On 15 July 2020 the Justice Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality issued the Data Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (draft regulations) for public opinion by 14 August 2020.(1)
The draft regulations define the concept of a 'data right' for the first time, defining it as follows:
Data is the description and induction of objects (such as facts, events, things, processes, or thoughts), and is the material that can be processed or reinterpreted through automation and other means. Natural persons, legal persons, and unincorporated organizations enjoy data rights in accordance with laws, regulations and these Regulations and no organization or individual may infringe upon such rights. Data rights are the rights of the rights holder to make independent decisions, control, process, gain, and claim compensation for specific data in accordance with the law.
The draft regulations set out the ownership of personal and public data. According to the draft regulations, no organisation or individual may infringe on natural persons' data rights in accordance with the law. Public data is a new type of state-owned asset and its data rights belong to the state. The Shenzhen municipal government will exercise public data rights on behalf of the state and authorise the municipal data coordination department to formulate public data asset management measures and organise their implementation.
The draft regulations provide that personal data includes personal information data and private data. 'Personal information data' refers to data recorded through automation and other means that can identify the personal identity of a natural person alone or in combination with other data; 'private data' refers to data and its derived data that is closely related to a natural person's private life and their private space, activities and information that they are unwilling to share with others.
Endnotes
(1) See here.
