The People's Bank of China published on October 30 a Guideline on Electronic Payment (No.1), setting reasonable limits on the type of electronic payment, amount of single deal and accumulative daily payment amount provided to different clients.

When providing electronic payment service to individual clients, banks are asked to endorse no more than RMB 1,000 yuan for a single deal, and no more than 5,000 yuan within a day, on the basis of security certification through digital certificate or signature.

For institutional clients, the ceiling is set at 50,000 yuan for a single deal, excluding transactions the two sides agreed upon in advance.

Banks should provide credit card holders options of online payment amounts, but they can not exceed the overdraft limit of their cards.

The central bank will work out a series of such instructions in an effort to gradually establish and improve rules on electronic payment catering various models and participants of the service.

By People's Daily Online