Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.66
December 26, 2020
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 26, 2020, is hereby issued and shall come into force as of March 1, 2021.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on December 26, 2020)
I. Article 17 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Criminal Law") is revised to read: "If a person who has reached the age of 16 commits a crime, he shall bear criminal responsibility.
If a person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 commits intentional homicide, intentionally hurts another person so as to cause serious injury or death of the person, or commits rape, robbery, drug-trafficking, arson, or causes explosion or poisoning, he shall bear criminal responsibility.
If a person who has reached the age of 12 but not the age of 14 commits intentional homicide or intentionally hurts another person thereby causing the death of the person or, by resorting to especially cruel means, causes severe injury to the person, reducing the person to utter disability, and the circumstances are flagrant, he shall bear criminal responsibility if the prosecution is approved by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
A person under the age of 18 who is investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
If a person is not given criminal punishments because he has not reached the age of 16, his parents or his guardian shall be ordered to discipline him. When necessary, he shall accept the special corrective education in accordance with the law."
II. An article is added after Article 133a of the Criminal Law as Article 133b which reads: "Whoever uses violence against or fights for control of the driving controls with a driver of a moving public transportation vehicle, which interferes with the normal running of the public transportation vehicle and endangers public security, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than one year, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also, or shall only, be fined.
A driver prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph if he leaves his post without permission, or fights with or beats any person on a moving public transportation vehicle, endangering public security.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, which concurrently constitutes another crime, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions on heavier punishment."
III. Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever forces another person to work under hazardous conditions in violation of rules, or clearly knows the existence of but does not eliminate serious potential accidents and still organizes the work under hazardous conditions, thereby causing an accident involving heavy casualties or causing other serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; or if the circumstances are especially flagrant, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years."
IV. An article is added after Article 134 of the Criminal Law as Article 134a which reads: "Whoever, in violation of the safety provisions in the course of production and operations, falls under any of the following circumstances with the real danger of causing an accident involving heavy casualties or causing other serious consequences shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than one year, criminal detention or public surveillance:
1. closing or destroying monitoring, alarming, protection or life-saving equipment or facilities directly related to work safety, or tampering with, concealing, or destroying related data or information;
2. refusing to implement any order to suspend production and business or construction or use of the relevant equipment, facilities or places or immediately take rectification measures to eliminate the danger due to the existence of serious potential accidents; or
3. engaging in high-risk production and operation activities such as mining, metal smelting and construction, and the production, operation and storage of dangerous goods without approval or permission that is required for such matters involving work safety according to the law."
V. Article 141 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever produces or sells bogus drugs shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and a fine; if any serious damage is caused to human health or there is any other serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and a fine; or if any human death is caused or there is any other especially serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment or the death penalty and a fine or forfeiture of property.
An employee of any entity using drugs who clearly knows that such drugs are bogus drugs but stills offer them to others for use shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph."
VI. Article 142 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever produces or sells drugs of inferior quality and thereby causes serious harm to human health shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and a fine; or if the consequences are especially serious, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and a fine or forfeiture of property.
An employee of any entity using drugs who clearly knows that such drugs are of inferior quality but stills offer them to others for use shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph."
VII. An article is added after Article 142 of the Criminal Law as Article 142a which reads: "Whoever, in violation of the laws or regulations on drug administration, falls under any of the following circumstances enough to seriously harm human health shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if any serious harm is caused to human health or there is any other serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and a fine:
1. producing or selling drugs that are prohibited by the drug administration of the State Council;
2. producing or importing drugs without obtaining the relevant approval certificate for such drugs, or clearly knowing the same to be true but still selling them;
3. providing false certificates, data, materials or samples or resorting to other deceptive means in the application for drug registration; or
4. fabricating production or inspection records.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph, which concurrently constitute the crime stipulated in Article 141 or 142 of this Law or any other crime, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions on heavier punishment."
VIII. Article 160 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever issues shares or company or enterprise bonds, depository receipts or other securities identified by the State Council in accordance with the law by concealing important facts or falsifying major information in the issuance documents such as the prospectus, subscription form or measures for offer of company or enterprise bonds shall, if the amount involved is huge, and the consequences are serious, or there are other serious circumstances, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, and the consequences are especially serious, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined.
A controlling shareholder or actual controller who organizes or instructs the implementation of the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised; or if the amount is especially huge, and the consequences are especially serious, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised.
Where a unit commits any of the crimes as mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, it shall be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1."
IX. Article 161 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Where a company or an enterprise obligated to disclose information according to the law provides its shareholders and the general public with false financial statements or such statements concealing important facts, or fails to disclose other important information in accordance with the relevant provisions that is required to be disclosed according to the law, thus causing serious harm to the interests of its shareholders or other persons, or engendering other serious circumstances, the person directly in charge and the other person directly responsible shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the circumstances are especially serious, such persons shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined.
A controlling shareholder or actual controller of the company or enterprise mentioned in the preceding paragraph who implements or organizes or instructs the implementation of the acts specified in the preceding paragraph, or conceals related matters, thus causing the occurrence of the circumstance set forth in the preceding paragraph, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
If the controlling shareholder or actual controller who commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph is a unit, the unit shall be fined, and the person directly in charge and the other directly responsible person shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1."
X. Paragraph 1 of Article 163 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Where an employee of a company, an enterprise or other unit who, taking advantage of his position, demands money or property from another person, or illegally accepts another person's money or property in return for the benefits sought for that person, and if the amount involved is relatively large, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is huge, or there are other serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined."
XI. Paragraph 1 of Article 175a of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever, by means of deception, obtaining loans, acceptance of bills, letters of credit or letters of guarantee from a bank or other financial institution, thus causing heavy losses to the bank or other financial institution, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if especially heavy losses are caused to the bank or other financial institution or other especially serious circumstances result, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined."
XII. Article 176 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever illegally takes in deposits from the general public or does so in a disguised form, thus disrupting the financial order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the amount involved is huge, or there are other serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined.
Where a unit commits any of the crimes as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be punished according to the provisions in the preceding paragraph.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs but gives up the embezzled money and pays compensation of his own accord before a prosecution is brought, thus reducing the harmful consequences, may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment."
XIII. Paragraph 1 of Article 182 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever falls under any of the following circumstances, thereby manipulating securities or futures markets and affecting securities or futures trading prices or volumes, shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the circumstances are especially serious, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined:
1. whether independently or in collusion with others, carrying out combined or successive purchases or sales by building up an advantage in terms of funds, shareholding or position holding or using one's advantage in terms of information;
2. collaborating with another person to mutually trade securities or futures at a prearranged time and price and by prearranged means;
3. trading securities between accounts actually controlled by oneself, or buying or selling futures contracts from or to oneself by means of making oneself the other party to the transaction;
4. not for the purpose of concluding transactions, declaring the buying or selling of securities or futures contracts frequently or in large numbers and withdrawing the declaration;
5. inducing investors to trade securities or futures by using false or uncertain significant information;
6. publicly making evaluations, forecasts or investment suggestions on securities, securities issuers or futures trading subjects, while conducting reverse securities transactions or related futures transactions; or
7. manipulating securities and futures markets by other means."
XIV.
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Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No.66
December 26, 2020
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 26, 2020, is hereby issued and shall come into force as of March 1, 2021.
Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
Amendment XI to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on December 26, 2020)
I. Article 17 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Criminal Law") is revised to read: "If a person who has reached the age of 16 commits a crime, he shall bear criminal responsibility.
If a person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 commits intentional homicide, intentionally hurts another person so as to cause serious injury or death of the person, or commits rape, robbery, drug-trafficking, arson, or causes explosion or poisoning, he shall bear criminal responsibility.
If a person who has reached the age of 12 but not the age of 14 commits intentional homicide or intentionally hurts another person thereby causing the death of the person or, by resorting to especially cruel means, causes severe injury to the person, reducing the person to utter disability, and the circumstances are flagrant, he shall bear criminal responsibility if the prosecution is approved by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
A person under the age of 18 who is investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the preceding three paragraphs shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
If a person is not given criminal punishments because he has not reached the age of 16, his parents or his guardian shall be ordered to discipline him. When necessary, he shall accept the special corrective education in accordance with the law."
II. An article is added after Article 133a of the Criminal Law as Article 133b which reads: "Whoever uses violence against or fights for control of the driving controls with a driver of a moving public transportation vehicle, which interferes with the normal running of the public transportation vehicle and endangers public security, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than one year, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also, or shall only, be fined.
A driver prescribed in the preceding paragraph shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph if he leaves his post without permission, or fights with or beats any person on a moving public transportation vehicle, endangering public security.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, which concurrently constitutes another crime, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions on heavier punishment."
III. Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever forces another person to work under hazardous conditions in violation of rules, or clearly knows the existence of but does not eliminate serious potential accidents and still organizes the work under hazardous conditions, thereby causing an accident involving heavy casualties or causing other serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; or if the circumstances are especially flagrant, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years."
IV. An article is added after Article 134 of the Criminal Law as Article 134a which reads: "Whoever, in violation of the safety provisions in the course of production and operations, falls under any of the following circumstances with the real danger of causing an accident involving heavy casualties or causing other serious consequences shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than one year, criminal detention or public surveillance:
1. closing or destroying monitoring, alarming, protection or life-saving equipment or facilities directly related to work safety, or tampering with, concealing, or destroying related data or information;
2. refusing to implement any order to suspend production and business or construction or use of the relevant equipment, facilities or places or immediately take rectification measures to eliminate the danger due to the existence of serious potential accidents; or
3. engaging in high-risk production and operation activities such as mining, metal smelting and construction, and the production, operation and storage of dangerous goods without approval or permission that is required for such matters involving work safety according to the law."
V. Article 141 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever produces or sells bogus drugs shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and a fine; if any serious damage is caused to human health or there is any other serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and a fine; or if any human death is caused or there is any other especially serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years, life imprisonment or the death penalty and a fine or forfeiture of property.
An employee of any entity using drugs who clearly knows that such drugs are bogus drugs but stills offer them to others for use shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph."
VI. Article 142 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever produces or sells drugs of inferior quality and thereby causes serious harm to human health shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and a fine; or if the consequences are especially serious, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and a fine or forfeiture of property.
An employee of any entity using drugs who clearly knows that such drugs are of inferior quality but stills offer them to others for use shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph."
VII. An article is added after Article 142 of the Criminal Law as Article 142a which reads: "Whoever, in violation of the laws or regulations on drug administration, falls under any of the following circumstances enough to seriously harm human health shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if any serious harm is caused to human health or there is any other serious circumstance, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and a fine:
1. producing or selling drugs that are prohibited by the drug administration of the State Council;
2. producing or importing drugs without obtaining the relevant approval certificate for such drugs, or clearly knowing the same to be true but still selling them;
3. providing false certificates, data, materials or samples or resorting to other deceptive means in the application for drug registration; or
4. fabricating production or inspection records.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph, which concurrently constitute the crime stipulated in Article 141 or 142 of this Law or any other crime, shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions on heavier punishment."
VIII. Article 160 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever issues shares or company or enterprise bonds, depository receipts or other securities identified by the State Council in accordance with the law by concealing important facts or falsifying major information in the issuance documents such as the prospectus, subscription form or measures for offer of company or enterprise bonds shall, if the amount involved is huge, and the consequences are serious, or there are other serious circumstances, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, and the consequences are especially serious, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined.
A controlling shareholder or actual controller who organizes or instructs the implementation of the acts mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised; or if the amount is especially huge, and the consequences are especially serious, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised.
Where a unit commits any of the crimes as mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, it shall be fined not less than 20 percent of but not more than one times the funds illegally raised, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1."
IX. Article 161 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Where a company or an enterprise obligated to disclose information according to the law provides its shareholders and the general public with false financial statements or such statements concealing important facts, or fails to disclose other important information in accordance with the relevant provisions that is required to be disclosed according to the law, thus causing serious harm to the interests of its shareholders or other persons, or engendering other serious circumstances, the person directly in charge and the other person directly responsible shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the circumstances are especially serious, such persons shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined.
A controlling shareholder or actual controller of the company or enterprise mentioned in the preceding paragraph who implements or organizes or instructs the implementation of the acts specified in the preceding paragraph, or conceals related matters, thus causing the occurrence of the circumstance set forth in the preceding paragraph, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
If the controlling shareholder or actual controller who commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph is a unit, the unit shall be fined, and the person directly in charge and the other directly responsible person shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1."
X. Paragraph 1 of Article 163 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Where an employee of a company, an enterprise or other unit who, taking advantage of his position, demands money or property from another person, or illegally accepts another person's money or property in return for the benefits sought for that person, and if the amount involved is relatively large, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is huge, or there are other serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined."
XI. Paragraph 1 of Article 175a of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever, by means of deception, obtaining loans, acceptance of bills, letters of credit or letters of guarantee from a bank or other financial institution, thus causing heavy losses to the bank or other financial institution, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if especially heavy losses are caused to the bank or other financial institution or other especially serious circumstances result, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined."
XII. Article 176 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever illegally takes in deposits from the general public or does so in a disguised form, thus disrupting the financial order, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the amount involved is huge, or there are other serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; or if the amount involved is especially huge, or there are other especially serious circumstances, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years and shall also be fined.
Where a unit commits any of the crimes as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible for the crime shall be punished according to the provisions in the preceding paragraph.
Whoever commits any of the acts mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs but gives up the embezzled money and pays compensation of his own accord before a prosecution is brought, thus reducing the harmful consequences, may be given a lighter or mitigated punishment."
XIII. Paragraph 1 of Article 182 of the Criminal Law is revised to read: "Whoever falls under any of the following circumstances, thereby manipulating securities or futures markets and affecting securities or futures trading prices or volumes, shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; or if the circumstances are especially serious, such person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined:
1. whether independently or in collusion with others, carrying out combined or successive purchases or sales by building up an advantage in terms of funds, shareholding or position holding or using one's advantage in terms of information;
2. collaborating with another person to mutually trade securities or futures at a prearranged time and price and by prearranged means;
3. trading securities between accounts actually controlled by oneself, or buying or selling futures contracts from or to oneself by means of making oneself the other party to the transaction;
4. not for the purpose of concluding transactions, declaring the buying or selling of securities or futures contracts frequently or in large numbers and withdrawing the declaration;
5. inducing investors to trade securities or futures by using false or uncertain significant information;
6. publicly making evaluations, forecasts or investment suggestions on securities, securities issuers or futures trading subjects, while conducting reverse securities transactions or related futures transactions; or
7. manipulating securities and futures markets by other means."
XIV.
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