Legislation
The 20th National Congress of the CCP: Improving Public Security Governance and Strengthening Personal Information Protection
On October 16, 2022, the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing. General Secretary Xi Jinping, on behalf of the 19th Central Committee, reported to the General Assembly, mentioning the need to improve the national security system, which includes improving the level of public security governance, adhering to safety and prevention first, improve the public security system, improve disaster prevention, mitigation and relief and emergency and critical public events disposal and protection capabilities. The report also pointed out the need to strengthen the protection of personal information. 1
Standardization Administration Releases 14 National Standards for Cybersecurity: Related to Automobile Data Processing and Biometric Information Identification
On October 14, the Standardization Administration issued an announcement to approve the release of 14 national standards for cybersecurity. These standards put forward specific requirements on data security issues for biometric identification technologies such as gait recognition, gene recognition, voice recognition, and face recognition, respectively. 2
Central Bank Issues Guidelines for Science and Technology Ethics in Financial Field to Promote Safe Sharing of Data Resources in Orderly Manner
On October 9, the People's Bank of China issued the Guidelines for Science and Technology Ethics in the Financial Sector (hereinafter as the “Guidelines”), which has stipulated the data security aspects that the industry is most concerned about. According to the Guidelines, relevant financial institutions need to fully obtain user authorization, collect the minimum necessary data, and specialize in the use of data. The Guidelines pointed out that it is necessary to actively clean up the retained data and establish a sound data cleaning mechanism. The Guidelines also require that strict protective measures should be taken, a long-term mechanism for data security protection should be established and improved, and data classification and hierarchical management should be done. 3
Shaanxi Province Big Data Regulations Released
On October 8, Shaanxi Province Big Data Regulations was officially released, and will come into force on January 1 next year. 4
Enforcement Authority
Shandong CA Opens Channel for Cross-border Data Transfer Security Assessment
On October 26, 2022, in order to guide and help data processors to make notification for cross-border data transfer security assessment in a standardized and orderly manner, Cybersecurity Administration of Shandong Province (hereinafter as the “Shangdong CA”) opened a consultation channel for cross-border data transfer security assessment. Consultation hot number: 18853135773, 0531-51773249, 81913920 (on weekdays 9:30-11:30 a.m., 14:00-17:00 p.m., and please clearly disclose the basic information of the filing subject). 5
Enforcement Cases
Shanghai CA: Technology Company Violated DSL Fined RMB 50,000
Recently, the Cybersecurity Administration of Shanghai (hereinafter as “Shanghai CA”) found that a technology company was operating in violation of the Data Security Law (hereinafter as the “DSL”) in handling government affairs data, and had not taken corresponding technical measures and other necessary measures to safeguard data security, resulting in the risk of data leakage. The Shanghai CA ordered the company to make corrections in accordance with the DSL, gave a warning, and imposed a fine of RMB 50,000. 6
MIIT Informed 38 APPs Infringing Rights of Users
On October 13, the Information and Communication Administration of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (hereinafter as “MIIT”) informed that 38 APPs have been found to be problematic, requiring rectification to be completed by October 20, and those not rectified or not rectified after the deadline will be disposed of in accordance with the law. 7
Courts Litigation
The Supreme Court: To Promote Improvement of Intellectual Property Protection Rules in Fields of Big Data and Genetic Technology
On October 19, 2022, He Rong, a first-level justice of the Supreme People's Court of China, said when talking about the next step in the protection of intellectual property rights in Chinese courts, that the judiciary will promote and improve the protection rules of intellectual property rights in the fields of big data, artificial intelligence, and genetic technology. She also emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition justice, and strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and judicial mechanisms.8
Yi County Procuratorate of Anhui Province Launches “Public Interest Litigation Big Data Application Platform”
On October 14, in order to thoroughly implement the deployment requirements of “enhancing the high-quality development of procuratorial work in the new era with the procuratorial big data strategy” and improve the quality and efficiency of public interest litigation procuratorial work, the Yi County Procuratorate recently launched the city's first “Public Interest Litigation Big Data Application Platform”, opening a new era of data empowerment of legal supervision.9
Man Sentenced 3 Years in Jail for Illegally Obtaining and Using Others' Mobile Phone Numbers and Verification Codes
Recently, Yuanzhou District People's Court of Yichun City, Jiangxi Province, held a hearing on a case of infringement of citizens' personal information and sentenced the defendant Zhang to three years' imprisonment, suspended for three years, and a fine of RMB 20,000. The illegal proceeds of RMB 139,356 that had been surrendered were confiscated and surrendered to the state treasury in accordance with the law. The items seized in the case were disposed of by the seizing authority in accordance with the law.10
Footnotes
1 https://www.jiemian.com/article/8229638.html
2 https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/zj/202210/t20221013_350738.html
3 https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/166666289414432.html
4 http://credit.shaanxi.gov.cn/316/11487364.html
5 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/obdIRDbYWUBtTmkSO0z33w?scene=25#wechat_redirect
6 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/gViJnRho08RsyguMQ5x-WA?scene=25#wechat_redirect
7 https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/xgj/fwjd/art/2022/art_94ade5e24b104ee1a937230ec8d28cef.html
8 http://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202210/19/t20221019_38182638.shtml
9 https://www.ah.chinanews.com.cn/news/2022/1024/310714.shtml
10 https://www.chinacourt.org/article/detail/2022/10/id/6950962.shtml
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