I. Introduction

With the development of the digital economy, personal information protection has become an increasingly important issue in China and legislators have responded to this trend. The year 2020 witnessed a great leap in China’s legislation on personal information protection. In May, China issued the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China (the “Civil Code”), which is one of the most significant events in China’s legal history. In the Civil Code, one of the major highlights is the rules for personal information protection. Five months later, the Request for Public Comments on the Personal Information Protection Bill (the “Personal Information Protection Bill”) was released.

Previously, China’s personal information protection rules scattered in more than 30 domain-specific laws (and affiliated judicial interpretations) and administrative regulations, each confined to their respective domains, such as consumer protection and cybersecurity. Most of the laws and administrative regulations prescribe administrative liability but only a few provide private law remedies for victims. The Civil Code provides a general structure for personal information protection, including the definition and scope of personal information, information subject’s rights, and processor’s obligations. Although the personal information protection rules of the Civil Code inherit the main structure from the rules on the same issue in Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Cybersecurity Law”), the legislators has made important developments. Based on the Civil Code, the Personal Information Protection Bill will further develop private law protection of personal information.

In this note, Part II reviews China’s personal information protection mechanism before the Civil Code. Part III introduces the personal information protection under the Civil Code, with an emphasis on the new developments. Part IV discusses the ideal functions of private law in personal information protection and evaluates to what extent the Civil Code fulfills these functions. Finally, in the light of the Personal Information Protection Bill, Part V discusses potential developments after the Civil Code in China’s private law protection for personal information.