In a review article published in Issue 1965 of the “Social Sciences Weekly,” Tian Chuan reported that recently, the State Council has released the “Regulations on the Sharing of Government Data” (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”). The Regulations make arrangements for the management of government data directories, sharing and use of data, and platform support, and will be implemented from August 1, 2025. As China’s first administrative regulation focusing on the sharing of government data, the Regulations build a full-chain protection system through institutional design and technological innovation. This marks the formal entry of government data management into a new stage of legalization that gives equal emphasis to security and sharing.
Standardized and efficient sharing of government data is a powerful tool and important engine for improving the efficiency of government services and promoting high - quality economic and social development. “There is a widespread problem of repeated data collection at the grassroots level. Comprehensive compilation of government data directories and strengthening of data quality management are key factors in strengthening data - sharing empowerment,” said Prof. Jiang Xiaojuan from the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She believes that establishing and improving a full - process quality management system for government data requires coordinated cooperation between data source departments and other relevant government departments. This will help further clarify the data base, improve data quality, and truly play the empowering role of government data.
The Regulations propose unified directory management of government data, clarify the requirements for directory compilation, release, and dynamic updates, determine the classification of government data - sharing attributes, and specifically prohibit hindering and affecting the sharing of government data by arbitrarily adding conditions, etc., to ensure the searchability and traceability of government data. Prof. Meng Qingguo from the School of Public Policy and Management of Tsinghua University pointed out that such clear and detailed work processes reduce the “uncertainty” in sharing work and can effectively improve the supply efficiency of government data.
“In the past, a lot of data was collected by grassroots staff but centrally and uniformly managed by higher - level departments. This resulted in the grassroots’ inability to make full use of it and the need to constantly repeat data reporting,” said Zhang Xianghong, a specially appointed professor at Beijing Jiaotong University. He mentioned that after the return flow of government data, grassroots governments can more conveniently access data such as household registration and social security, reducing the problem of “difficulty in proving.”