On 22 March, 2021, Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Internet and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security and State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued Provisions for the Scope of Necessary Personal Information Collected by General Mobile Internet Applications (hereinafter referred to as Provisions),  to implement the principle of legal, legitimate and necessary use of personal information illustrated in Cybersecurity Law and respond to outstanding issues frequently found in ad-hoc governance of apps in all sectors, such as collecting personal information of users beyond the approved scope, binding authorization and the rampant collection of personal information through coercive permission. Provisions also clarifies the scope of necessary personal information collected by 39 types of general mobile internet applications including apps of map navigation, taxi hailing, instant messaging and online shopping. In addition, it makes clear that mini-programs shall be recognized as mobile internet applications and reaffirms that apps shall not deny users’ access to their basic services only because the users refuse to provide unnecessary personal information.

                                                                                                                            Source: Cyberspace Administration of China  (CAC)

                                                                                                                                                                  Date: March 22, 2021