Sim Registration Bill only needs PBBM's signature to become law

 

The Senate and the House of Representatives approved the bicameral conference committee report on the conflicting elements of the proposed act on Wednesday, as a result, Sim Registration Bill now only needs President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to sign it into law.

The co-chair of the bicameral commission, Senator Grace Poe gave a summary of the findings at the Wednesday session.

The bicameral group, according to Poe decided to utilize the Senate version as the working draft but with many reconciled clauses.

The removal of the term "SIM card" from the measure is one of the items that the Senate and House of Representatives contingents agreed upon.

"Innovation on mobile technology is fast-paced and our law must be able to accommodate all present and future variations of SIMs," Poe said.

Poe had previously stated that because there are so-called "e-SIMs," the Senate version of the bill just mentioned "SIM Registration."

The Senate's registration framework, which requires registration through the public telecommunications firms' platform prior to SIM activation, was also supported by the bipartisan conference committee.

In addition to reducing the chance of a data breach, Poe said that it will also make life easier for small-scale distributors who do not have the necessary skills to handle sensitive data.

The 180-day registration time, the ability for a juvenile to register a SIM through a parent or guardian, and all of the SIM Register's security measures were all kept in the bicameral conference committee report.

The legislators also decided to include a non-exhaustive list of photo IDs that may be used during registration to the bill in order to make it better.

Poe claims that they are committed to making the registration procedure as seamless and well-defined as they can.

To make the Philippine tourism and business climate as welcoming as possible to foreign visitors, the bicameral body also clarified the documentation requirements for foreign nationals who acquire local SIM cards.

The bicam contingents also concurred that, in order to streamline the procedure, the SIM Register need to already contain the information of current postpaid subscribers.

Poe stated that the final law will compel the PTEs to provide up essential registration facilities in rural locations within 60 days of the measure's effectiveness in order to guarantee that individuals in remote areas may register their SIMs.

"Wala dapat maiiwan (No one should be left behind). The SIM registration process should be inclusive and accessible especially for those who may have limited access to the internet, and the burden to make this happen is on the telcos who have the capacity and resources to make this happen," she said.

Poe concluded by saying that they changed the measure's secrecy clause and decided that SIM registration data can only be divulged with a court order following the discovery of reasonable cause.

Due to the requirement for social media registration, former President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the law during the 18th Congress.