Important Clarifications And Changes To China's Data Privacy Standards

Important updates to China's de facto data privacy regulations will come into force on 1 October 2020. The amendments to the Personal Information Security Specification (PIS Specification) comprise important clarifications rather than substantial changes to the existing regulations. This additional guidance on the practical steps needed to comply with China's data privacy framework is good news for organisations operating in China. Helpfully the final version also more closely aligns with other recent laws (such as the PRC E-Commerce Law and the PRC Encryption Law), and does not change significantly from earlier drafts.

Key points to note:

• Personal information: important clarifications on the definitions of "personal information" and "sensitive personal information", focusing on topics that are very attuned to local China trends:
  • Businesses will be relieved to see that mobile phone numbers and network ID information are no longer considered