China strengthens efforts to foster social integrity

Since China released an outline for a government-led social credit system in June, governments at all levels and various industries have joined the campaign for integrity.

A new policy effective in July stipulated that individuals blacklisted by the Supreme People's Court due to bad credit records would be unable to purchase plane tickets.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China announced on Sunday it has identified and intercepted 108,000 trips involving 12,389 people listed by the Supreme People's Court since the policy went into effect.

The People's Bank of China, which is leading the creation of the credit system, has pledged to improve the current credit system to cover more information and enrich its database.

At the end of 2013, China's credit system covered 839 million people and 1.92 million companies and organizations, but the information mainly centered on data in the banking system, without records for other social and economic activities.

In the securities sector, Zhuang Xinyi, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), said that the commission is planning a system to monitor and record whether players in its capital markets act with integrity.

The CSRC will strengthen the legal and regulatory foundation for building integrity in the capital market, support the legislature in amending laws on capital markets, improve rules and regulations on self-discipline in the sector, and set detailed standards for the obligations of market entities.

The CSRC will also toughen punishments for violations involving breaches of faith, especially fraud during initial public offerings, release of false information, insider trading, market manipulation and serious dereliction of duty by brokerage firms.

June's plan is the country's first national plan to build social integrity. It highlights the government's resolve to build a more trustworthy social environment after frequent reports of financial fraud and food safety scandals erode public trust.

The outline focuses on credit assessment for individuals and government agencies in four areas, including administrative affairs, commercial activities, social behavior, and the judicial system.

The authority pledged to establish a set of laws and regulations on social credit, a society-wide credit reference system, and a related reward and punishment mechanism by 2020.