In Dec. 2020, Tianjing enacted the Regulation of Social Credit of Tianjin Municipality, which will come into force as of 1 Jan. 2021, prohibiting to collect biometric data such as facial recognition information.
On 1 Dec. 2020, the 24th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress passed and promulgated the Regulation of Social Credit of Tianjin Municipality (the Regulations, 天津市社会信用条例), which came into force as of 1 Jan. 2021.
The Regulation clarifies that the collection, classification, application, and relevant management of social credit information shall follow the principles of lawfulness, fairness, necessity, objectivity, and security, and must not infringe upon state secrets, trade secrets, personal privacy, and other personal information.
The Regulation specifically emphasizes that where market credit information providers collect the information of a natural person , they shall obtain the consent of the said person and they mutually agree on the purpose of use, unless otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations.
Market credit information providers shall not collect natural persons’ religious beliefs, blood types, disease and medical history, biometric information, and other personal information that is prohibited to collect by laws and administrative regulations.
At present, the technology of facial recognition has been used widely in China. The Regulation issued at this stage, as stated by many Chinese media, means that collection of facial recognition data will be banned in Tianjin.