Quick Question Friday: China Law Answers, Part 88

Because of this blog, our China lawyers get a fairly steady stream of China law questions from readers, mostly via emails but occasionally via blog comments or phone calls as well. If we were to conduct research on all the questions we get asked and then comprehensively answer them, we would become overwhelmed. So we usually provide a quick general answer and, when it is easy to do so, a link or two to a blog post that provides some additional guidance. We figure we might as well post some of these on here as well, which we generally do on Fridays, like today.

Earlier this week, In China’s New Cybersecurity Program: NO Place to Hide, we wrote about how China would soon be rolling out a new cybersecurity regime which would effectively give the Chinese government to pretty much all of your company’s data. This post followed on the heels of our post on China’s new company tracking system, entitled,  China’s New Company Tracking System: Comply, Comply, Comply. These two posts have led to our China data privacy lawyers receiving a whole hosts of questions from readers, clients and the media, mostly focusing on whether things will necessarily become “that bad in China” to requests for additional legal background, to asking whether it makes sense for foreign companies to do business at all in China anymore.

The quick answers are that things will probably be “that bad” for data protection in China, yet it will still make sense for most foreign companies to continue doing business in China and on Sunday we will be coming out with a new post further explaining the new laws. in other words, you be sure to stay tuned.

We will be discussing the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts business there. We will be telling you what works and what does not and what you as a businessperson can do to use the law to your advantage. Our aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy.