A Comparative Study On The Obligation And Responsibility Of Personal Data Controller In Europe And America

With the coming of the information age,the number and speed of information dissemination are improved explosively.The huge commercial values and economic benefits of the personal data are increasingly emphasized,almost all areas of society are related to personal data collection,transfer and dealing,while the problems and risks are emerging and increasing.But the legal provisions of personal data in China are dispersed,most of the provisions are lack of operational functions.Besides,the administrative division of the regulatory authority is not clear.In general,the protection for the data subject is not enough.The European union and the United States have rich legislative practices and experiences in the protection of personal data.This paper focuses on the obligations and responsibilities of data controller,and analyzes the different legal system between Europe and America.Chapter I introduces the related concepts,and summarizes the legal characteristics and states the basic theories about the personal data protection,including privacy theory,general personality theory,property right theory and information self-determination theory.Chapter Ⅱ studies the EU’s legal regulations on the obligations and responsibilities of personal data controllers.Firstly,it introduces the unified mode of protection of the EU.Secondly,it discusses the principles of data quality,the principles of data legitimacy,the principle of notice,and the processing of the special categories of personal data.And research on the specific system design and regulatory agencies of the data controller.Chapter Ⅲ gives a general introduction about the self-protection mode,and discusses the different obligations and responsibilities between the federal government and the private sector.This paper compares the legal system of personal data controller in European and American from the perspective of personal data protection system,data controller’s obligations and responsibilities,and regulatory authorities.Chapter Ⅳ introduces the legislation and sum up the legal provisions about data protection in China.According to the analysis above,it is recommended to choose a unified legislative model,to design the specific legal provisions to set up a specialized agency and encourage the industry self-discipline,which would be meaningful to improve the legislation in China.