China data protection legislation in the making

China's draft Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) has just gone through the second reading and is now near final form and expected to be finalized very soon. Once promulgated, it will be the first comprehensive law on personal data protection in China and one of the three pillars of China data protection legal regime. It borrows many key concepts from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) while maintaining unique features to reflect local regulatory and business needs.

The PIPL, as drafted, will have extra-territorial effect on overseas processing of the personal data of individuals based in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for the purpose of offering products or services to, or for analyzing and assessing the behavior of such individuals. The PIPL applies to the processing of employee data as well as processing of customer/user data. Similar to the GDPR, the draft PIPL sets one of the most serious penalties among Chinese laws, including a very high threshold of administrative fines, which is up to 5% of the annual turnover or RMB 50 million (approx. USD 7.7 million). This is only secondary to antitrust violations in China which can be subject to up to 10% of the annual turnover. In addition to administrative fines and civil compensation, serious breach of data protection rules may be subject to criminal liabilities.

Jingyuan Shi will share her detailed analysis of the key features and implications of the draft PIPL.

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*This webinar is hosted by Wiley Rein LLP