China passes new law to fight telecom, online fraud

Source: Xinhua  Editor: huaxia  2022-09-02 20:52:00

Chinese lawmakers on Friday voted to pass a new law on telecom and online fraud, which will take effect on Dec. 1, 2022.

Lawmakers approved the law at the legislative session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee which ended Friday.

The law, with 50 articles in seven chapters, provides strong legal support for fighting telecom and online fraud.

The legislation aims at the establishment of a preventive legal system and the forming of an industry-wide and whole-of-society system for preventing and combating telecom and online fraud.

Defining respective responsibilities of departments, businesses and local governments in preventing and fighting telecom and online fraud, the newly passed law stipulates that departments and organizations should act in concert with each other and facilitate fast cross-sectoral and cross-regional coordination and cooperation so as to effectively curb such law-breaking activities.

Telecom service providers are ordered to register the real identity of phone users in accordance with the law, said the law.

Financial institutions and non-bank payment service providers should put in place a customer due diligence system when opening bank and payment accounts and providing payment and settlement services, and should also identify the beneficial owners in accordance with the law and take risk management measures to prevent bank and payment accounts from being used in fraud, according to the law.

Telecom service providers should not issue new SIM cards to those who have already reached their limit in terms of the number of registered cards, and should double-check applicants if they spot abnormal conditions.

Financial institutions and non-bank payment service providers also have the right to verify the identity of customers or reject opening service accounts for them under similar conditions, according to the law.