Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Building of the Personal Honesty System

• Document Number：No. 98 [2016] of the General Office of the State Council
• Area of Law： Government Affairs
• Level of Authority： Regulatory Documents of the State Council
• Date issued：12-23-2016
• Effective Date：12-23-2016
• Status： Effective
• Issuing Authority： General Office of the State Council

Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Building of the Personal Honesty System
(No. 98 [2016] of the General Office of the State Council)
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; all ministries and commissions of the State Council; and all institutions directly under the State Council:
The following opinions are hereby offered with the approval of the State Council for purposes of advocating the traditional virtue of honesty, raising social members' awareness of honesty, strengthening the building of the personal honesty system, praising honesty, punishing dishonesty, raising the credit level of whole society, and creating a good credit environment.
I. General requirements
(1) Guiding ideology, We shall comprehensively implement the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Plenary Sessions of the 18th CPC Central Committee, carry out the spirit of a series of important speeches delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping, follow the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, set fostering and practicing core socialist values as a fundamental rule, vigorously advocate honesty culture, form personal honesty records at a faster pace, improve the personal information security, privacy protection and credit repair mechanism, upgrade the honesty incentive and dishonesty punishment mechanism, benefit the honest, restrict the dishonest, allow honesty to become the commonly sought-after values and code of conduct, and vigorously create a good social atmosphere where "it is an honor to be honest and a shame to be dishonest."
(2) Basic principles.
First, promotion by the government and joint building by society. The government shall be allowed to play an organizing, guiding, propelling and demonstrating role in the building of the personal honesty system. The credit reference market shall be developed in a regulated manner, social forces shall be mobilized to participate extensively and make progress together, and forces shall be gathered to develop the personal honesty system.
Second, improving the legal system and regulating the development. Personal information laws, regulations, rules, standards and specifications shall be improved to strictly protect personal privacy and information security.
Third, making comprehensive progress and breakthrough in key points. With key fields and populations as an entry point, the establishment of personal honesty records mechanisms in all regions and industries shall be promoted. Depending on the national credit information sharing platform, the credit information sharing platforms in all regions, the financial credit information basic database and personal credit reference agencies, the recording, collection, processing and application of personal public records and personal credit reference information shall be respectively realized.
Fourth, enhancing application and cooperating in incentives and punishment. The personal public record product application market shall be vigorously fostered, and the society-oriented application of personal public records shall be promoted, so as to expand the scope of application. A personal dishonesty incentive and punishment cooperation mechanism shall be established and improved to enhance personal honesty incentives and dishonesty punishment.
II. Strengthening personal honesty education
(1) Vigorously carrying forward honesty culture. The building of honesty culture shall be highlighted, with fostering and practicing core socialist values as the fundamental rule, credit knowledge shall be vigorously popularized, a code of citizen honesty shall be developed and issued, and honesty education shall be threaded through the whole process of building citizen morality and spiritual civilization. Social ethics, professional ethics, family virtues and personal moral education shall be strengthened to create a social atmosphere where "the honest is celebrated, the dishonest is ashamed and worried."
(2) Extensively conducting honesty publicity. On the occasion of Spring Festival, International Day for Protecting Consumers' Rights, Labor Day, Children's Day, Cyber Honesty Publicity Day, National Credit Record Caring Day, Good Faith Prospering Commerce Publicity Month, National Day, National Constitution Day and National Legal Publicity Day, and other key time nodes and official holidays, concentrated publicity shall be given to credit policies and regulations, credit knowledge and typical cases. The production of literature and art works and public service announcements on honesty integrating traditional Chinese honesty culture and modern values shall be promoted, honesty publicity carriers shall be enriched, the frequency of honesty publicity shall be increased, and the level of honesty publicity shall be raised.
(3) Vigorously promoting honest examples. Media shall be allowed to fully play its role in guiding public opinion and publicity, and honest moral role models, excellent volunteers and other honest examples selected by the relevant departments and social organizations shall be vigorously discovered and publicized. Various websites shall be organized to set up special coverage of cyber honesty to regularly publicize and promote various honest examples and honest deeds, produce a group of quality cultural works of cyber honesty theme, and strengthen warning education through cyber dishonesty cases. Relevant departments and social organizations shall be supported in promoting honest examples and persons without negative credit records across society and propelling the implementation of cross-department, cross-field joint honesty incentive measures.
(4) Comprehensively strengthening honesty education on campus. Honesty education shall be the main content of ideology and morality education for primary and secondary school and university students. Universities shall be encouraged to open courses relating to the social credit field. Universities with good conditions shall be supported in establishing departments relating to credit management. Schools shall be promoted in strengthening credit management, the credit archives of students above 18 years old shall be established and improved, and the personal honesty of students shall be prompted to be used as major factors taken into account in each part of further education, graduation, selection of the outstanding and advanced, grant of scholarship, and appraisal and recommendation. Education with regard to cheating in tests, academic fraud, breach of the promise to repay student loan, fabrication of resumes, and other dishonest conduct shall be provided, and relevant information shall be included in the personal credit archives in accordance with the laws and regulations.
(5) Extensively providing credit education and training. A credit management vocational training and professional appraisal system shall be established and improved. The training for credit professionals shall be enhanced, credit knowledge shall be enriched, and the level of credit management shall be raised. Various social organizations and enterprises shall be encouraged to develop a credit management and education system, organize the signing of induction credit commitments, conduct credit knowledge training campaigns, and foster enterprise credit culture. The compilation of credit knowledge brochures shall be organized, and credit knowledge shall be popularized among the general public depending on various bottom-level organizations in communities (villages).
III. Accelerating the advancement of the building of personal honesty records.
(1) Promoting the improvement of the personal real-name registration system. The building of a unified citizen social credit code system shall be advanced on the basis of the citizen identity number system. The resident identity card fingerprint information work shall be promoted, and the full coverage of unified citizen social credit code shall be realized. Means of information technology shall be used to constantly strengthen the verification of personal identity information and ensure the uniqueness of identifiable personal information. The real-name registration system shall be advanced with the Internet, postal delivery, telecommunications, financial accounts and other fields as priorities to lay a foundation for accurate collection of personal honesty records
(2) Establishing personal honesty records in key fields. By prioritizing food and drugs, work safety, fire safety, transport safety, environmental protection, bio-safety, product quality, tax payment, medical care and health, labor protection, project construction, financial services, intellectual property, legal proceedings, e-commerce, volunteer services and other fields, with public servants, legal representatives and relevant responsible persons of enterprises, lawyers, teachers, physicians, practicing pharmacists, appraisers, tax accountants, registered fire protection engineers, accountants and auditors, employees of real estate agencies, certifying personnel, financial professionals, tourist guides and other professional groups as major subjects, the relevant departments shall accelerate the establishment and improvement of a personal credit record formation mechanism, collect the honesty information of relevant personnel formed in relevant activities in a timely manner, ensure the authenticity and accuracy of information, and realize timely and dynamic updating. Financial credit information basic databases and personal credit reference agencies shall vigorously collect personal credit information in key fields and provide services. Industry associations, chambers of commerce and other industry organizations shall be encouraged to establish and improve member credit archives.
IV. Improving personal information security, privacy protection and credit repair mechanisms
(1) Maintaining personal information security. Relevant departments shall, in strict accordance with the regulations, establish, improve, and strictly implement rules and regulations ensuring information security, specify the limit of right and procedures for consulting and using personal information, effectively protecting database security, establish and improve a personal information consultation and use registration and review system, and prevent information leakage. The regulation of financial credit information basic databases and credit reference agencies shall be enhanced in strict accordance with the relevant laws and regulations so as to ensure the conduct of personal credit reference business in compliance with the regulations, safeguard the lawful rights and interests of information subjects, and national information security. A credit reference agency and the relevant personnel credit archives and irregular operation "blacklist" system shall be established.
(2) Strengthening privacy protection. Personal public record information shall not be collected unless otherwise authorized by the laws and regulations. The investigation of and dealing with conducts such as leaking, tampering with, destroying, selling or illegally providing another person with personal information shall be intensified. Financial institutions, credit reference agencies, internet enterprises, big data companies, and mobile application program development enterprises shall be monitored in priority, and their conduct of collecting, providing and using personal information shall be regulated.
(3) Establishing a credit repair mechanism. A personal public record information correction and repair mechanism shall be established, and administrative systems and detailed operational rules including objection handling and administrative reconsideration shall be developed. The period to display all kinds of public record information shall be specified, and public record information whose period has expired shall cease to be displayed. Repair channels shall be unimpeded, credit repair means shall be increased, the minimization of credit loss by voluntarily performing contract, applying for extension, voluntarily making explanations, or any other means shall be explored, and credit shall be repaired by timely performance of contract, voluntary services, charitable donation, and other means.
V. Regulating and advancing the sharing and use of personal honesty information.
(1) Promoting the sharing of personal public record information. A unified national personal public record information catalog, classification standard and sharing and exchange specification shall be developed. Personal public record information databases shall be established depending on the credit information sharing platforms in all regions. Depending on the national credit information sharing platform, a cross-region, cross-department, and cross-industry personal public record information link, connection and consultation mechanism shall be gradually developed.
(2) Vigorously providing personal public record information services. The people's governments at all levels shall provide the general public with services to authorize consultation of personal public record information in accordance with the laws and regulations in a timely manner. The establishment of a classification administration and credit point administration mechanism based on personal public record information shall be explored. Regions and industries with good conditions shall establish a sharing relationship between personal public record information and the financial credit information basic databases and provide personal credit reference agencies with services.
VI. Improving a personal honesty incentive and dishonesty punishment mechanism
(1) Providing persons having good credit with more service convenience. Good credit records shall be established for administrative counterparts, honest moral role models and excellent volunteers with good credit conditions determined in the classified credit regulation organized and implemented by relevant departments and social organizations, honest members recommended by industry organizations and chambers of commerce, and honest entities discovered by news media, among others, and the people's governments at all levels shall innovate on incentive measures for the honest and provide persons having good credit records with major support in education, employment, starting up business and other fields and, by making efforts, with more facilitating services; and in the process of handling administrative licensing, "green passage," "acceptance by allowing defect" and other facilitating service measures may, based on the actual circumstances, as legally required, be taken for persons with good credit records and administrative counterparts without negative credit records for more than three consecutive years. Social institutions shall be encouraged to use credit reference products in accordance with the law, provide persons having good credit records with benefits and convenience, and allow the honest to get access to more opportunities and advantages in the market.
(2) Jointly punishing seriously dishonest persons in key fields. Joint punitive measures shall be taken in accordance with the laws and regulations against serious personal dishonest conduct of gravely endangering the physical health and life security of the people, severely damaging the fair market competition order and normal social order, refusing to perform statutory obligations which has serious impact on the credibility of the judiciary and administrative department, and refusing to perform obligations of national defense, among others. Seriously dishonest persons who maliciously escape from financial obligations, illegally raise funds, commit telecommunication fraud or internet fraud, violate traffic regulations, or fail to pay tax honestly as legally required shall be listed as major supervision subjects, and administrative restrictive and punitive measures shall be taken in accordance with the laws and regulations. While joint punitive measures are taken against dishonest enterprises and public institutions, corresponding joint punitive measures shall be taken against the relevant responsible persons according to the laws, regulations and policies, and joint punitive measures shall be effectively implemented. The push to the national credit information sharing platform and use as reference for implementing punitive measures of seriously dishonest records resulting from personal economic activities in the market collected by financial credit information basic databases and personal credit reference agencies shall be encouraged.
(3) Prompting the formation of market-oriented, society-based restrictions and punishment. A seriously dishonest personal conduct disclosure, revealing and report system shall be established and improved, depending on the "Credit China" website, and personal information on serious dishonesty held by the people's governments at all levels shall be publicly disclosed in accordance with the law, so as to make full use of the supervising role of public opinion and form strong social deterrence. Market participants shall be encouraged to provide seriously dishonest persons with differentiated services. Credit reference agencies shall be supported in collecting information on seriously dishonest conduct and including it in credit records and credit reports.
VII. Enhancing guarantee measures
(1) Strengthening organization and leadership. All regions and all departments shall make overall plans and arrange and implement the building of the personal honesty system. A work assessment and advancement mechanism shall be established to periodically supervise, guide and inspect the building of the personal honesty system in the corresponding region and field.
(2) Establishing and improving the laws and regulations. The laws and regulations on building the personal honesty system shall be gradually established and improved, the protection of personal information security and personal privacy shall be strengthened, the rights and lawful interests of subjects of personal information shall be effectively safeguarded, and the regulation system in such links as the recording, collection, processing and application of personal public record information shall be improved, so as to create a favorable legal environment for the building of the personal honesty system.
(3) Enhancing funding support. All regions and all departments shall strengthen the funding guarantees for the building of the social credit system and provide funding support for the organization and administration of the building of the personal honesty system. More funding support shall be provided for all aspects including the building of personal public record information databases, application of information, publicity and education, and talent training.
(4) Strengthening the implementation of responsibilities. All regions and all departments shall attach great importance to the building of the personal honesty system, raise the awareness of responsibility, refine the division of labor, specify deadlines, and ensure that responsibilities, jobs and implementation are undertaken by given persons.
All regions and all departments shall strengthen leadership, attach great importance, take the lead by setting an example, and, based on the actual work, practically and effectively conduct the work relevant to the building of the personal honesty system. The National Development and Reform Commission shall, jointly with the relevant departments, be responsible for coordinating in an overall manner, tracking and learning about, and supervising and inspecting the implementation of these Opinions to ensure sound and orderly advancement of all the work.
State Council
December 23, 2016