Communist authorities say the measures are needed to prevent crime and terrorism and to protect privacy. Companies and foreign governments complain the law will hamper market access and is being rushed into force before Beijing has told companies how to comply.
"This certainly will be a huge impact," said Michael Chang, a vice president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
"The situation is still a lot of uncertainty and unclarified terms," Chang said. "We still see a lack of tangible rules for business to follow."
It gave no explanation for the postponement. But it followed appeals by a coalition of dozens of global business groups for a delay until the rules could be made consistent with World Trade Organization regulations.
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Other measures including how to define important data and security standards for computer equipment take effect tomorrow, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China, the agency responsible for enforcing them.
The law will "protect the broad masses of people and effectively safeguard national cyberspace sovereignty and security," the agency said yesterday on its website. A measure on how to define important data takes effect Thursday, five days after it was released Saturday for a 30- day comment period.
President Xi Jinping's government has cast itself as a public defender of global free trade in response to US President Donald Trump's promises to limit imports.
But business groups say Beijing appears to be trying to squeeze foreign competitors out of promising fields including agriculture-related biotechnology, health products and data security.
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