Abstract:In the field of personal information protection, procuratorial public interest litigation, as an important supplement to private law, regulation, governance, and criminal sanctions, plays an important role in protecting the personal information rights and interests of the unspecified majority. The theory of state assistance is one of the theoretical foundations for procuratorial organs, as representatives of public interest, to initiate public interest litigation. How to define the typical uncertain legal concept of “public interest” is the core of public interest litigation. In practice, although China has achieved certain public interest litigation goals in procuratorial civil public interest litigation, it is still faced with some problems such as unclear self positioning and limited scope of cases. Especially, it is necessary to further expand public interest litigation in areas such as sensitive personal information protection, illegal personal information processing that may cause data risks, and key groups such as minors and the elderly. As the Prosecutorial Public Interest Litigation Law is about to be promulgated, procuratorial public interest litigation should be further expanded in multiple aspects such as its own positioning, identification and discovery of public interests, advantages in evidence collection, order of prosecution, and protection of the rights and interests of special groups, in order to better protect the personal information rights and social public interests of the unspecified majority.

Key Words: Personal Information Protection; Civil Public Interest Litigation; Prosecutorial Public Interest Litigation; Public Interest; Order of Prosecution

Author: Yao Jia, professor, Law School of the University of CASS; senior editor, CASS Institute of Law;

Source: 4 (2024) Tribune of Political Science and Law.