Speaking on Tuesday 19 September at a high-level EU-China dialogue on digital issues, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Vera Jourová, explained that European businesses were concerned about China’s recent adoption of new data protection rules.
“European companies are worried about the lack of clarity in these laws, which lack a definition of what is considered to be important data”, explained the vice-president.
She highlighted the difficulties that companies could face under the law when transferring industrial data outside China.
In July, the country adopted a ban on the transfer of information relating to national security and interests, without a precise definition, and broadened the definition of espionage to include cyber-attacks against state bodies or critical infrastructures.
In addition to the lack of clarity highlighted by the vice-president, companies would be subject to lengthy processes, whereas there are deadlines “of 45 days, I think, but it’s a process that generally takes much longer”.
She also mentioned the agreement reached with the Chinese vice-premier, Zhang Guoqing, to launch a specific mechanism to tackle these issues. This will be discussed further at the EU-China High Level Economic Dialogue. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)