Promulgated by: General Office of the CPC Central Committee and General Office of the State Council.
Document No.: none stated in the published text (issued as an intra-Party normative document; publicly released October 9, 2024).
Issued September 21, 2024. Effective September 21, 2024.
Translation note — DCC. Translated in full from the official Chinese text as published by the Xinhua News Agency and reproduced in the WKInfo database (all seventeen numbered measures in six parts). Terminology follows DCC’s bilingual glossary. The implementing rules that this text calls for are the NDRC/NDA Implementation Specifications for Authorized Operation of Public Data Resources (Trial) and the Interim Measures for the Registration and Administration of Public Data Resources.
Public data generated by Party and government organs and by enterprises and public institutions at all levels in the course of performing their duties in accordance with the law or providing public services is an important fundamental and strategic resource of the State. In order to accelerate the development and utilization of public data resources, fully release the potential of public data as a data element, and promote high-quality development, the following opinions are hereby put forward with the consent of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.
I. General Requirements
Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and of the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee; implement the new development philosophy fully, accurately and comprehensively; coordinate development and security and balance efficiency and fairness; take the promotion of compliant and efficient circulation and use of public data as the main line and the raising of the level of resource development and utilization as the objective; remove the institutional obstacles and mechanism-level blockages to the circulation and use of public data; stimulate the impetus for sharing and openness; optimize the allocation of public data resources; release the innovative vitality of the market; give full play to the amplifying, superimposing and multiplying effects of data elements; and provide solid support for continuously strengthening, improving and expanding the digital economy and building new national competitive advantages.
In this work, the following shall be achieved. Adhere to government guidance and market drive: strengthen government guidance and regulation, better leverage the role of market mechanisms, effectively expand the supply of public data, and raise the efficiency of allocation and the benefits of use of public data resources. Adhere to respect for objective laws and to innovation on a sound footing: encourage all regions and departments to promote sharing and openness in light of local conditions, explore authorized operation in accordance with rules, and improve the system for resource development and utilization. Adhere to systematic advancement and efficient coordination: strengthen top-level design, delineate the administrative boundaries between departments and localities, and progressively form a pattern of public data resource development and utilization with clear powers and responsibilities and coordination between sectoral and territorial lines. Adhere to accelerated development together with the safeguarding of security: promote the combination of institution-building and capacity-building, run security through the entire process of public data resource development and utilization, and guard against data risks of all kinds.
The main objectives are as follows. By 2025, the institutional rules for the development and utilization of public data resources shall be initially established; the scale and quality of resource supply shall be markedly improved; data products and services shall be continuously enriched; the development and utilization of public data resources in key sectors and regions shall achieve clear results; a cohort of data-element enterprises shall be cultivated; and the role of public data resources as a factor of production shall begin to appear. By 2030, the institutional rules for the development and utilization of public data resources shall be more mature; the system for resource development and utilization shall be fully built; the circulation and use of data shall be compliant and efficient; and the role of public data as a factor of production in empowering the real economy, expanding consumer demand, broadening the space for investment and enhancing governance capacity shall be brought fully into play.
II. Deepening the Reform of Data Element Allocation and Expanding the Supply of Public Data Resources
(1) Advancing government data sharing in a coordinated manner. Improve the government data catalogue, implement unified management, promote the realization of “one data item, one source” (一数一源), and continuously raise the quality and management level of government data. Promote the combination of proactive sharing and sharing on demand, improve the list of responsibilities for government data sharing, and do a good job of resource publication. Strengthen the supporting role of existing data-sharing platforms and, around the goal of “getting one matter done efficiently” (高效办成一件事), advance government data sharing and business collaboration across levels, regions, systems, departments and lines of business, continuously enhancing the sense of gain of the public and of enterprises.
(2) Promoting public data openness in an orderly manner. Improve the policy system for public data openness, clarify the powers, responsibilities and scope of public data openness, and, on the premise of safeguarding national data security and protecting personal information and trade secrets, open public data in an orderly manner in accordance with laws and regulations. Improve public data openness platforms, compile and publish openness catalogues and update them dynamically, give priority to opening data closely related to people’s livelihoods and urgently needed by society, encourage the establishment of mechanisms for receiving and responding to demands for public data openness, and improve the completeness, accuracy, timeliness and machine-readability of open data.
(3) Encouraging the exploration of authorized operation of public data. Implement the requirements of the system of structural separation of data property rights, and explore the establishment of a mechanism for classified and graded authorization of public data. Strengthen the overall management of authorized operation work, designate the data administration body, explore including authorized operation within the scope of “three majors and one large” (三重一大) decision-making, clarify the authorization conditions, operating model, operating period, exit mechanism and security management responsibilities, adopt models such as overall authorization, field-by-field authorization and scenario-based authorization in light of actual circumstances, and authorize qualified operating institutions to carry out the development of public data resources, the operation of products and the provision of technical services. Data administration bodies shall perform their sectoral supervisory duties and guide and supervise operating institutions in operating in accordance with laws and regulations. Operating institutions shall implement the authorization requirements, regulate their operating conduct, provide services fairly to the market, and are strictly prohibited from using data beyond the authorized scope without authorization. Accelerate the formation of a pattern of authorized operation with clear powers and responsibilities and coordination between ministries and provinces. Formulate administrative provisions on the authorized operation of public data resources in due course.
III. Strengthening Resource Management and Regulating the Authorized Operation of Public Data
(4) Improving the resource management system. Establish a registration system for public data resources; relying on the government data catalogue and according to application needs, compile a public data resource catalogue, and implement registration management for public data resources included within the scope of authorized operation. Improve the usability of public data resources, promote the standardization and normalization of data resources, carry out data classification and grading management, strengthen source governance of data and supervision and inspection of data quality, and ensure that data quality can be fed back, the process of use can be traced, and data objections can be handled.
(5) Improving supervision of operation. Establish a mechanism for the disclosure of the authorized operation of public data resources, and disclose, as prescribed, the authorized parties, content, scope, time limits and other particulars of authorized operation. Operating institutions shall publish a list of their public data products and service capabilities, disclose the use of public data resources, and accept social supervision. Operating institutions shall conduct business within the authorized scope in accordance with laws and regulations, shall not engage in monopolistic conduct such as reaching monopoly agreements with other operating entities or abusing a dominant market position, and shall not engage in acts of unfair competition.
(6) Establishing and improving a price formation mechanism and safeguarding the public interest. Bring into play the leverage and regulatory role of pricing policy, and accelerate the establishment of a price formation mechanism that accords with the characteristics of public data as a factor of production. Guide and promote the conditionally free use of public data products and services used for public governance and public-welfare undertakings. For commercial public data products and services used for industrial development and sectoral development, where fees genuinely need to be charged, government-guided pricing administration shall apply.
IV. Encouraging Innovation in Application and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Data Industry
(7) Enriching data application scenarios. In sectors and fields with strong market demand and abundant data resources, expand application scenarios and encourage operating entities to use public data resources to develop products and provide services. Encourage and support enterprises, public institutions and social organizations in using public data, conditionally free of charge, to develop public-welfare products and provide services that are convenient and beneficial to the people. Support the development, training and application of large models for artificial intelligence government services, and raise the level of intelligence in public services and social governance.
(8) Promoting regional data cooperation. Implement the deployment of major regional strategies and the strategy for coordinated regional development, and encourage the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chengdu–Chongqing twin-city economic circle, the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and other regions to promote the development and utilization of public data resources through innovation, promote the development of a nationally integrated data market, and cultivate emerging industries. Explore the establishment of mechanisms for regional cooperation and the adjustment of interests in the development and utilization of public data resources, support the eastern, central and western regions in leveraging their comparative advantages to carry out regional cooperation in data storage, computing, services and other links, and share the dividends of data elements.
(9) Strengthening the building of data service capacity. Strengthen the construction of data infrastructure, and promote a shift in the mode of data utilization toward placing equal emphasis on sharing and aggregation and on application service capacity. Advance the integrated application of multi-source data and enrich data products and services. Study and formulate standards and specifications for data infrastructure, promote interconnection of facilities and interoperability of capabilities, and promote the construction of a coordinated and efficient national public data service capacity system. Encourage regions with the necessary conditions to explore on-exchange trading models for public data products and services, plan the layout of data trading venues in a coordinated manner, and guide and regulate the healthy development of data trading venues.
(10) Fostering a flourishing ecosystem for the development of the data industry. Include the data industry in the Guiding Catalogue for Industrial Structure Adjustment as an industry encouraged for development; support the innovative application of technologies in data collection and labeling, analysis and mining, circulation and use, and data security; and encourage the development of data products in multiple forms such as data models, data verification and evaluation indices. Around data collection, storage, computing, management and use, cultivate high-level data-element enterprises. Focusing on computing-power networks and trusted circulation, support the development of data infrastructure enterprises. Implement policies such as the additional deduction of research and development expenses and tax preferences for high-tech enterprises. Support the development of data industry associations, learned societies and other social organizations and industry alliances, build sectoral consensus, strengthen sectoral self-discipline, and promote the development of the sector.
V. Coordinating Development and Security and Creating a Favorable Environment for Development and Utilization
(11) Increasing incentives for innovation. Clarify the boundaries of responsibility for the management and operation of public data, and optimize the allocation of institutional and staffing resources around the strengthening of management duties. In regions and departments with the necessary conditions, in accordance with the principle of appropriate separation of management and operation, and on the premise of safeguarding government applications and public services, public institutions that undertake data operation duties may be converted into enterprises in accordance with relevant State provisions, pilot the establishment of sectoral and regional operating institutions, and be managed in accordance with the laws and regulations on state-owned assets; those meeting the requirements shall be brought under the centralized and unified supervision of commercial state-owned assets. Study and formulate incentive policies to support the development of operating institutions.
(12) Strengthening security management. Strengthen data security and personal information protection, and strengthen supervision and management of the entire process of development and utilization, including the production of data resources, their processing and use, and the operation of products. Establish and improve working systems for classification and grading, risk assessment, monitoring and early warning, and emergency response, and carry out security risk assessments of the use of public data and compliance reviews of application business. Operating institutions shall, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policy requirements, fulfill their primary responsibility for data security, take necessary security measures, and protect the security of public data. Strengthen the building of technical capacity and raise the level of identification and control of risks arising from data aggregation and correlation. Public data that is kept confidential in accordance with laws and regulations shall not be opened, and the direct entry into the market of raw public data that has not been made public in accordance with laws and regulations shall be strictly controlled.
(13) Encouraging pilots and trials. Give full consideration to the unknown variables in the data field, implement the “three distinctions” (三个区分开来), encourage and protect officials who take responsibility and act, create an entrepreneurial atmosphere that encourages and tolerates innovation, and support active exploration of feasible paths in institutional mechanisms, authorization in accordance with rules, price formation, revenue distribution and other respects. Fully recognize the potential risks of large-scale utilization of data, resolutely prevent “data corruption” such as using data for private gain, adhere to correcting every error and rectifying every fault, discover and correct incipient and tendency-type problems early, promptly take remedial measures for mistakes and errors, and safeguard the security of public data.
VI. Strengthening Organization and Implementation
(14) Strengthening organizational leadership. Uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over data work. Under the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, all regions and departments shall strengthen organization and implementation and, in light of actual circumstances, ensure the implementation of these Opinions. The General Office of the State Council shall strengthen work coordination and advance government data sharing work in a coordinated manner. The National Data Administration shall strengthen overall coordination of the work, keep dynamically informed of the development and utilization of public data resources nationwide, and promptly coordinate and resolve important problems in the work. Important matters shall be promptly submitted to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council for instructions and reported in accordance with procedures.
(15) Strengthening funding guarantees. Increase the support of central-budget investment for data infrastructure and data security capacity-building. All regions and departments may, in light of actual needs, arrange procurement funds for data products and services in a coordinated manner. Encourage financial institutions of all kinds to innovate products and services and increase financing support for data-element enterprises and data infrastructure enterprises. Guide the orderly participation of private capital in the development and utilization of public data resources.
(16) Enhancing supporting capacity. Accelerate the establishment of systems for the determination of ownership of data property rights, market trading, distribution of rights and interests, and protection of interests. Coordinate the construction and management of the standards system in the data field, and organize the development, promotion, implementation and evaluation of relevant standards. Relying on the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Science and Technology Major Projects and the like, carry out research and tackle key technologies such as data encryption, trusted circulation and security governance. Strengthen the building of the talent pool in the data field, and include the improvement of the ability to do data work well in the content of education and training for officials. Actively participate in international exchanges and cooperation, and promote the formulation of international governance rules and international standards for public data.
(17) Strengthening evaluation and supervision. All regions and departments may, in light of actual circumstances, explore performance assessment of the development and utilization of public data resources, and open the public data resource catalogue and information on development and utilization to audit institutions in accordance with laws and regulations. Encourage evaluation of the effectiveness of public data resource development and utilization and third-party assessment, strengthen the summarizing of experience and its publicity and promotion, and create a favorable atmosphere.