On September 30, 2016, the Cyberspace Administration of China (the “CAC“) issued the draft for comments of the Regulations on Cyberspace Protection of Minors (the “Draft“).  A “Minor” is not defined in the Draft, but defined under the Minor Protection Law as any citizen under the age of 18.  The term “citizen” is likely to be interpreted as a citizen of China.  However, in the Guidelines for Personal Information Protection within Information Systems for Public…

On 6 July 2016, a second draft of the People’s Republic of China Cyber Security Law was released to the public for comment following its second reading by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.  The deadline for submitting comments on the second draft is 4 August 2016. Given the growing cyber threat globally, the Chinese move towards more rigorous cyber security regulation is in line with international trends.  However, the specific approach to…

China’s media and publishing regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (“SAPPRFT“), and its telecoms and Internet regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT“), have jointly issued new rules governing online publications in the People’s Republic of China (“China” or the “PRC“): the Online Publication Services Administrative Provisions (网络出版服务管理规定) (the “Online Publication Provisions“).  The Online Publication Provisions were issued on 4 February 2016 and came into effect from 10…

On 25 March 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (the “MIIT“) issued Draft Rules on the Administration of Internet Domain Names (“Draft“) and issued a call for comments. The Draft has raised serious concerns among the public and the international media. In this article we summarize the key changes in the Draft, and try to distinguish fact from fiction. Overview of main changes under the Draft The Draft regulates most aspects of…

On 28 December 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”), China’s telecoms and Internet regulator, issued the revised Classification Catalogue of Telecommunications Businesses (2015 Edition) (the “2015 Catalogue“).  The long-awaited 2015 Catalogue will come into effect on 1 March 2016.  A draft which included some of the main changes to the 2015 Catalogue was circulated for public comments in 2013 (“2013 Draft Catalogue“), but this is the first official ‘face lift’ since the…

On 27 December 2015, China’s National People’s Congress passed the nation’s first comprehensive law on terrorism, the People’s Republic of China Counter-Terrorism Law, which took effect on 1 January 2016. The Counter-Terrorism Law reflects some important developments that may give some comfort to observers that their voices are being heard, without by any means removing all the concerns. In it, terrorism is finally given a definition (albeit, a broad-ranging one), and a number of controversial…

On 6 May 2015, the Intermediate People’s Court of Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, issued a civil judgment ruling that the search engine giant Baidu’s use of cookies to personalize advertisements directed at consumers on partner third party websites does not infringe consumer rights of privacy.  The court based its decision on findings that the information collected by the Baidu cookies did not amount to “personal information” under Chinese law, the complainant did not suffer cognizable…