Karimi & Associates Law Firm presents according to Supreme People’s Court of China:
According to the 16-article judicial document issued by China’s supreme court, shops installing face-scanning systems will have to get consumers’ permission before gathering their facial data and software operators shall no longer force users to give their facial information, otherwise, their actions will be considered as a violation of people’s personality rights.
Yang Wanming, vice-president of the top court has stated that facial recognition “made some people worried about their privacy or even harmed their personality rights due to its abuse.” The decision of the court concerns the recent abuse of face-scanning systems, which have harmed people’s personality and property rights and disturbed social order. From July 1, 2010, to Dec 31, 2020, Chinese courts have heard 1.14 million disputes relating to people’s personality rights, according to the top court. In this regard, Yang has further mentioned: “courts will consider personal information protection the priority when dealing with such cases and further judicial research will be conducted on the subject.”
Moreover, according to Chen Longye, head of the civil division of the top court’s research office, the principle on the voluntary provision of information in the Chinese Civil Code has been highlighted in the latter judicial document to clarify that no one can be forced to provide facial information.
It is notable that during recent years, other legislative measures have also been introduced to deal with information leaks in china relating to offenses such as telecom fraud and blackmail, to safeguard people’s property and personal rights.