A Study on Personal Information Protection in China
China’s Personal Information Protection Act was passed on August 20, 2021, and came into force on November 1, 2021. Prior to this, personal information has been protected by separate laws such as the Consumer Rights Protection Act and the Network Safety Act. With increasing attention to protection of personal information, comprehensive regulations related to personal information protection were introduced in the Civil Code which came into effect in 2021. Although the work of law making is ongoing, the debates about the legal nature of personal information right is still sharp. Though there have been many regulations stipulates the protection of personal information generally, the personal information right has been treated in a similar way to the right of privacy in practice. Only recently have the meaning of the personal information right and the right of privacy begun to be distinguished. In addition, the disputes related to ‘informed consent’ to collection and use of personal information have been also raised. Concerns about the infringement of personal information have significantly increased with more frequent use of personal information in the era of big data. To address the issued newly raised in the era of big data, the Personal Information Protection Act stipulates the protection of personal information in a comprehensive way, which not only protects personal information at the civil level, but also stipulates the duties of the public authorities to protect the personal information. To be specific, the Personal Information Protection Act more clearly stipulates personal information processing rules and clarifies the rights of the subject of the personal information, the duties of processor of the personal information, and the responsibilities of government ministries in charge of personal information protection. This study examines the legislation evolution and legal disputes related to personal information protection in China and analyzes the newly enacted Personal Information Protection Act of China.