China's top legislature adopted an amendment to the Resident Identity Card Law on October 29 in a bid to better protect the personal information stored in citizens' identity cards.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved a proposal which will make it compulsory for citizens to submit fingerprints when they apply for or change ID cards.

Lawmakers held that including fingerprints in ID cards would help identify people in a faster and more precise manner and would effectively curb the counterfeiting and altering of the cards.

The amendment also increased the punishment for those found guilty of leaking citizens' personal information.

The amendment will take effect on January 1, 2012.