Author
Assoc Prof Huimiao ZHAO
Organisation/Institution
Beijing University of Chemical Technology, College of Arts and Law
Country
CHINA
Panel
Bankruptcy
Title
The Legal Treatment of Data Assets in Bankruptcy Proceedings in China
Abstract
In China’s bankruptcy proceedings, the disposal of enterprise data assets faces multiple challenges. First, the property attributes, ownership boundaries, and criteria for including data assets in bankruptcy estates remain unclear, leaving bankruptcy administrators without a solid legal basis for their disposal. Second, tensions persist between the obligation to protect personal information and the goal of maximizing bankruptcy estate value, as existing laws lack concrete mechanisms to balance these interests. Third, data classification, valuation, and monetization mechanisms are underdeveloped, making it difficult to ensure both data security and accurate valuation for asset realization. Moreover, the responsibilities of bankruptcy administrators regarding data security and the authority of creditors’ meetings in data-related decisions remain insufficiently institutionalized. Future reforms should focus on clarifying the legal status of data assets, developing classification rules for enterprise data assets, establishing valuation and trading mechanisms, and clarifying the administrator’s role in managing bankruptcy estate including data assets and strengthening administrators’ data security obligations in the disposal of the data assets. By recognizing the “three rights of data”—the right to hold, the right to process, and the right to operate data product, bankruptcy law can provide a framework that not only facilitates the effective disposal of data assets but also ensures that its full potential is realized in insolvency scenarios in China.
Biography
Huimiao ZHAO, is an Associate Professor and the Executive Director of the Research Institute of Law and Intellectual Property at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, PhD (HKU), She is a council member of the Beijing Law Society’s Bankruptcy Law Research Association, a researcher at the Bankruptcy Law and Corporate Reorganization Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, and a judicial business expert for the Beijing Equity Exchange. Her research interests include economic law and data law. Dr. Zhao has authored a monograph published by Cambridge University Press and multiple papers in internationally renowned journals indexed by SCI and SSCI, including the American Bankruptcy Law Journal, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, and the Hong Kong Law Journal. She has also published some papers in CSSCI-indexed journals and influential newspapers. Currently, she leads several major research projects, including those funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Education, and the Beijing Municipal Social Science Foundation.
