China Puts Its Stamp On Data Privacy Rules

KEY TAKEAWAYS

China's data provisions ("the CDPs") were drafted at a time when numerous significant foreign businesses were leaving China, amid concerns about the gloomy economic climate and tightened regulatory environment. That trend appears to be continuing.

The standout difference between China and Australia's framework is that the latter relies on individual choice and corporate compliance, with an emphasis on individual privacy. For China, it is about State supervision of information as a national asset.

The core issue may not be the rules themselves, but rather the level of control that Chinese officials consider to be both normal and required, and the discretions that these officials are empowered to exercise at the administrative level.