A revised draft of the general rules of the civil code is expected to add content about personal information protection, China News reported on Tuesday. The draft has been submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee for a second reading.

According to the draft, any organization or individual is forbidden from being involved in illegally collecting, using, processing or transmitting personal information. It is also a violation to illegally provide, disclose or sell personal information.

The rise of telecom and cyber fraud made headlines across China in August when three teens lost significant sums of money to telecom scammers. Two subsequently died of heart attacks.

Currently, there are no concrete rules regarding personal information protection, except for regulations issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and decisions handed down by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee. Therefore, it is necessary to write relevant laws, said Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Center at China University of Political Science and Law.

Bu Chaoxia, chief lawyer at Beijing Meiqiao Law Firm, said he believes there should be clearer punishments, which may require additional research.