China's first national standard related to personal information, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently, will take effect on Feb 1. Though the Information Security Technology - Guidelines for Personal Information Protection Within Public and Commercial Services Information Systems lacks the force of law, it represents a substantial step forward in the protection of personal information in China.

In the absence of a specific law on the subject, the guidelines are expected to boost self-regulation on the Internet because they outline concrete requirements and preconditions for collection, processing, transfer and deletion of personal information by companies. They also set principles for the use of such data and define how the rights of relevant people can be protected. Classifying personal information into "sensitive" and "general" categories, the guidelines stipulate that consent must be taken from people before collecting their "sensitive" information.

The Internet has made online communications, and gathering and spread of information convenient, but it has also caused a sharp increase in the number of junk advertisements, frauds, "identity" thefts and libels, highlighting the need to tighten the lax Internet industry to protect personal information.