16 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA • 亚洲法律杂志-中国版 APRIL 2024 COVER STORY “A European company sells solar energy equipment to a state-owned enterprise in China, and data on equipment operation will be collected and sent back to Europe to monitor potential operational failures. Under China’s applicable laws and regulations, we assisted the client in developing an effective legal solution.” This is how he turned to cybersecurity and data compliance. By the end of 2012 when the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Strengthening Information Protection on Networks was published, Dai was convinced that the future lies in data. In the next two to three years, he managed five to ten data compliance cases every year. “The Cybersecurity Law of the People’s Republic of China released in 2017 kicked off the Data 2.0 Era in China. Meanwhile, I have helped many multinationals with relevant assessments, especially the export of important data, cybersecurity level protection, and cybersecurity incident reporting. The implementation of the Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China in 2021 unveiled the 3.0 Era, and many enterprises started to embrace comprehensive data compliance; in 2022, the era of outbound data regulation started. Till then, I have been in this field for 12 years,” adds Dai. Luo Wei, a Partner at Anli Partners, shifted from finance to cybersecurity and data protection. He has provided in-depth legal services specializing in cybersecurity and data protection to companies and organizations in TMT, finance, automotive, medical, FMCG, and so on. He suggests that “data is the oil of the new era,” and data protection is critical for enterprises to safeguard their healthy operation in the new era. “In 2013, China published the Regulation on the Administration of Credit Investigation Industry, which catalyzed the rapid development of Internet finance. When serving clients, we found that a large amount of personal information was used for risk control, yet there was no special legislation on the protection of personal information. We started a comparative study of the data legislation between China and other countries and got the opportunity to participate in domestic legislative discussions. Thanks to these experiences, opportunities, and insights into the trends, I naturally turned my focus to cybersecurity and data protection,” explains Luo. STRENGTH AND CAPABILITY Ongoing development of cybersecurity and data protection brings lots of business opportunities for lawyers, but at the same time, lawyers have recognized more requirements. For Luo Wei, the first is data compliance, which involves a wide and scattered range of fields and industries, and even traditional industries. Moreover, it goes beyond cybersecurity and data protection to include diverse areas in practice. “Data transactions, for example, involve also corporate law, contract law, intellectual property law, etc. This means lawyers should be equipped with interdisciplinary capabilities to cope with complex cases and legal counseling.” Secondly, the application of some emerging technologies is still controversial or not explicitly regulated by laws. To overcome this challenge, “lawyers need to leverage their expertise and experience, together with their understanding of legislation and enforcement trends, to solve legal issues with regard to emerging technologies and help clients pursue compliant healthy development,” says Luo Wei. On top of that, China has issued an array of laws on cybersecurity and data protection, and lawyers should look through complicated rules and keep learning with industry acumen, therefore providing clients with well-targeted and effective advice. Gong Lin also observes challenges from the digital economy. In her view, the value of data is beyond imagination, and the entire world is exploring a better balance between development and control. China is no exception. She points out, “A large body of regulatory rules introduced last year indicates China’s proactive response to the fast-growing digital economy, but they do pose many challenges for CAI PENG 蔡鹏 ZHONG LUN LAW FIRM 中伦律师事务所 KEN DAI 戴健民 DACHENG LAW OFFICES 大成律师事务所 GONG LIN 龚琳 GRANDWAY LAW OFFICES 国枫律师事务所 HUANG CHUNLIN 黄春林 HUI YE LAW FIRM 汇业律师事务所 KEVIN HUANG 黄凯 COMMERCE & FINANCE LAW OFFICES 通商律师事务所 TODD LIAO 廖圣强 MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS 摩根路易斯律师事务所 LUO WEI 罗为 ANLI PARTNERS 安理律师事务所
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