Illustration of the Personal Information Protection Law (Draft)

Personal information is closely related to everyone’s life, so the protection of personal information has been clearly included in the scope of protection of personality rights. However, illegal processing of personal information is still rampant in social and economic life. On the other hand, personal information is the “core and foundation of big data”, so its orderly circulation and use has a decisive impact on the economic benefits of data which is a new production factor and even the future development of China's digital economy and digital society. Therefore, the Personal Information Protection Law has attracted much attention from the beginning of its proposal.
On October 21, 2020, after the first deliberation of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the “Draft”) was officially promulgated for public consultation. The Draft draws on the legislative experience and achievements at home and abroad so far, takes the balance between the protection of personal information and the promotion of the effective use of personal information as the starting point and makes considerable institutional innovation and beneficial attempts. Although the final contents of the law may be subject to substantial changes after public consultation and three deliberations in accordance with the general legislative practice in China, the Draft is of great reference significance for us to understand the legislative thoughts of the legislature and grasp the legislative trend.
Since the release of the Draft, all sectors of society have been actively involved in the interpretation of the Draft and put forward legislative suggestions from different perspectives. However, for enterprises and individuals who have not conducted an in-depth research on the relevant laws and regulations on the protection of personal information but are concerned about the main content of the Draft and the relevance to them, it is inevitable that they might feel at sea in the face of the 70 articles in the Draft. For this purpose, we have specially made this Illustration of the Personal Information Protection Law (Draft), hoping to demonstrate key points in the Draft to our readers in a visualized form. In the future, we will continue to study the evolution and trend of the Draft together with other issues concerning data and publish our research results for your reference and further discussion.
Illustration of the Personal Information Protection Law of the PRC (Draft)