China Issues Personal Information Protection Act To Protect People's Data

The Chinese people's personal data will be protected by the government. (photo of jerry wang/unsplash)

JAKARTA - China has issued a new privacy law aimed at protecting users' personal data. The new law comes as Chinese technology companies come under renewed scrutiny in the country.

The Chinese government also sets rules on how companies handle user information. The law came into effect on November 1.

Reuters reported that the law, officially known as the Personal Information Protection Act, was passed by China's legislature on Friday, August 20. The regulation also requires companies to obtain user consent before collecting personal data and has rules on how companies must ensure user data is protected when it is transferred outside of China.

Technology companies that handle personal information must have a designated person in charge of overseeing its protection, and companies must conduct regular audits to ensure they comply with the law.

In addition, companies that handle personal user data must have a clear and reasonable purpose for doing so and must limit it to the “minimum scope necessary to achieve the objectives” of handling such data.

Reuters also reported that in an op-ed in China's state media outlet People's Court Daily, the National People's Congress praised the new law.

“Personalization is the result of user choice, and truly personalized recommendations should ensure the user's freedom to choose, without coercion”, reads the op-ed. "Therefore, users should be given the right not to use the personalized recommendation function".