MIIT Expands Real-Name Registration Requirements

On November 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released the Implementation Opinions on Further Preventing and Cracking down on Communication Information Fraud (Opinions), which tighten the requirements for real-name registration for mobile phone users in accordance with the Announcement on Preventing and Cracking Down upon Telecommunications Network-based Fraud issued by 6 government departments in September 2016.

The opinions put forward the following detailed requirements for real name registration:

  • Existing users must register their real name by the end of 2016 and telecom carriers should stop providing services to those failing to register their real name.
  • New mobile phone user shall register with their real ID. Telecom carriers and resale companies shall check and verify real ID, and make copy of the ID.  For online sales, the carrier shall verify the real ID of the new user by means of live video among others.
  • One ID has a 5 SIM card maximum.   
  • Telecom carriers and resale companies should tighten the management of real-name registration for enterprise SIM cards.
  • Strictly implement the real-name registration management requirements for agents and resale companies.


Other elements of particular interests are highlighted below:

  • Only corporate users are qualified to apply for key telecom business such as private voice line, "business one-number" solution and "business switchboard" business, and one corporate user can only apply for up to 5 numbers for each category.
  • By the end of 2016, all the basic telecom carriers shall introduce the calling-party authentication mechanism to all the private voice lines, and all of the calls without implementing calling-party authentication as required shall be blocked.
  • In case a user of dedicated lines receives and forwards international incoming calls without approval, provides voice network access for illegal VoIP calls and number-changed calls, and releases and resells the dedicated lines, the carriers shall terminate services for the user, and notify the communication regulators for handing of the violation according to law and regulations.  


In addition, the Opinions call for telecom and Internet enterprises to excersice stricter personal information protection regulations for users and supervision and management of mobile apps, and perform technical testing on apps to prevent the illegal collection and use of personal information.  

The requirement for real name registration for phone users is not nascent. Early in 2013, MIIT initiated projects pushing for real name registration. The Anti-terrorism Law later issued in 2015 provided the legal basis for real name registration requirements for telecoms, Internet, finance and some other sectors (Article 21) as an effort to combat terrorism. Later on, real name registration has been a consistent requirement in regulations for telecom services and Internet services released by MIIT, CAC and SAPPRFT.