Beijing has relaxed its requirements for businesses sending data outside mainland China, but Hong Kong’s role in the new regime remains limited. Hong Kong, which envisions itself as a regional data and innovation hub, does not play a major role in China’s cross-border data flow even under the newly relaxed rules. Firms looking to export data from the mainland to Hong Kong will need to go through the same compliance steps required for sending data elsewhere in the world, and the new provisions “don’t change that”.