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China restricts export of industrial data as Beijing seeks to enhance data security

  • Industrial data that needs to be exported should undergo a security assessment, according to new regulations published by MIIT on Tuesday
  • China has ramped up its data security push, rolling out a network of regulations that have increased compliance costs for businesses

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Lubricating oil is produced at a workshop in Hegang City, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Dec. 8, 2022. New rules cover the export of industrial data from China. Photo: Xinhua

China’s industry ministry has passed new rules mandating that important industrial data be stored within the country, as Beijing expands its web of regulations governing data security in a drive to tighten control over domestic data.

“Important” and “core” industrial data collected and generated in mainland China should be kept within the country, while data that needs to be exported should undergo a security assessment, according to new regulations published by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.

The new rules cover data produced in areas including industry, telecoms and radio waves as they fall under the purview of the MIIT. China’s Data Security Law, which came into effect in September last year, requires each government body to supervise data security in their own realms.

The regulations also come at a time when data has become “the most active new factor of production” in the digital economy, and as data security risks become increasingly important in relation to national security, the MIIT said in a statement on Wednesday.

The industrial data regulation was first drafted in September last year, covering domestic data processing activities such as data collection and security risk monitoring.

Classifying data based on its importance is a concept mentioned in China’s Data Security Law, even though “important data” still lacks an official definition.

Draft guidelines, published in January by the National Information Security Standardisation Technical Committee, defined “important data” as data that could harm national security and public interest if tampered with, damaged or leaked, but the document is still undergoing amendment.

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