Analysis Of China's Draft Personal Information Protection Law

On October 21, 2020, China published a draft of its Personal Information Protection Law (个人信息保护法, the Draft PIPL), and invited public comment through November 19.¹ Although this is the first draft of this law, it largely builds on existing regulations to create a structure that is largely similar to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).² An English language translation of the Draft PIPL is available here.³

As a draft law, it may be revised before it is finally enacted, and public comments received will be critical in assessing any issues with the law. As with other Chinese laws, after it takes effect, regulators will likely issue implementing regulations and/or interpretations. Because the Draft PIPL consolidates existing Chinese regulations and because of its similarity to the GDPR, we will not review every provision of the draft, but focus on key elements and changes.