Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

In March 2014, the State Postal Bureau of the People’s Republic of China (the “SPBC”) formally issued three rules (the “Rules”) establishing significant requirements regarding the protection of personal information: (1) Provisions on the Management of the Security of Personal Information of Postal and Delivery Service Users (the “Security Provisions”); (2) Provisions on the Reporting and Handling of Security Information in the Postal Sector (the “Reporting and Handling Provisions”); and (3) Provisions on the Management of Undeliverable Express Mail Items (the “Management Provisions”). The Rules, each of which became effective on its date of promulgation, were issued in draft form in November 2013 along with a request for public comment.

On November 27, 2013, the State Post Bureau of the People’s Republic of China (the “SPBC”) released five draft normative rules for solicitation of public comment. Three of these rules, respectively entitled Provisions on the Management of the Security of Personal Information of Postal and Delivery Service Users (the “Draft Provisions”), Provisions on the Reporting and Handling of Security Information in the Postal Sector (the “Reporting and Handling Provisions”), and Provisions on the Management of Undeliverable Express Mail Items (the “Management Provisions”) contain significant requirements regarding the protection of personal information. The deadline for submitting comments on the rules is December 27, 2013.

On November 15, 2013, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released a report (the “Report”) finding that the current federal statutory privacy scheme contains “gaps” and “does not fully reflect” the Fair Information Practice Principles (“FIPPs”). The Report focused primarily on companies that gather and resell consumer personal information, and on the use of consumer personal information for marketing purposes.

Provisions of the economic stimulus legislation (known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”)), recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, require certain entities to notify affected individuals, government agencies and the media of breaches of “unsecured protected health information.” Additional provisions substantially revise regulations promulgated pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). While these provisions are specifically limited to the context of health data, they have ...