allocation Alliance” in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province. The CNNIC-initiated “IPv6 Open Exchange and Application Verification Center” was formally established.

On June 19 the International Universal Multilingual Mailbox Email Presentation Conference was held in Beijing, at which a CAS scientist sent the world’s first Email using the multilingual mailbox.

At the 44th ICANN International Conference held on June 25, CNNIC succeeded in applying to host the 46th ICANN International Conference. This was the second time that ICANN decided to hold its conference in the Chinese mainland following the 14th Conference held in Shanghai in October 2002.

On June 29 CNNIC formally rolled out SDNS which was designed to provide netizens with secure, intelligent and fast Internet access resolution service.

On July 19 CNNIC issued the 30th Report of China Internet Network Development Statistics, revealing that by the end of June 2012 the population of Chinese netizens had reached 538 million in which 388 million were mobile-phone netizens and that mobile phones had become the first Internet terminal, surpassing desktop computers.

On July 24, the “2012 Guangzhou Seminar on Basic Internet Resources” was successfully co-organized by CNNIC and Guangdong Internet Society in the city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Representatives present at the meeting exchanged views on and discussed the latest development in Internet resources, especially the shortage of IP address resources.

At the 34th APNIC Open Policy Meeting on August 31, CNNIC succeeded in applying to host the 36th APNIC Meeting in Xi’an, China in 2013. This will be the second time for such meetings to be held in China’s mainland following the 28th Meeting in Beijing in 2009.

On October 2012 ICANN signed a cooperation agreement with CNNIC, entrusting the latter to exclusively undertake the next-generation WHOIS system opensource project. The WHOIS system open-source software to be developed through this project will be very important basic software for the global domain name industry. Undertaking this project marks another big stride forward of CNNIC in developing domain name technology.

On October 30, the “2012 Seminar on Basic Internet Resources” was successfully held by CNNIC in conjunction with Zhejiang Internet Society in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Representatives present at the meeting exchanged views on and discussed the IPv6 development trend, the allocation direction of IP addresses, the policies and procedures for allocation of basic Internet resources, etc.

December 2-8 CNNIC held an Internet management training session in Kunming for 15 representatives from LANIC and the Ministry of Communication of Laos, in addition to 4 representatives invited from Jordan, Mongolia and Vietnam. During the session, exchanges of views were carried out on issues of common concern, such as Internet technology, security and management.

On December 5, the APAC Annual Meeting 2012 was convened in Beijing. At the meeting CNNIC released the APAC Work Report 2012.

On December 17, the 6th CNNIC Working Committee Conference of was held at the Software Park of CAS. Important persons present at the conference included Mr. Hu Qiheng, CAS Academician and Honorary Chairman of CNNIC Working Committee, Mr. Shi Erwei, Vice President of CAS, and Mr. Shang Bing, Vice Minister of MIIT. The 6th CNNIC Working Committee membership list was adopted and suggestions and expectations on the next step of work of CNNIC were put forward at the conference.