The Ministry of Public Security reaffirmed on Monday that drivers are forbidden from using the driver's licenses of others to absorb traffic-violation points.

In China, traffic-law offenders get fines and points. Drivers who get 12 points within a year have their licenses suspended, and the drivers must restudy traffic regulations and pass a test to get their licenses back.

"We will severely punish those lawbreakers who purchase and sell scores for traffic offenses," ministry press officer Shi Guosheng said on Monday.

The statement was in response to a report in the Beijing Morning Post on Monday, which said: "The notice issued by the MPS stipulates that a driver's license would only be used to handle the traffic law offenses for at most three cars".

When some drivers face getting points for such offenses, they pay other drivers to put the points on their licenses, the report said.

Moreover, at most three drivers' licenses could be used to deal with a car's offenses, according to the report.

The report is totally misleading, and score-trading is strictly prohibited across the country, the ministry said.

"We never said the lawbreakers could borrow others' drivers' licenses and buy their scores for their offenses," Shi said, adding that the traffic management departments will investigate such reports.

According to one senior officer named Liu from the ministry's traffic management bureau, the ministry is improving the mechanism to punish score-trading.

Meanwhile, the ministry invites the public to put forward its suggestions through Sina Weibo, the micro-blogging website, to create a civilized traffic environment, she said.

According to national traffic regulations, a driver gets points if he or she commits offenses such as running red lights, speeding, blocking one's license plates on purpose, and drunken driving.