On 5 August 2016, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) released the draft Implementation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests (the “Draft”) for public comment. According to an official release issued at the same time, the Draft focuses on product recall, fraud, online shopping return policies, personal information protection, and the enforcement of consumer rights. The Draft consists of 70 articles, with a few addressing consumer privacy (Articles 22, 23, and 57).
Notable provisions in the Draft compared to existing provisions in the Measures of the Punishment of Conduct Infringing the Rights and Interests of Consumers, include the expansion of the definition of personal information (Article 22) to cover biometric data and the imposition of general privacy obligations on business operators.