Part 1:

Introduction to the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Protection of Minors

On February 18, 2022, the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Protection of Minors (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") were adopted at the 39th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15th Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, and the "Regulations" took effect on March 1, 2022.

The Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Protection of Minors consists of nine chapters and 87 articles, covering family protection, self-protection, school protection, social protection, network protection, government protection, judicial protection, special protection and other content. In addition, the "Regulations" provide supplementary and detailed provisions on the joint participation of relevant entities in the prevention and remediation of minors' internet addiction, cyberbullying, irrational consumption, and other inappropriate online behaviors; and further strengthen the main responsibility of internet products and service providers.

The amendments to the "Regulations" are more focused on education and protection. By clarifying the responsibilities of families, schools, society, and the government, they provide minors with a better school and social environment, and better protect the physical and mental health of minors.

Part 2: New Highlights:

1. Detailed School Protection (Articles 20 to 35)

The "Regulations" detail the school protection system for minors, clarifying the school's management responsibilities for caring and assistance, campus safety, school bus safety, emergency response, and handling of accidents and injuries. Regarding the mental health of minor students, schools are required to offer mental health courses, equip mental health education teachers, and implement mental health counseling and psychological interventions. At the same time, in conjunction with the "double reduction" policy, schools are required to reasonably arrange students' study time, rest time, and entertainment time, and make clear provisions regarding the reduction of students' excessive academic burden.

Lawyer's Comment: The "Regulations" greatly detailed the original school protection provisions. Article 20, as the guiding provision of the school protection chapter, expands the goals of school protection for minors, and clarifies the principal's position as the primary responsible person in the minor student protection work system. In addition, the various amendments to the "Regulations" reflect an increasing emphasis on the protection of minors' mental health. Moreover, the "Regulations" respond to social hot topics, making relevant provisions on epidemic prevention and control on campus, food and drug safety, school bullying, the "double reduction" policy, and other hot topics, providing better and more comprehensive protection for minors.

2. Protection of Minors' Personal Information (Article 41)

The "Regulations" focus on the protection of minors' personal information, explicitly stating that no organization or individual may disclose the personal privacy of minors. When publishing, reprinting, or disseminating news reports and other information involving minors, it shall be objective, cautious, and appropriate, and shall not fabricate, exaggerate, or distort related content, nor illegally disclose minors' names, residences, workplaces, photos, images, and other information that may identify minors.

Any organization or individual processing personal information of minors under the age of 14 shall obtain the consent of the minors' parents or other guardians. Minors' parents or other guardians shall, in accordance with the principle of what is best for the minor, fully consider the purpose, method, and scope of information processing, as well as the minor's true wishes, and make prudent decisions.

Lawyer's Comment: The newly effective "Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Personal Information Protection Law") includes the personal information of minors under the age of 14 in the category of sensitive personal information. In addition, the "Personal Information Protection Law" also requires personal information processors to obtain the consent of minors' parents or other guardians when processing personal information of minors under the age of 14. Article 41 of the "Regulations" is a further elaboration of the "Personal Information Protection Law" based on practical circumstances. Currently, some online platforms still illegally collect and use minors' personal information, infringing on minors' rights. In response to this chaos, Article 41 of the "Regulations" explicitly stipulates the legal obligations for protecting minors from both the perspective of any organization or individual and from the perspective of minors' guardians, enabling more comprehensive protection of minors' personal information.

3. Enriched Social Protection Content (Articles 36 to 47)

The "Regulations" make provisions on the setting of convenient service facilities in public places closely related to minors, emergency protection, management of venues unsuitable for minors, and tobacco, alcohol, and lottery management. It also stipulates that medical beauty services shall not be provided to minors without the consent of their parents or other guardians.

Article 47 of the "Regulations" requires that units with close contact with minors shall conduct annual regular inquiries into whether their staff have criminal records of sexual assault, abuse, trafficking, violent injury, etc. If such illegal behavior is found, they shall promptly terminate employment.

Lawyer's Comment: This revision of the "Regulations" has greatly enriched the content of the social protection chapter. The "Regulations" closely follow social development and added multiple social security provisions, specifying the protection responsibilities of various social entities for minors from all aspects of social life, including requiring the active promotion of facilities such as nursing rooms and baby changing tables, giving priority to rescuing minors in emergencies, not organizing or arranging minors to participate in emergency rescue work, and reducing the harm of the increasingly popular medical beauty to minors.

4. Established Network Protection (Articles 48 to 54)

With the popularity of electronic devices, the internet has become an indispensable part of our lives, but minors' mental development is not yet complete, and they are easily misled by some harmful information. In response, the "Regulations" actively implemented relevant requirements, not only requiring the government, society, schools, and families to strengthen the promotion of minors' network literacy education, but also clarifying and detailing the responsibilities of network products and service providers, online game service providers, and other entities in Article 53. For example, they require standardized guidance of minors' online behavior, and shall not induce minors to blindly follow stars or blindly consume through methods such as reward rankings and false advertising; minors are strictly prohibited from participating in online vulgar performances and other inappropriate social activities online.

Lawyer's Comment: The "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors" specially establishes a special chapter on network protection, requiring various departments and organizations to actively coordinate and take scientific and reasonable measures to prevent and intervene in the phenomenon of minors' internet addiction, and to lawfully punish organizations and individuals that use the internet to engage in activities endangering the physical and mental health of minors. Based on this law, the "Regulations" further clarify and detail the responsibilities of relevant departments, families, schools, network products and service providers, and other entities, and further strengthen the prevention and remediation of online chaos.

5. Integrated Government Protection and Judicial Protection (Articles 55 to 74)

The "Regulations" integrate the content of government protection and judicial protection, clarifying that municipal and district civil affairs departments shall designate relevant internal institutions and specialized personnel to be responsible for minor protection work. Township governments and subdistrict offices shall establish minor protection work stations or designate specialized personnel to promptly handle minor-related affairs; clarify the specific responsibilities of relevant departments and mass organizations in implementing education system reform, family education guidance services, campus and surrounding environment safety management, etc.; in addition, it clarifies that public security organs, procuratorates, courts, and judicial administrative departments shall fulfill the establishment of judicial protection linkage mechanisms, carry out legal aid and judicial assistance, understand and assess the psychological status of minor victims, and assist in carrying out case protection work. For minors who commit crimes or illegal acts, education shall be the primary approach and punishment the secondary approach, and corresponding protection systems shall be provided.

Currently, the city has established a minor protection hotline based on the 12345 citizen service hotline. Relevant departments accept and refer complaints and reports of violations of minors' legitimate rights and interests, collect opinions and suggestions, and provide consultation and assistance on minor protection; based on the 12355 youth service hotline and its network platform, it provides consultation services for minors on mental health, legal rights protection, safety protection, etc.

Lawyer's Comment: The "Regulations" reintegrate and revise the state authority protection chapter from before the revision into the government protection and judicial protection chapters. It further details the respective responsibilities of municipal and district government departments as well as judicial departments such as public security, procuratorate, and court, increases the relevant responsibilities of various entities, strengthens the administrative and judicial linkage functions of various departments for the protection of minors, and enables various departments to better escort the physical and mental health of minors.

6. Added Special Protection Chapter (Articles 75 to 83)

Article 75 of the "Regulations" clarifies situations of improper guardianship and guardianship deficiency. For families with guardianship deficiency or improper guardianship, Article 78 of the "Regulations" also explicitly stipulates that relevant departments have the authority to conduct family guardianship capability assessments of minors' parents or other guardians in accordance with relevant standards and norms. The assessment results will serve as reference for guardianship capability determination, guardianship intervention assistance, or restoration of guardian's guardianship qualifications.

Article 77 of the "Regulations" clarifies that residents' committees, villagers' committees, or civil affairs departments shall serve as the subjects performing temporary guardianship duties. For minors under temporary guardianship, temporary living care methods such as entrusting relatives for fostering or family foster care may be adopted, or they may be taken in and raised by minor rescue and protection institutions or child welfare institutions.

Lawyer's Comment: The "Civil Code of the People's Republic of China" and the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors" both have relevant provisions on the designation, revocation, and change of guardians for minors, as well as temporary guardianship issues. Based on this, the "Regulations" further clarify the situations of guardianship deficiency and improper guardianship, detail the relevant measures for ensuring minors in difficulty, and further clarify the specific responsibilities of residents' committees, villagers' committees, civil affairs departments, and other relevant departments.