Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
China announced an unprecedented data property rights system to promote data commercialization in December 2022 and issued implementation rules in 2023. The property rights system attempts to clarify data handlers’ rights over ‘big data’ (ie data derived or constituted from personal or nonpersonal data). It also establishes parameters for China’s regulations concerning data handlers (ie those entities who collect, process, and store personal and non-personal data).

This policy brief explains the data property rights system and highlights its innovations and challenges. It also explains why this data property rights system deliberately avoids addressing issues related to data ownership. The brief further analyses how the data property rights system may impact digital trade from two aspects: (a) How the system will be enforced, particularly with respect to data that has been exported from China?, and, (b) Whether and how the data property rights system will apply to foreign parties or the data of foreign companies.

Huang, Jie (Jeanne), A System Without Ownership: How China’s New Data Property Rights System Will Impact Digital Trade (February 1, 2024).