The Supreme People's Court has recently promulgated the Official Reply to Issues concerning the Application of Paragraph 2 of Article 225 of the Criminal Procedure Law (the "Official Reply") with effect as of June 24.
The Official Reply clarifies that: 1. for a case which the Supreme People's Court renders a verdict on disapproval of death sentence in accordance with Article 239 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 353 of the Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China and which is remanded to the court of second instance for retrial, the case may not be remanded to the court of first instance for retrial, regardless of whether the court of second instance once remanded the case for retrial on the ground of unclear facts and insufficient evidence of the original judgment; if the case indeed needs to be remanded to the court of first instance for retrial, a report shall be filed to the Supreme People's Court for approval; 2. for a case which the Supreme People's Court renders a verdict on disapproval of death sentence and which is demanded to the court of second instance for retrial, if the court of second instance remands the case to the court of first instance for retrial according to the special circumstance of the case, and the defendant appeals or the procuratorate protests after the court of first instance renders a judgment, then the court of second instance shall render a judgment or verdict in accordance with the law and may not remand the case for retrial again.