NAN-F-16
Security
Beijing, June 1, 2017 (dpa/NAN) A new cybersecurity law enacted by China on Thursday to safeguard the country against cyberattacks, is rattling foreign firms.
The foreign companies argue that the law could increase costs and restrict their access to China’s growing technology market.
“The law is meant to protect China’s national security, as well as the rights and interests of its citizens and organisations,’’ the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement.
It said that the law doesn’t restrict foreign companies and their technology from entering the Chinese market nor does it limit the “orderly, free flow of data.”
Foreign companies, however, complain the law is vaguely formulated and threatens to shut them out from key sectors.
Companies are scrambling to figure out how the legislation will apply to them, said Michael Chang, the vice-president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
“The situation is a lot of uncertainty and unclarified terms,” Chang said, adding that there are no “tangible rules for business to follow” when it comes to implementing the law.
The cybersecurity law requires that data gathered by companies in fields such as public communications, energy and finance be stored in China.
That has been interpreted as foreign companies having to keep servers for Chinese users within the country’s borders, however, critics said that would be expensive and unrealistic.
Many companies, including Chinese ones, use cloud storage centres around the world in which they pool client data from various countries.
International business groups have petitioned the Chinese government to delay enforcing the legislation until details are clarified. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/SH
=========