On January 4, 2018, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) published Interim Notice no. 296 on Issuing Provisions on Barcode and QR Code Payment Business Standards, supplemented with interim provisions on barcode and QR code payment security technology standards and barcode and QR code payment acceptance terminal technology standards (the PBC General Administration Document [2017] No. 242), all of which become effective on April 1, 2018.