China: Implemented Interim Measures for Administration of Online Taxi Booking Business Operations including data localisation requirement

On 1 November 2016, China's Ministry of Transport (MOT) together with seven other government agencies (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Commerce, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, State Administration for Market Regulation, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and State Cyberspace Administration) implemented the Interim Measures on the Administration of Online Taxi Reservation Business Services. These measures are China's first national-level regulations for the online ride-hailing and taxi reservation industry. The Interim Measures provide that applicants for online taxi licences should have, among other things, an internet taxi operating platform on servers set up in China. Personal information and business data must be stored in China.