Article 1000
The provisions of this Part on the protection of personal information and the relevant provisions of other laws and administrative regulations apply to the relationship between civil entities and credit reporting establishments and other credit information handlers.
I. Purpose of this Article
This article is a provision on the legal protection of credit information.
II. Evolution of the Provisions
Article 38 of the Civil Code Personality Rights (Draft) (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) provides: "The provisions of this Part on personal information and other relevant provisions of laws and administrative regulations shall apply to the relationship between civil entities and credit reporting agencies and other credit information collectors and holders who may collect or hold their credit in accordance with law. Article 809 of the Draft Parts of the Civil Code replaces "collection and holding" with "collection and storage". Article 809 of the Civil Code on Personality Rights (Draft) (Second Draft) further amends the Civil Code Subparts (Draft) by deleting the expression "credit information may be collected or stored in accordance with law". Article 809 of the Civil Code on Personality Rights (Draft) changes "holder" to "controller". Eventually, the Civil Code changed the term "holder, controller" to "processor". The latter refers to the subject engaged in information processing, and the so-called "information processing" activities have the broadest meaning, including the collection, storage, processing, transfer and other activities of personal information. In this sense, the concept of "processor" can more broadly cover all aspects of personal information processing, and it is also more convenient to connect with the regulations on personal information protection.
3. Interpretation of Provisions
This article is a provision on the applicable law in the relationship between civil entities and credit information handlers. With regard to the right to credit and the relationship between the credit right holder and the credit information processor, the Civil Code does not make any further provisions except for Article 1029. Since the relationship of rights and obligations between credit rights holders and credit information processors is basically the same as that between personal information rights holders and personal information processors, the Civil Code provides for the application of provisions, the provisions of Part IV "Personality Rights" on personal information, and the relevant provisions of other laws and administrative regulations. Other laws such as the Network Information Security Law, the Decision on Strengthening Network Information Security, and most importantly the Personal Information Protection Law, which is currently being formulated, and the provisions of the State Council's administrative regulations on the protection of personal information.
The legal provisions applicable to the processing of credit information by credit information processors include the principles and conditions for the processing of personal information as provided for in Article 1035 of the Civil Code, the exemption grounds for the processing of personal information provided for in Article 1037, the rights of personal information subjects under Article 1036, and the information security protection obligations of information processors under Article 1038.
4. Cases
Wang v. Zhang, a provincial engineering higher vocational school, a bank limited by shares Nanjing Branch, a bank limited by shares credit card center infringement dispute
Facts: Zhang XX picked up Wang's ID card, used Wang's ID card without Wang's consent, forged Wang's income certificate, and submitted credit card application materials to Sun, a staff member of the Nanjing branch of a bank limited by shares. The credit card center of a bank limited liability company approved and issued a credit card involved in the case with the head of the account being Wang. The following year, Zhang used the credit card involved in the case to maliciously overdraw, causing Wang's name to be included in the bank's bad credit record. After Wang Moumou learned about it, he reported the case to the public security organ and prosecuted. The court held that after Zhang Moumou picked up Wang's lost ID card, he applied for a credit card in Wang's name, and his behavior was a civil tort of stealing, impersonating another person's name, and infringing on the right to another person's name. At the same time, the result of Zhang's conduct causing damage to Wang's reputation is still the harmful consequences caused by Zhang's infringement of Wang's right to name, and Zhang's conduct does not belong to the infringement of others' right to reputation by fabricating facts or other means of insulting, slandering, or derogating others' personalities. The credit card center of a bank limited liability company failed to fulfill its obligation of reasonable review in the process of applying for and issuing the credit card involved in the case, and was at fault for the consequences of Wang's infringement, and should bear corresponding legal responsibility.
5. Analysis
Before the Civil Code came into effect, the protection of the right to credit was also indirectly protected by protecting other specific personality rights. In this case, the act of impersonating another person's name to apply for a credit card and maliciously overdrafting, causing damage to the reputation of others, was determined to be an act of infringing on the right to name, and confirmed the adjudication method of including the protection of the right to credit into the protection of the right to name, which is different from the adjudication idea of indirectly protecting the right to credit through the protection of the right to reputation in the previous case. The difference in the adjudication of these two classic cases shows that there is a positive attitude towards the protection of credit interests in mainland judicial practice, but there are differences in views on the path to realize the protection of credit interests because there is no clear basis for legislative claims. After the Civil Code comes into effect, Articles 1029 and 1030 should provide adjudication guidelines for the protection of the credit interests of civil entities. In cases similar to the facts of this case, the provisions of Article 1029 of the Civil Code on credit appraisal may be applied, and the relevant provisions of Article 1030 on the application of the law on the relationship between civil entities and credit information handlers may be adopted to determine that the infringement of the right to credit has been established.