Guangzhou has unveiled a pioneering set of regulations to govern its data market, signaling a bold step into a Data Market 2.0 era. The regulations cover a wide range of areas, including data resources, data element markets, data industries, and data security, officially released on January 22 and coming into effect on February 28, 2025.

Public data authorization and operation

The regulations emphasize the management and operation of public data, a crucial part of digital city construction and the most closely related aspect of data elements to people's daily lives.

Guangzhou plans to establish a public data authorization operation mechanism to promote the social development and utilization of public data. Data handlers will be able to have a secure and trustworthy data development environment and public data resources through the public data operation platform.

Incorporating data elements into GDP calculation

In the digital economy era, data has emerged as a new type of production factor, potentially replacing land and labor as the core production factor for some enterprises. Building on the foundation of corporate data resource accounting, the regulations propose incorporating data elements into the statistical accounting system of the economic and social development.

On this basis, relevant departments are expected to explore the establishment of a statistical accounting indicator system and evaluation guidelines for data element allocation, assessing the contribution of data to economic and social development in various administrative districts, functional areas, and industry fields.

Data circulation and application

After data is collected, organized, and valued, the next crucial step is how to put it into market use. The regulations require industry authorities to propose a recommended directory of data element application projects and a list of application scenario needs based on the digital economic development plan and industry requirements.

In promoting industry data circulation and sharing, the regulations mention that industry-leading enterprises and platform companies can build a secure and trustworthy industry data space, providing resources such as data, algorithms, and computing power for small and medium-sized enterprises. This not only helps integrate and utilize data resources in industries but also smooths the path for data element supply and demand connection, driving overall industrial progress.

In recent years, Nansha District has been striving to become a national highland of data innovation, accelerating its pace in the digital economy track. The regulations mention that Nansha will rely on the Global Data Source Center to carry out the construction of digital economy public infrastructure and explore the establishment of a data rule system.

Particularly, for cross-border data, Nansha District will conduct innovative pilot applications for cross-border data flow safety management, establish a cross-border data safety management guidance mechanism for enterprises, and introduce a negative list management mechanism for data export.