The 9th Sino-German Forum on Constitutional Law – constitutional challenges of Big Data in Germany and China

This year’s Sino-German Forum on Constitutional Law was already the 9^th since the format’s inception in 2009.

The conference was held on the 1^st September, being jointly organised by the Sino-German Law Institute at the Chinese University of Politics and Law (CUPL) and FES.

On the German side, former judge of the German Constitutional Court, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Gaier, presented to the audience the current legal framework and discussions in Germany on the relation between the protection of personal rights and Big Data.

Ms Charlotte Röttgen, research assistant at the University of Münster, held a speech on the question of data ownership and the difficulties surrounding the protection of personal information.

Eventually Prof. Dr. Dieter Kugelmann, state commissioner for data protection and freedom of information of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, talked about data protection in multipolar legal situations between state, business and individual.

The ensuing discussions with and presentations of Chinese colleagues from various law schools across Beijing and China made for an intensive, lively day of legal discussions.

One of the main results of these debates was the realisation by scholars on both sides that new technologies associated with digitalisation and Big Data pose enormous and very similar challenges to both the German and Chinese legal systems. In this context, innovative legal solutions are required from both policy makers and scholars and may provide further basis for exchange and cooperation between the legal communities of the two countries.