Personal information protection law to be submitted to legislative session

A high-profile draft law on personal information protection will be deliberated by China's top legislature this week in a move to give stronger legal support to the safeguarding of people's legitimate rights in cyberspace, an official said on Monday.

The draft is to be submitted for a first review to the bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, the country's top legislative body, which will convene from Tuesday to Saturday, said Zang Tiewei, spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

"Although our country intensified efforts to protect personal information in recent years, problems where personal information was improperly collected, abused, illegally purchased or misused to undermine the safety of people's lives and property are still prominent," Zang said at a news conference on Monday.

"In this internet information era, personal information protection has become an issue that people care most about as well as a problem that directly affects their interests."

He said the country's central leadership has paid a great deal of attention to laws governing cyberspace over the past few years, highlighting the need to protect the security of personal information several times and raising requirements that guarantee people's legitimate rights.

"To respond to the public and implement the requirements, we drafted the law with the Cyberspace Administration of China, after a lot of research and the wide solicitation of opinions," Zang said. "We also took relevant rules, guidelines, laws and the experience of international organizations, countries or regions as references during the drafting of the legislation."

He said the draft will further clarify principles for dealing with personal information, strengthen the obligations of dealers, and specify supervisory responsibilities as well as strict punishments for those who breach the law.

China has already enacted a few laws, regulations and rules relating to personal information protection, including the Criminal Law, Civil Code, the Cybersecurity Law, E-Commerce Law and the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests.

But given that current channels of protection are scattered through various laws and regulations, the top legislature said in March last year that it had put legislation on personal information protection on its agenda. Since then, many government departments and agencies have worked on the draft law.