The European Union's new data and privacy rules have taken effect. The regulations clarify individual rights to personal data collected by companies around the world. Years in the making, the rules are prompting companies to rewrite their privacy policies. And in some cases, the move has also applied the EU's tougher standards in China. Jiang Shaoyi tells us more.

It's been called the most sweeping change in data privacy rules in a generation. The General Data Protection Regulations protect EU citizens' data from misuse by online firms. After its implementation, related companies can either comply with the rules, or pay a steep price.

ANDREA JELINEK, CHAIR EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION BOARD "We are here to ensure the fundamental right of the people on the one side, and on the other side it's really important for the companies that they're in compliance with GDPR. If you're not careful with the data of your users or of your clients, you will lose the trust and you will lose the clients."

The new rules came just two months after Facebook's leak of personal information of up to 87 million users. And the impact of the rules can be felt on the other side of the world as well.

LIU QUAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE & ECONOMICS "If customers from the EU visited, signed up or bought products and services at a website of a Chinese enterprise, even if they didn't really have any subsidiary companies in the EU, the EU supervision authorities could punish the firm with heavy fines if they collected user information inappropriately."

China's first Cybersecurity Law went into effect just one year ago. It details how companies are to handle personal information and data. It notes that collecting any user's personal information requires the user's consent, and network operators must keep that information strictly confidential. China has been encouraging the utilization of big data. The value of the country's big data industry reached 470 billion yuan last year, achieving a 30 percent annual increase. But some industry insiders believe data privacy protection will still take a while to be improved.

JAMES WANG, CHAIRMAN MAXAUR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY "GDPR is an excellent example. It's really a big event going on right now. In term of China, we can learn from GDPR to figure out what we should do."

With the rapid development of the country's internet and information technology industry, China is aiming to play a bigger role by the middle of this century to lead global IT development. In achieving that goal, better-protecting internet users' personal data, would of course, be more than significant. JIANG SHAOYI CGTN.