Philippine Senator Grace Poe said that the SIM Card Registration Act is expected to take effect on December 27, just before 2022 ends.

The senator announced the timeline for the new law during the plenary session for the proposed Php11.322 billion budget for 2023 of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the SIM registration bill into law back in October. However, it is yet to take effect as the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) is yet to be completed.

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The IRR will be discussed on December 5 during a public hearing with the DICT and other stakeholders. The IRR is expected to be completed and revealed to the public by December 12.

Despite the passage of the bill, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has expressed his concerns about the persisting text scams and spam in the country.

“Unfortunately, maybe the telecommunications companies (telcos) are also waiting for the IRR for it to be clearer to them how to be able to police these texts. But I know Globe and Smart (have) already canceled a lot of numbers based on this, and yet, there are still some,” Poe answered.

There are also groups citing their concerns regarding the safety of people’s privacy once the law is implemented. With this, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) has detailed the ways to keep personal data safe on SIM registration.

Once enacted, new SIM card owners will need to present their personal information and a valid ID before they can purchase a new SIM. Existing users then have 180 days from the law enacted to have their SIM cards registered. You can learn more about the process here.

Via: Inquirer.net

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