Many communities require the return of the Yang over the reporting? Experts: can refuse, mandatory filling or illegal

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With the approach of Spring Festival and the adjustment of the prevention and control policy, Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan have taken the lead in abolishing the reporting, but some areas are still insisting on it.

In the implementation of the “B class B control”, a major shift in prevention and control policy, is the requirement to report on the ground reasonable? At the same time, with the end of “precise prevention and control”, compulsory isolation and regular nucleic acid have been abolished, what is the use of the personal information collected in the report? Do returnees have the right to refuse to report?

Many places require hometown reporting

On January 6, 2023, residents of a small community in Tunxi District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, said that their community required foreign returnees to report to the gate or property management office, providing personal information such as name, ID number, cell phone number, area of travel, and whether they had been infected with the new crown virus.

The property management staff of the district sent a picture of “registration (reporting) form for foreign returnees” to the owners’ group.

Some people in the owners’ group asked about the source of the reporting requirement, and the property owner replied that he “received an order from the community”.

The community staff said that the reporting requirement was issued by the government, and that the purpose of collecting information was only to count the number of people returning home and to understand the flow of people, and that no measures would be taken against them after reporting, and that they could not provide information on their ID numbers.

In addition, the staff said it is not clear whether there will be other consequences for refusing to report.

On January 3, 2023, the Office of the Epidemic Prevention and Control Command in Qingyang City, Henan Province, issued an “initiative letter” in which it stated, “We warmly welcome every family member to return to their hometown for the holidays, and before you plan to return, please report to your village or street (community) in advance.”

On December 22, 2022, Anhui Yixian County New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic Prevention and Control Command issued a document stating that people returning to their hometown should report to their village group (community) at least 3 days in advance by phone to do health monitoring.

Neither the government nor the community has the right to compel

In December 2022, the “new ten articles” were released, and restrictions on the travel and mobility of people were liberalized in various places. In the same month, the National Health Commission issued the “General Plan on the Implementation of Class B and B Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection”, which clearly stated that from January 8 this year, Class B and B Control of Novel Coronavirus Infection will be implemented.

As for the above-mentioned residents being asked by the community to report to their hometowns, Guo Bing, a special associate professor at the College of Law and Politics of Zhejiang University of Technology, pointed out that if the community’s move was authorized by the local government, the relevant government departments have no right to force the people to report and provide the above-mentioned personal information after the implementation of the “Category B B Control” measure.

Guo Bing said that the Personal Information Protection Law stipulates that consent should be obtained from individuals to handle personal information, but in special cases such as “in response to public health emergencies”, consent need not be obtained. “Now it is difficult to require residents to provide the above-mentioned personal information under this provision, and government departments are suspected of administrative violations if they have such mandatory requirements.”

The director of the Digital Economy and Legal Innovation Research Center of the University of International Business and Economics said that, after the implementation of the “Class B B Management”, the practice of requiring returning residents to report and fill in the above-mentioned personal information lacks a legal basis, and properties and communities do not have the right to collect residents’ personal information.

In the face of this situation, residents can voluntarily report to the community, or refuse the request.

If the community compels the residents to provide the above personal information, the residents can report to the higher authorities.

Voluntary notification, no responsibility for refusal

Guo Bing said that if the local government or community clearly informs the returnees of the purpose of collection and promises to keep the personal information strictly confidential, the returnees can voluntarily report to the community with their informed consent.

If a government department arbitrarily compels reporting without legal basis, it may constitute a major and obvious violation of the law, which is theoretically an invalid administrative act, and the returnee can refuse the reporting requirement and not be held legally responsible.

According to the “New Article 10”, even if infected with the new coronavirus, the community does not have the right to compel residents to be quarantined centrally or at home, which means that even if they report, the community will not be able to take practical measures in case of any situation.

According to the license analysis, after the implementation of “Category B”, there is no epidemic prevention policy at the individual level, but the state’s need to understand the movement of people and the risks they may pose is reasonable. However, this information collection should be anonymous, “it is not necessary to know the name, ID number, cell phone number, etc. of the individual, but only how many people return from where every day, whether they have been infected, etc. is sufficient.”

Permission further explains that monitoring the overall movement of people will facilitate the development of more reasonable and relevant policies, such as increasing medical supplies reserves in a timely manner and carrying out hospital expansion in advance.

Chinese New Year is approaching, have you gone home yet?