Iraqi telecoms get two years to re-register SIM cards under new ID rules

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission has introduced rules requiring electronic identity checks for all mobile SIM cards, giving operators 720 days to re-register existing subscribers and setting fines of up to 3 million dinars (about $1,970 at the official rate) for each noncompliant card.

The rules were approved under Board of Commissioners Decision No. 116 on Sept. 29 and take effect 90 days after approval and publication on the commission’s website, its chief executive, Baligh Abu Kalal, said Thursday. They are meant to modernize SIM sales and registration and better protect subscribers’ personal data, he said.

Operators must verify subscribers electronically using national ID cards or passports, reading the documents’ chips and machine-readable zones, and match a live photo of each subscriber against official records to prevent fraud, identity theft and registration under false details. Iraqi citizens may register up to seven voice SIMs and seven data SIMs. The rules also cover registering foreign visitors and residents, transferring numbers and updating subscriber details, and add oversight of distributors and retailers.

Subscriber data must be stored in secure databases in Baghdad, and operators will be legally liable for breaches or leaks of information under their control. Re-registration will be phased in with awareness campaigns, the commission said, urging operators to complete their technical and administrative preparations before the rules take effect.

The commission suspended SIM sales through agents and retailers in the Kurdistan Region in August, limiting them to operators’ main offices, after complaints that cards had been registered in people’s names without their knowledge.