Allocating Data Protection Duties The Chinese Way

Authors

Abstract

Abstract: China has been enacting data protection laws with distinctive features at an unprecedented pace, which makes it necessary to update existing studies on the Chinese approach to data protection. Unlike its predecessors, this Article focuses on developing a structured approach to dissecting the Chinese regime, especially the Personal Information Protection Law and latest case law. It analyzes how the laws allocate responsibilities among the three major parties involved in data protection—individual data subjects, data controllers, and regulators—and draws comparisons with European Union (EU) laws that inspired the Chinese laws. It argues that the way Chinese laws allocate data protection duties differs significantly from the EU laws. While individual consent, organizational obligations and state power are the three pillars of Chinese laws, state power takes precedence over the other two, especially when details of enforcement and the scope of state power remain unspecified. The Article proposes that future legislative efforts focus on two priorities: one is to provide more alternatives and exemptions to consent to make it less rigid, and the other is to clarify details of implementation so that the processors’ obligations become enforceable and state power will be constrained.

First Page

137

Recommended Citation

Allocating Data Protection Duties The Chinese Way, 35 Wash. Int’l L.J. 137 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wilj/vol35/iss1/7