The "Opinions on Accelerating the Development and Utilization of Public Data Resources" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have recently been released to the public. This is the first systematic deployment of public data resource development and utilization at the central level, releasing a clear policy orientation to encourage development and having milestone significance for data resource development and utilization. Currently, we are in the digital age, where data resources have become the most essential factor of production. Among them, the public data generated during the lawful performance of duties or provision of public services by party and government organs at all levels, enterprises and institutions, has the characteristics of large scale, wide coverage, and strong authority, and is an important fundamental strategic resource of the country. It has broad application prospects in empowering the real economy, expanding consumer demand, expanding investment space, and enhancing governance capabilities. In recent years, public data has played an important role in supporting the construction of digital government, facilitating public affairs, and optimizing the business environment. At the same time, the level of element allocation and utilization of public data resources is not high, especially on the supply side, where there are problems such as small scale of public data openness, slow updates, low information density, poor standardization and sustainable supply capacity. In this context, the issuance of the "Opinions" provides important standardized guidance for promoting the development and utilization of public data resources in various regions and fields across the country, and will effectively drive the circulation and utilization of various types of data resources in the whole society. Firstly, it is conducive to activating the value of public data, taking the "first move" of market-oriented allocation reform of data elements, and stimulating the vitality of data utilization in the whole society. To effectively develop and utilize public data resources, "opening up" and "providing" are prerequisites, and large-scale "use" is the key. On the one hand, it is necessary to form a large-scale and efficient connection. From the perspective of promoting factor utilization, the "Opinions" have made requirements such as "promoting cross level, cross regional, cross system, cross departmental, and cross business government data sharing and business collaboration", which will effectively promote the further expansion of public data supply. On the other hand, it is necessary to establish a more reliable and secure connection. From the perspective of standardized management, the Opinion has made requirements such as "strengthening data source governance and quality supervision and inspection", which not only strengthens the question of whether public data should be developed and utilized, but also answers the question of "how to coordinate the benign interaction between development and security". Secondly, it is conducive to building a higher-level data security framework, better coordinating development and security. Security is the prerequisite for all work, and building a strong digital security barrier and ensuring data security are essential for achieving healthy development of the digital economy and building a digital China. On the one hand, public data resources contain a lot of personal information. The deeper the development and utilization of data resources, the more it is necessary to strengthen data security and personal information protection. The special attributes of public data resources often imply higher security obligations for their large-scale development and utilization. In this regard, the Opinion emphasizes that public data that is kept confidential in accordance with the law and regulations shall not be opened, and strict control shall be exercised over the direct entry of raw public data that is not disclosed in accordance with the law and regulations into the market. Unauthorized use of data beyond the scope is strictly prohibited. On the other hand, based on the current data classification and grading system and full lifecycle risk management framework established in the field of data security in China, the "Opinions" further require the establishment and improvement of classification and grading, risk assessment, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and other work systems, and require the conduct of security risk assessment and application business standardization review for public data utilization. Overall, the further refinement of data security management requirements in the "Opinions" is a positive practice of coordinating the high-quality development and utilization of data resources with high-level security protection, which is conducive to enriching the value connotation of data security and meeting the urgent needs of the majority of subjects for reliable utilization of data element security. Thirdly, it is conducive to stimulating the rapid development of the data industry and better building a digital economy with data as a key element. The Opinion further enhances the strategic position of the data industry and deploys the inclusion of the data industry as an encouraged development category in the guidance catalog for industrial structural adjustment, sending a clear signal to continuously increase support for the development of the data industry. On the one hand, it will effectively promote the development of data formats, improve the efficiency of data element utilization, accelerate the efficient circulation and value release of data elements, effectively solve the problems of market entities lacking computing power, technology, weak data element development capabilities, and weak data application monetization, which is conducive to promoting technological innovation applications such as data analysis and mining, circulation and utilization, and forming multi form data products and services. On the other hand, it will effectively stimulate the vitality of market entities. The Opinion focuses on key aspects of data elementization such as data acquisition, storage, calculation, and management, as well as on computing power networks and trustworthy circulation. Through encouragement and support policies such as R&D expense deduction and tax incentives for high-tech enterprises, it is conducive to cultivating a large number of high-level data infrastructure enterprises and data element based enterprises, accelerating the market-oriented allocation of data elements and the innovative development of the data industry. Public data has great potential for value and strong driving force. I believe that with the release of the "Opinions" and the accelerated implementation of related supporting measures, the effectiveness of elements represented and led by public data resources will become increasingly prominent. The normative system that meets the needs of the development of new quality productivity will become more and more sound, promoting the development of China's digital economy into a new stage, promoting high-quality socio-economic development, and allowing the people to enjoy more digital dividends. (Xinhua News Agency) Article | Professor Wang Limei, Data Rule of Law Research Institute, China University of Political Science and Law