China’s cybersecurity rules for insurance draw foreign protest

(Bloomberg) – Business groups from the U.S. and around the world protested planned cybersecurity rules for the insurance industry in China in a letter to the head of the nation’s insurance regulator.

The draft regulations may create obstacles to international trade, according to the June 1 letter to Xiang Junbo, chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, which was seen by Bloomberg News.

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The signatories are more than two dozen organizations including the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the American Council of Life Insurers and the American Insurance Association. Technology companies are represented and the groups span Japan, Canada, the U.K and Europe.

China “has the right to implement measures necessary for the maintenance of cybersecurity, but we believe that the provisions go far beyond what is necessary,” the letter says. It responds to planned rules covering areas such as data flows and cryptography, citing cases of disproportionate burdens on foreign-invested insurers and discrimination against foreign technology suppliers.