Cctv newsAccording to "Gong Xin Wei Bao" news, in order to standardize the handling of illegal reporting in the telecommunications field, maintain the order of the telecommunications market, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of telecom users, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently issued "Regulations on Handling Illegal Reporting in the Telecommunications Field" in accordance with the Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations of People’s Republic of China (PRC) Telecom and other laws and regulations, combined with the actual work. The "Regulations" came into force on June 1, 2023, mainly stipulating the basic requirements for reporting, stipulating the acceptance requirements, improving the handling procedures, standardizing the classification requirements, and refining the handling requirements such as reply and transfer.
Provisions on handling reports of illegal acts in the field of telecommunications
Chapter I General Principles
the first In order to standardize the reporting and handling of illegal acts in the telecommunications field, maintain the order of the telecommunications market, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of telecommunications users, these Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations of People’s Republic of China (PRC) Telecom and other laws and regulations, and combined with the actual work.
the second These Provisions shall apply to the work of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Communications Administration of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government (hereinafter referred to as the competent telecommunications authorities) in handling reports of illegal acts in the telecommunications field.
The term "report" as mentioned in these Provisions refers to the behavior that citizens, legal persons or other organizations (hereinafter referred to as informants) report to the competent telecommunications authorities that telecom operators or other relevant subjects are suspected of violating the relevant provisions of telecommunications supervision and management, and request to investigate and deal with them according to law.
Article When handling reports, the competent telecommunications authorities shall abide by the principle of statutory authority, take facts as the basis, take the law as the criterion, and handle them fairly, fairly and efficiently.
Article 4 The report shall be handled by the Communications Administration of the place where the reported illegal act occurred; Where laws, administrative regulations and departmental rules provide otherwise, such provisions shall prevail.
Chapter II Handling
Article 5 The competent telecommunications department shall publish information such as the ways and scope of receiving reports. The competent telecommunications authorities can set the comprehensive channel for receiving public demands as the channel for receiving reports, or they can set the channel specially used for receiving reports.
Article 6 Informants should report objectively and truthfully, and be responsible for the authenticity of the materials they provide. Informants who fabricate or distort facts and falsely accuse or frame others shall bear corresponding legal responsibilities according to law.
Article 7 When making a report, an informer shall submit the specific facts and relevant evidence necessary to prove the fact that the informer is suspected of violating the provisions on telecommunications supervision and administration. In case of real-name reporting, the informant’s real name (name), effective contact information and relevant licenses shall also be submitted.
Informants who entrust others to report on their behalf shall provide the real names, effective contact information, relevant licenses, power of attorney and other materials of the informants and the clients. The power of attorney shall specify the entrusted matters, authority and time limit, and shall be signed (sealed) by the informant and the principal.
Article 8 If the materials submitted by informants meet the following conditions, the competent telecommunications department shall accept them:
(a) the reported behavior is suspected of violating the relevant provisions of telecommunications supervision and management;
(2) It falls within the statutory duties of this organ;
(3) The reporting materials meet the requirements of these Provisions.
Article 9 The materials submitted by the informants shall not be accepted by the competent telecommunications authorities under any of the following circumstances:
(a) does not belong to the scope of statutory duties of this organ;
(two) there is no clear informants;
(three) there are no specific illegal facts or lack of relevant evidence necessary to prove illegal facts;
(four) the report has been accepted or settled by the competent telecommunications department, and the informant has repeatedly reported the same fact without new evidence;
(five) other circumstances that should not be accepted.
Where the reported materials are under the circumstances specified in Item 2 or Item 3 of the preceding paragraph, the competent telecommunications department may require the informant to submit the relevant materials within a reasonable period of time. If the whistleblower fails to make up the report within the time limit, it shall be deemed as giving up the report.
Article 10 If the parties raise other matters such as consultation, government information disclosure, administrative reconsideration, administrative license, accusation and complaint through special reporting channels, or the report contains the above-mentioned other matters, the competent telecommunications department may inform them to raise the other matters through corresponding channels; The telecommunications authorities may, when accepting the report, handle it together according to the relevant provisions of the Measures for Handling Complaints of Telecommunications Users, or inform them to file it through the channels of complaints of telecommunications users.
If the competent telecommunications department decides to accept the complaints of telecommunications users in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, it may handle the complaints by its own organ or refer the complaints to the complaint accepting institution of telecommunications users for handling.
Article 11 If the parties concerned report through special channels such as government information disclosure, telecom users’ complaints, administrative reconsideration, administrative licensing, and accusation, the competent telecommunications department may inform them to report through the reporting channels.
Article 12 The competent telecommunications department shall, within 15 days from the date of receiving the report materials, examine and decide whether to accept it. If it is not accepted, it shall inform the real-name whistleblower in writing and explain the reasons; If the real-name whistleblower is not informed within 15 days that it will not be accepted, it will be regarded as accepted.
Chapter III Managing Affairs
Article 13 After accepting the report, the competent telecommunications department shall review the report materials and deal with them according to the following circumstances:
(a) according to the report materials, can be found to meet the standards of administrative punishment, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China" in a timely manner;
(two) according to the report materials, it can be determined that there is no relevant illegal behavior of the reported person, and the real-name informant will be informed in writing of the determination;
(three) according to the report materials, it can be determined that the reported person is suspected of violating the provisions of telecommunications supervision and management, but lacks preliminary evidence to prove the illegal act, and further investigation;
(4) If the reported problem has been dealt with in other reports or other cases, or the conclusion has been reached, and the report materials do not provide new information and new evidence, the real-name whistleblower shall be informed of the confirmation in writing.
Article 14 The telecommunications authorities may investigate the informants, informants or relevant personnel, and the informants, informants or relevant personnel shall cooperate, truthfully answer the inquiries and provide relevant evidential materials.
Handling the report requires the assistance of other communication administrations in the investigation. If the assistance matters fall within the scope of the functions and powers of the requested communication administration, the requested communication administration shall provide timely assistance.
Article 15 The competent telecommunications department shall, within 60 days from the date of receiving the report, make the following treatment, and give a written reply to the real-name whistleblower in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 of these Provisions:
(1) If no illegal act is found or the time limit for administrative punishment has expired, the investigation shall be terminated;
(2) If it is found that there is an illegal act but there is no penalty, it will not be punished and ordered to make corrections;
(three) found to meet the standards of administrative punishment, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "administrative punishment law" of the people’s Republic of China in a timely manner;
(four) if the illegal act is suspected of committing a crime, the case shall be transferred to judicial organs in a timely manner according to law, and criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
If the competent telecommunications department is unable to complete the investigation or make the above-mentioned treatment within the time limit specified in the preceding paragraph, it may extend the processing period once with the approval of the person in charge of this organ or the relevant person authorized by it, but the extension period shall not exceed 30 days, and inform the real-name whistleblower in writing of the processing progress and extension.
Article 16 If an informer makes multiple reports on the same kind of matters, or if multiple informers make multiple reports on the same kind of matters, the competent telecommunications department may handle and reply together.
Article 17 The competent telecommunications department shall reply to the real-name whistleblower, and the content shall include the basic information, decision and reasons for the determination.
For the accepted report, before the competent telecommunications department makes a reply, if the informant voluntarily withdraws the report, the competent telecommunications department will no longer give a reply.
Article 18 After handling the report that meets the filing standard in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Administrative Punishment Law of the People’s Republic of China, the competent telecommunications department shall inform the real-name whistleblower in writing of the relevant decisions made.
Article 19 After investigation, if it is found that this organ has no responsibility for handling the accepted report, it shall promptly inform the real-name whistleblower to report to other communication administrations or administrative organs with responsibility for handling, or transfer the report materials and collected evidence to other communication administrations or administrative organs with responsibility for handling, and at the same time inform the real-name whistleblower of the transfer situation.
Communication administrations of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall communicate in advance if they transfer the report to other communication administrations for handling. The transferred communication administration shall make a decision on whether or not to accept the report in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 of these Provisions from the date of receiving the report; Those that do not belong to this organ shall not be transferred again, and shall be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for decision within 7 working days.
Article 20 The competent telecommunications department shall, after handling the reported cases, timely file the relevant files.
Article 21 Telecommunications authorities and their staff shall keep confidential the state secrets, business secrets, personal privacy and personal information they know in the process of reporting, and shall not disclose them to units and personnel irrelevant to reporting or illegally provide them to others.
Article 22 If the staff of the competent telecommunications department abuses their powers, neglects their duties or commits other illegal acts in the reporting and handling work, the relevant responsibilities shall be investigated according to law.
Chapter IV Supplementary Provisions
Article 23 The written reply and notification mentioned in these Provisions include paper forms and electronic information forms such as platform SMS, email and network system reply.
Article 24 The relevant provisions of the administrative punishment procedure shall apply to the investigation work carried out by the competent telecommunications department. The provisions of these Provisions on the time limit, reply and notification shall not apply to the competent telecommunications authorities in handling anonymous reports.
Article 25 These Provisions shall come into force as of June 1, 2023.