China Passed Personal Information Protection Law – How Should We View This Chinese "GDPR"?

On August 20, 2021, the National People's Congress Standing Committee finally passed the Personal Information Protection Law, which aims to establish a personal information protection system with Chinese features and, meanwhile, in line with international standards. It provides a variety of rights for personal information subjects to strengthen their control of personal information, while imposing strict obligations to personal information handlers. The law shall enter into force on November 1, 2021, leaving companies less than three months to prepare for their compliance obligations. Therefore, we would introduce the law in comparison to the EU General Data Protection Regulation to help companies better understand the key points and provide companies with preliminary guidance.