Podcast #15: Data War - China's Cross-Border Data Controls Compared with the EU, US

August 28, 2020 | BY

Vincent Chow

Data power and regime competition are shaping China's nascent data protection framework

The rapid growth of the internet economy over recent years has ushered in a new frontier in the ongoing battle between the world's biggest superpowers: data protection. In this episode, Dr Bo Zhao draws on his comparative research background to share insights on China's rules and regulations surrounding the cross-border transfer of data and how they compare with other jurisdictions, including the EU and the US. Moreover, we discuss what limits there are on the Chinese government to access data stored in China by Chinese and foreign companies.

For the full episode, click here to listen on Apple Podcasts and here for Spotify.

Dr Bo Zhao is a Senior Research Fellow at the Tilburg University School of Law in the Netherlands. Bo's research covers comparative data privacy protection law, especially cross-border data protection and cybersecurity law and policy issues in China.

The China Law Podcast is a weekly podcast exploring China's business and financial sectors from a legal perspective hosted by Vincent Chow. Get in touch at [email protected] with any feedback and ideas for future episodes.

Episode outline

01:22 History of China's data protection regime
03:28 Significance and criticisms of PRC Cybersecurity Law
05:00 The cross-border transfer of data and data localization
06:29 Snowden scandal and its impact on China
09:49 Data localization in other jurisdictions
12:19 Data power and regime competition
16:00 Beijing's access to data held by companies
20:49 GDPR as a model for China's data protection framework

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