China's top legislature started to write the judicial explanation of "credit card" in criminal law, Saturday, a move that should curb increasing crimes involving bank cards.

All crimes involving bank cards should be treated as crimes on "credit cards" in criminal law, according to the draft judicial explanation submitted to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).

The current criminal law has a special clause on crimes involving "credit card," but it does not provide a clear definition of what a "credit card" is, said An Jian, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission under the NPC Standing Committee.

With the rapid growth of China's economy, Chinese financial institutions have issued millions of financial cards. These include credit cards, debit card and other kinds of bank cards. The frauds involving bank cards have also seen a sharp rise across the country in recent years.

"In current judicial practices, some of cases are decided according to the clause on credit card crimes. Some are sentenced as financial frauds while others are thought as frauds," An said.

(China Daily December 27, 2004)