According to publication The Wall Street Journal, Chinese authorities are preparing to create a new government agency that would control the rules for storing and sharing data. To date, relevant matters are under the control of various departments of the PRC, which sometimes complicates state control in this area. Plans to create such an agency will be discussed at the next National People’s Congress, which will last until March 13.
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When a new regulator is formed, its powers include control over the transfer of information collected from foreign companies inside the country to outside. The same department will work out the rules for using data collected by companies about users. It will be able to prohibit the collection of certain types of data, as well as filter information that companies want to transmit to their business partners outside of China. China has long had rules that force foreign companies to store user information in data centers in China.
The regulator will be able to investigate allegations of data manipulation and fight the formation of Internet addiction among the younger generation of citizens. This organization will also be responsible for information security. According to the source, some industry officials have expressed concern that the emergence of a new regulator will contribute to the creation of additional bureaucratic obstacles to business development.
Now, the powers of a potential regulator are divided among several departments: the State Chancellery of Internet Information of the PRC, the Ministry of Industry and Informatics, and the State Committee for Development and Reform. The status of the new department will give it the functions of antimonopoly regulation. The US and Europe are also expanding the powers of government agencies in the area of data regulation, so that certain prerequisites for reforms in China have long been in place.
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