CAC Releases Juvenile Online Protection Regulations

On September 30, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) posted a notice to collect comments on the "Juvenile Online Protection Regulations (Draft for Comments)," with a deadline for comments on October 31.
 
The Draft Law covers juvenile online content construction, online rights protection, prevention and intervention and subject legal liabilities, and aims to create a "clean and healthy" online environment for Chinese minors.
 
Upon USITO's initial analysis, key points worth paying attention to include:
 

  1. Competent departments: The draft law outlines the key regulatory authorities as CAC, Ministry of Culture (MOC), SAPPRFT and MIIT, with CAC, MOC and SAPPRFT focusing on content (Article 9, 24, 34) and CAC and MIIT focusing on infrastructure and devices (Article 10, 27, 30, 31). Other relevant agencies include Ministry of Education, MPS, National Health and Family Planning Commission and SAIC. It's expected that those authorities will develop a series of policies and standards. (Article 9)
  2. Online protection software installation: The government will support the research and development as well as marketing of child protection software and require smartphone and other hardware manufacturers and importers to install software or they'll need to make it easy for users to install the software. (Article 10, 12, 30)
  3. Personal information protection: When collecting and using children's personal information, network information service providers are obligated to obtain consent and issue clear warning signs for all information sources, content and usage. Specific rules on collection and usage will be drafted to strengthen protection. (Article 16, 17) The draft law also requires service providers to delete or block relevant children's online personal information upon request. (Article 18, 31)
  4. Real name registration: Online gaming services providers are required to conduct real name registration for all users so as to identify minors, and are encouraged to develop software for age certification and identification, with the purpose of placing restrictions on games and the amount of time children spend playing online games. (Article 22, 23, 33)
  5. Company obligations: The draft law requires network information service providers to establish full-time staff for juvenile online protection, including online content review and complaint/report dealing. (Article 7, 8, 24)