Chapter I     General Provisions

Article 1 These rules are formulatedto safeguard the financial stability, prevent and mitigate credit risks ofcommercial banks, promote development of individual credit business and ensurethe secure and legitimate use of personal credit information, according to the Lawof The People’s Republic of China on The People’s Bank of China.

Article 2 The People’s Bank ofChina is responsible for organizing the establishment of individual creditinformation database (the database hereinafter), launching the creditinformation service center, maintaining and administering the database’soperation on daily basis.

Article 3 The database is to collect,process and store the individual credit information, providing creditinformation report to commercial banks and individuals on demand, providinginformation for monetary policy decisions, financial supervision and otheractivities permitted by rules and regulations.

Article 4 Individual creditinformation in these rules includes basic information, credit transactioninformation and other information representing the personal creditworthiness.

Basic information of the individual borrower refers tothe identity, profession and residence of a natural person. Credit transactioninformation refers to track records of a natural person’s transaction in creditrelated activities, including personal loans, credit card or quasi-credit cardand guarantee business. Other information representing personal creditworthinessrefers to relevant information representing personal creditworthiness otherthan the credit transaction information.

Article 5 The People’s Bank ofChina, commercial banks and their staff shall keep the confidentiality ofpersonal information they obtained from their business.

Chapter II    Reporting and Processing

Article 6 Commercial banks shallreport to the database on an accurate, complete and timely basis in compliancewith the standards and requirements on the database set by the People’s Bank ofChina.

Article 7 Commercial banks shallnot provide any individual credit information to any individual creditinformation databases that are established without the approval of the creditinformation authorities or any unauthorized, but ex facto database of anyform. 

Article 8 Credit informationservice center shall put in place comprehensive rules and regulations and adoptadvanced techniques to ensure the security of the individual creditinformation.

Article 9 In need of producingcredit reference report, credit information service center may process and keepthe personal information reported by commercial banks as it is. Anyunauthorized modification of the original data is prohibited.

Article 10 When deeming anyinformation reported by relevant commercial banks as suspicious, creditinformation service center shall issue a timely re-examination request to thosereporting commercial banks according to procedures set by relevant rules.

Commercial banks shall reply to the request within 5business days from the receipt of the request.

Article 11 Whencommercial banks find their individual credit information reported to thecredit information service center inaccurate, they shall report immediately tothe center. The credit information service center shall correct the reportright after it receives the correction request.

Chapter III  Information Access

Article 12 Commercial banks mayaccess the database when conducting the following businesses:

(1)  Reviewing theapplication for personal loans;

(2)  Reviewing theapplication for personal credit card or quasi-credit card;

(3)  Reviewing the guaranteewith an individual as the guarantor;

(4)  Post-approval riskmanagement of personal loans already disbursed;

(5)  Reviewing theapplication for credit or approval of a guarantee by a legal person or other institutions,when an examination of creditworthiness of its legal representative and thelender is required.

Article 13 Commercial banks’access to the personal credit information report shall be authorized by theperson involved in written forms. Written authorization may be obtained byadding relevant provisions in the applications for loans, credit cards,quasi-credit cards and guarantees.

Article 14 Commercial banks shallset up rules on internal authorization system to regulate access to creditinformation report for the purpose of conducting post-loan risk management, andrelevant procedures for accessibility control.

Article 15 Credit informationservice center may charge on the access to a person’s credit information reportaccording to his or her application.

Credit information service center shall set uprelevant procedures to confirm the identity of the applicant.

Chapter IV  Dispute Resolution 

Article 16 If an individualbelieves there are errors in information contained in his or her creditinformation report (disputable information hereinafter), he or she may submit adispute application in written form directly to the center or through creditinformation units of local branches of the PBC.

The credit information units shall forward theapplication to the credit information service center within 2 business daysfrom the receipt of the application.

Article 17 Credit informationservice center shall conduct an internal re-examination within 2 business daysfrom the receipt of the dispute application.

If disputable information is found attributable to theprocessing of information in the personal credit information database, thecredit information service center shall make prompt corrections and check theproblems existing in the procedures and operational rules of databaseprocessing.

Article 18 If the creditinformation center finds no problem in the processing of information in thedatabase after re-examination, it shall notice in written form the commercialbanks providing the information to re-examine the data.

Article 19 Commercial banks shallreply in written form to the re-examination request of the credit informationservice center within 10 business days from the receipt of the notice. Iferrors do exist in the disputable information, commercial banks shall take thefollowing remedial measures:

(1)  Report to the creditinformation service center the corrected information;

(2)  Check the procedures ofreporting the individual credit information;

(3)  Examine other personalinformation reported thereafter and report corrections if errors are found.

Article 20 Credit informationservice center may correct the errors within 2 business days after receivingcorrected information reported by commercial banks.

In the case that errors could not be correctedimmediately due to technical reasons, the credit information service centershall mark the disputable information to distinguish it from other disputableinformation.

Article 21 Credit informationservice center shall not modify relevant individual credit information asrequested by the applicant if no errors are found in the disputed information.

Article 22 Credit informationservice center shall reply in written form directly to the applicant or to thecredit information units of the PBC local branch that has forwarded the disputeapplication within 15 business days from the receipt of the application. Ifthere are corrections of the disputable information, the credit informationservice center shall provide the corrected credit information report as well.

When errors do exist in the disputable information butmay not be corrected immediately due to technical reasons, credit informationservice center shall make specific explanations in its written reply andprovide the corrected credit information report after the correction is done.

Article 23 Credit informationunits of local PBC branches that forward the dispute application shall transferthe written reply and corrected credit information report sent by the creditinformation service center to the applicant within 2 business days from thereceipt of the application.

Article 24 When disputableinformation are not verifiable, the credit information service center shall allowthe dispute applicant to add a personal commentary of no more than 100 words tothe relevant disputed information. The personal commentary shall not includeany information unrelated to the disputed information and the applicant shallbe accountable for the authenticity of the personal commentary.

Credit information service center shall well keep theoriginal file of the personal commentary and include it in the creditinformation report of the applicant.

Article 25 Credit informationservice center shall mark the information that is still in dispute resolutionprocess.

Chapter V SecurityManagement

Article 26 Commercial banks shall,in accordance with relevant regulations issued by the People’s Bank of China,formulate internal rules and operating procedures regarding the reporting,enquiry and use of credit information as well as dispute settlement andsecurity management. These rules and procedures shall be filed with the People’sBank of China.

Article 27 Commercial banks shallestablish user management systems, clearly defining the respectiveresponsibilities of the system administrator, data provider and informationenquirer, and relevant operating procedures.

The positions of system administrator, data provider and informationenquirer shall be filled by three different persons.

Article 28 The systemadministrator shall, according to the operating procedures, open user accountsfor the authorized persons, and may not directly access credit information ofthe individuals.

The system administrator shall enhancedaily management on the same-level information enquirer and data provider aswell as the lower-level system administrator. The information enquiry accountshall be terminated immediately if the staff managing the enquiry accountleaves his or her post.

Article 29 The systemadministrator, data provider and information enquirer shall be filed with thecredit information units of the People’s Bank of China and the creditinformation service center.

In the case of any changes with regard tothe above-mentioned staff, the commercial banks shall, within two business daysafter the change, file with the credit information units of the People’s Bankof China and the credit information service center.

Article 30 Commercialbanks shall set up a password control system for the system administrator andinformation enquirer, and periodically review the operation of this system.

Article 31 Commercialbanks shall put in place systems that ensure the security of individual creditinformation. Individual credit information is only accessible by those personsthat have obtained internal authorization, and the individual credit reportsshall not be used for purposes other than those specified in Article 12 ofthese rules.

Article 32 Creditinformation services center shall formulate rules and procedures on thecollection, compilation, store and enquiry of individual credit information aswell as dispute settlement, user management and security control. It shallclearly define the responsibilities of different posts and improve the internalcontrol system in order to ensure normal operation of the individual creditinformation database and the security of individual credit information.

Article 33 Creditinformation service center and its staff shall not, in violation of these rulesand other relevant laws and regulations, alter, destroy, disclose or illegallyuse individual credit information, or provide false credit report incollaboration with other parties including natural persons, legal persons andother organizations.

Article 34 Creditinformation services center shall, by setting up a monitoring system for theinternal operation of and external access to the individual credit informationdatabase, oversee the operation of individual credit information database usersand commercial bank users to guard against illegal access to individual creditinformation.

Article 35 Creditinformation service center shall establish a disaster back-up system and takenecessary security measures to prevent the loss of the data.

Article 36 Creditinformation service center shall keep record of all enquiries made by thecommercial banks and timely give them feedbacks.

Article 37 Commercialbanks shall examine access to the individual credit information database on afrequent basis to ensure that all enquiries are made in accordance with theserules, and report to the People’s Bank of China and the credit informationservices center the examination results.

Creditinformation service center shall regularly verify the use of the individualcredit information database by the commercial banks.

Chapter VI Penalties

Article 38 Ifa commercial bank fails to establish relevant management systems and proceduresaccording to these rules, the People’s Bank of China shall order it to takecorrective measures, and shall issue a warning and impose a fine of 30,000 yuanif the bank fails to make corrections within a specified period of time.

Article 39 Inthe case of occurrence of any of the following misconducts by a commercialbank, the People’s Bank of China shall order it to take corrective actions andimpose a fine of 10,000-30,000 yuan, and shall have the case transferred to thejudicial authority if criminal offences are committed.

(1)  Failing to reportindividual credit information on an accurate, complete and timely basis asrequired by these rules;

(2)  Violating Article 7 ofthese rules;

(3)  Unauthorized access tothe individual credit information database;

(4)  Use of individual creditinformation for purposes other than those specified in these rules;

(5)  Violating provisionsgoverning dispute settlement; and

(6)  Violating therequirements on security management set in these rules.

Article 40 Inthe case of the rise of any of the situations specified in Article 38 and 39,the People’ Bank of China may recommend the commercial bank to takedisciplinary sanctions against the directors, senior managers and other staffimmediately accountable for the misconduct, and shall have the case transferredto the judicial authority if criminal offences are committed.

Article 41 Inthe case of any of the following misconducts by the staff of the CreditInformation Center, the People’s Bank of China shall give them administrativepenalty according to law, and shall have the case transferred to the judicialauthority if criminal offences are committed.

(1) In violation of these rules, altering, destroying,disclosing or illegally using individual credit information;

(2) Providing false credit report by collaboratingwith other parties including natural persons, legal persons and otherinstitutions

Article 42 Administrativepenalty shall be imposed on those staff of the People’s Bank of China whoseviolation of these rules has resulted in improper disclosure of individualcredit information, and if involvement of criminal activities is suspected, thecase shall be transferred to the judicial authority.

Chapter VIISupplementary Provisions

Article 43 Commercialbanks referred to in these Rules include commercial banks, urban creditcooperatives, rural credit cooperatives and other financial institutionsspecializing in credit business approved by the banking regulatory authority ofthe State Council and registered inside the territory of the People’s Republicof China.

Article 44 ThePeople’s Bank of China is responsible for interpretation of these rules.

Article 45 Theserules shall enter into effect on October 1, 2005.