China's New National Privacy Law: The PIPL

As the world continues to work from home in the wake of COVID-19 and companies lean on online technologies to conduct their businesses and service their customers, China (home to the most online users in the world), is one of the latest countries to pass a new omnibus privacy law. Effective November 1, 2021, despite numerous yet-to-be-defined elements, the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL)¹ is China's first comprehensive law designed to regulate online data and protect personal information.

China's new Data Security Law (DSL) also went into effect earlier this year, on September 1, 2021. The DSL applies to a wide range of data processing activities including but not limited to processing personal information. With extraterritorial scope and severe fines and penalties, these laws are set to impose an increasingly complex and comprehensive legal framework for doing businesses in China that processes personal information.