Direct answer

Review the company tenant with a written scope — do not export the whole domain to a US e-discovery vendor as a first step.

Company mailboxes are the cleanest documentary source in a PRC investigation if the employee was told the account is for work. Personal Gmail on a company laptop is a harder PIPL/SPI story. Cross-border export of mailboxes is a CBDT problem (live PIPL/CBDT pages). Keyword lists should match the mandate. Do not CC a personal Hotmail ‘so HQ can see’. WeChat remains a separate related guide. Litigation evidence rules are how it later lands in court.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

Which tenant and who was notified?

Work mail vs personal.

Scope
02

Does the review leave China?

CBDT overlay.

Export
03

Hold vs collection?

Do not collect the world.

Hold
04

Vendor in PRC?

Entrusted processing.

Vendor

Working rule: Map the regulated role before marketing or launch in China.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Lift-and-shift to US Relativity first
Export first, legal later.
CBDT.
Personal mailbox fishing
Family medical emails.
SPI.
Skip the WeChat related guide
Most facts live in chat.
Link it.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01IT mapWhere mail lives.
02Notice/policyWork-account language.
03Keyword/mandate memoWhy these people.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Can we read an employee’s 163.com?

Usually not without a strong basis. Company tenant first.

Where is CBDT?

China cross border data transfer basics.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

PRC Anti-Unfair Competition Law (NPC)
SAMR
Supreme People’s Procuratorate
National laws database (NPC)