Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the internet regulator of the People’s Republic of China, recently issued regulations governing the use of facial recognition technology.
The new regulations prohibit businesses from forcing individuals to provide facial recognition identification, colloquially called “Face ID”, as a condition for receiving goods and services without freely given, informed consent. Businesses must instead provide alternative identification methods that are “reasonable and convenient”.
The regulations were issued as a response to concerns about increased and excessive use of facial recognition in the Chinese public sectors. Recently it has become common for Chinese consumers to be forced to go through facial recognition as a prerequisite for hotel check-ins, entering gated communities, and making digital payments.
The regulations are focused only on the private sector and do not address governmental use of the technology. Private service providers must also register databases containing biometric facial data of more than 100,000 individuals. The regulations will take effect on June 1, 2025.
Click here to read the text of the regulations (in Chinese).
