By Shannon Tiezzi
China’s draft anti-terror law — the bane of foreign tech firms — is moving closer to becoming reality.
In October 2014, China’s National People’s Congress began considering an anti-terror law with strict requirements for technology firms – including language that could force foreign firms to hand over sensitive data, such an encryption keys, to the Chinese government. Nine months later, it seems the bill is back, and on the verge of being passed.
Xinhua reported this week that the Standing Committee of the NPC gave the draft law its third reading during its bimonthly meeting. The committee recommended that the bill be put forward for approval, calling it “quite mature.”
Earlier this year, when the draft anti-terror law was under discussion at the annual session of the NPC, the United States made sure its concerns – and the concerns of the U.S. business community – were heard loud and clear. As Ankit Panda noted at the time, four Cabinet-level officials wrote to the Chinese government to detail their worries about the draft law.
The Obama administration argues that the law places an undue burden on foreign tech companies. The law “would essentially force all foreign companies, including U.S. companies, to turn over to the Chinese government mechanisms where they can snoop and keep track of all the users of those services,” Obama told Reuters in March.
“We have made it very clear to [China] that this is something they are going to have to change if they are to do business with the United States,” he added.
Read the full story at The Diplomat