(Yicai Global) June 16 -- China will enforce its first law on data security in September that will mainly be focused on the burgeoning connected vehicle industry which has come under growing scrutiny by regulators recently due to the amount of information gathered using vehicle cameras and sensors, industry insiders said.

The Data Security Law will regulate how connected cars collect and use data as smart autos become the second most-used intelligent device in people’s daily lives after smartphones, said Tan Jianfeng, honorary chair of the Shanghai Information Security Trade Association.

The new law will ensure that important data, core data in particular, must gain approval from national security agencies before being exported, and data without this approval must not be exported, He Yuan, executive director of the Data Law Research Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told Yicai Global.

Monitoring the harvesting and use of digital info will create more costs for firms, but they should be aware that improving data security and protecting privacy is a global trend and will help them to go international, He said.

An intelligent connected vehicle is more like a giant smartphone than just a car, He said. While the security of conventional vehicles focuses on personal safety, that of smart cars will stress data security and privacy protection.

A number of multinational automakers, such as Tesla, Volkswagen and Ford Motor, have set up their own data centers in China. “We store Chinese market data inside the country,” a spokesperson for Ford China told Yicai Global.

“There is a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in March. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China, or anywhere, we will get shut down.”

The Data Security Law together with the Cyber Safety Law, which is already in place, and the Personal Information Protection Law, which is under development, will form China’s legal framework for the information and data security industry, legal experts told Yicai Global.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor