November 15, 2022 Anhui Legal Daily 2nd Edition

In February of this year, the Wuhu People's Procuratorate handed over the clue of the case that the water, electricity and gas fee expediting notice leaked citizens' personal information to the Jinghu District Procuratorate for handling. The case handling prosecutor investigated more than 30 communities in the jurisdiction, such as Tuanjie Third Village and Ping'an Mountain Villa, and found that for many years, the water, electricity and gas supply enterprises in these communities habitually pasted the notice of arrears at the entrance of the first floor of the unit building of the residential community, and the notice also contained personal information such as the name and address of the householder.

Later prosecutors visited the three enterprises involved in the case and obtained relevant data. Statistics show that from January to August of this year alone, three enterprises urged more than 460000 users through the above means, causing potential risks to citizens' personal safety, property safety, family safety, etc. After finding out the facts of the case, the prosecutor handling the case clarified the supervision responsibilities of the relevant administrative organs through door-to-door visits and consultation. In order to ensure the openness and fairness of case handling, Jinghu District Procuratorate specially invited a people's supervisor with legal professional background to participate in the investigation and visit throughout the whole process.

On March 11 this year, the Jinghu District Procuratorate held a special public hearing on whether the information such as the user's name and address displayed on the expense expediting notice infringed the citizens' personal information rights and interests, inviting deputies to the National People's Congress, members of the CPPCC, people's supervisors, etc. to participate in the hearing as the hearers. The three supply enterprises of water, electricity and gas, as well as Wuhu Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau Comrades in charge of relevant work of Wuhu Development and Reform Commission and Jinghu District Market Supervision Administration attended the meeting.

After evaluation, the hearers have always believed that there are potential risks in the way of expediting fees of relevant enterprises, and the information on the payment reminder is easy to be obtained and used by criminals. It is suggested that the procuratorial organ urge the functional departments to speed up rectification. At the meeting, according to the suggestion of the people's supervisor, the participants agreed after consultation that the reminder could be treated anonymously, and a word in the name of the person being urged should be replaced by "*". This form can not only achieve the purpose of expediting, but also maximize the protection of citizens' personal information security.

According to the provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, the Personal Information Protection Law and other provisions on operators not to disclose the personal information collected by consumers, and that personal information should be handled in a way that has the least impact on personal rights and interests, and combined with the hearing results, the case handling prosecutor believes that the above acts of the relevant enterprises have violated the personal information rights and interests of citizens.

Witnessed by the people's supervisor, the prosecutor handling the case announced to Wuhu Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau, Wuhu Development and Reform Commission, and Jinghu District Market Supervision and Administration on the spot that he had delivered the procuratorial proposal, and suggested that they should perform their duties of industry supervision and consumer protection according to law, anonymize the names of the reminders, and effectively protect the personal information security of citizens. After receiving the procuratorial suggestions, Wuhu Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau and Wuhu Development and Reform Commission interviewed the heads of three companies and issued a notice of rectification within a time limit.

Jinghu District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau warned the three companies and carried out special inspection and rectification activities. The three companies developed rectification plans, removed the notice posted in the community, and anonymized the new notice. In addition to taking the above measures in Jinghu District, the three companies also drew inferences from one instance and carried out cleaning and rectification throughout the city. All the rectification was completed in the first ten days of May 2022.

On May 23 this year, Jinghu District Procuratorate invited people's supervisors and others to check the rectification effect on the spot. After verification, the three enterprises have made rectification in accordance with the procuratorial recommendations and the requirements of relevant administrative departments. Through case handling, the three enterprises have improved their awareness and level of personal information protection, and their level of compliance with the law has further improved.

As for the "typical significance" of the case, Tang Hengming, Deputy Procurator General of the Jinghu District Procuratorate, said, "The expedited payment notice for water, electricity and gas costs divulges citizens' personal information in a large amount, in a wide range, for a long time, and has a great impact. The enterprises involved in the case are all key local enterprises. Therefore, we invite people's supervisors to participate in the whole process of handling cases, supervise the handling of cases, and strive to improve the openness and fairness of case handling. The case urged the relevant administrative organs to implement their regulatory responsibilities, promoted the "double improvement" of the compliance operation and protection of personal information of the enterprises involved, and promoted the "big governance" of the society from the "small bills" perspective. "