The China Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) entered into force on the November 1, 2021.
China’s economy has prospered during the last years. There are over 900 million internationals in China. According to Beijing authorities, China has clear legal provisions to protect the rights and interests of its citizens and organizations.
Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister stated that China is currently witnessing a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation.
The new PIPL is similar with the GDPR (The General Data Protection Regulation). It contains 74 articles and includes data protection principles such as ''transparency, fairness, purpose limitation, data minimization, limited retention, data accuracy and accountability.''
Key term definitions
The PIPL defines personal information as any information that can be used to identify a specific individual. Information in the form of videos or photos, whether in electronic or non-electronic type.
"Personal information processing," according to the new law, includes the collection, storage, processing, use, transmission, disclosure, or deletion of personal information.
Similar to GDPR, PIPL defines "sensitive personal information" as information that, if leaked or used illegally, might result in a violation of an individual's dignity or injury to personal safety. This is China's first national law to define sensitive personal data and, more crucially, to impose related requirements on processors who handle it.
Processors' obligations under the China Personal Information Protection Law
Articles 51 to 56 of the PIPL outline processors' responsibilities in terms of:
- staffing and organization (e.g.: designating a DPO or a local representative in China).
- Internal administrative measures (e.g.: internal systems, audits, PIAs-personal information protection impact assessments).
- Security measures (e.g.: information classification, technical measures, training, incident response).
Under the China Personal Information Protection Law, individual rights are similar to those guaranteed by the GDPR. Therefore, individuals have the right to know about and control how their data is processed. They have the ability to restrict or deny processing, and they must have unrestricted access to and copying of the data. They must also be able to collect and reuse personal information across services for their own reasons. Finally, they should have the ability to modify and erase personal data.
The Law's Impact on Foreign Corporations
The second paragraph of Article 3 of the PIPL indicates that the law applies to personal data processing done outside of China for the purpose of providing products or services to individuals in China, or analysing or assessing the actions of individuals in China.
In addition, under the PIPL, organizations outside of China will need to appoint a representative and ''report relevant information of their domestic organization or representative to Chinese regulators.''
Need help?
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