Criminal Law

Supplementary Regulations on Suppression of Corruption and Bribery
(Promulgated by Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on January 21, 1988, by Order Number 63 of President Li Xiannian of the People's Republic of China)

The following supplementary regulations are formulated in accordance with stipulations of the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Regulations of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Harshly Punishing Crimes over Severe Economic Sabotage" on suppression of corruption and bribery. 

Article 1. The crime of corruption refers to the act of any government worker, any worker of collective economic organizations or any other person who handles or manages public property to exploit his power of office in committing embezzlement, theft, acquisition through fraud and illegal occupation of public property through other means. 

A party who colludes with government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or any other person who handles or manages public property in committing corruption shall be treated as an accomplice. 

Article 2. Parties who engage in corruption shall be punished respectively in accordance with the following regulations based on the degree of seriousness: 

(1) An individual who embezzles in excess of RMB50,000 shall be sentenced to 10 years or more in prison or life imprisonment and his property may be confiscated; if a case is extremely serious, the death penalty shall be meted out along with confiscation of property. 

(2) An individual who embezzles in excess of RMB10,000 but below RMB50,000 shall be sentenced to 5 years or more in prison and his property may be confiscated; if a case is extremely serious, a life imprisonment shall be meted out along with confiscation of property. 

(3) An individual who embezzles in excess of RMB2,000 but below RMB10,000 shall be sentenced to a prison term between 1-7 years. The prison term shall be 7-10 years if a case is ex- tremely serious. An individual who embezzles between RMB2,000- 5,000 and who turns himself in and renders meritorious service after committing crimes, or who shows repentance and actively returns illicit money may get a reduction over punishment or be exempted from criminal penalties, and shall instead be given disciplinary action by his unit or higher level authorities. 

(4) An individual whose embezzles less than RMB2,000 may be given a prison term below 2 years or a detention. If a case is light, disciplinary action shall be taken by his unit or higher level authorities in accordance with the degree of seriousness. 

If a corruption case involves two persons or more, the parties shall be dealt with respectively in accordance with their individual illicit gains and the different roles they play in the case. The principal criminal of a corruption group shall be pun- ished in accordance with the embezzlement total of the group; the principal criminal of any other jointly committed corruption shall be punished in accordance with the joint embezzlement total if the case is serious. 

A party who has committed embezzlement a number of times but has remained at large shall be punished in accordance with his aggregate embezzlement total. 

Article 3. The crime of misappropriation of public funds refers to the act of any government worker, any worker in collective economic organizations and any other person who handles or manages public funds to exploit his power of office in using public money for personal purpose or for other illegal activities, using public fund for profit-making activ- ities or using a large amount of public money without returning it in 3 months. The party of such a crime shall be given a prison term below 5 years or a detention; the prison term shall be 5 years or more if the case is serious. If the misappropriat- ed public funds are large in amount and are not returned, the party shall be dealt with according to the crime of corruption. 

Heavier punishments shall be meted out for misappropriation of such public funds as disaster relief, relief for other emergencies, fund for flood prevention, subsidies for servicemen's households and relief fund and materials for personal use. 

If other crimes arise in the process of misappropriating public fund for other illegal activities, the crimes shall be dealt with in accordance with the regulation on punishment on multiple crimes. 

Article 4. The crime of bribery refers to the act of any government worker, any worker of collective economic organizations or any other person who is in charge of public affairs to exploit his power of office in extorting property from others, or illegally receiving property from others and seeking personal gain for others in exchange. 

A party who colludes with government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or any other person who are in charge of public affairs in committing bribery shall be treated as an accomplice. 

Government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or others who are in charge of public affairs shall be investigated and punished for the crime of bribery if they violate State regulations in economic dealings by demanding or receiving commissions and fees for undertaking procedures in various names for personal seizure. 

Article 5. The parties who take bribes shall be punished in accordance with the stipulations of Article 2 of these Regulations based on the amount of bribe taken and the seriousness of the case; The parties whose bribe-taking amounts are less than RMB10,000 but who have caused grave losses to State and collective interests shall be sentenced to 10 years or more in prison; The parties whose bribe-taking amount is more than RMB10,000 and who have caused grave losses to State and collective interests shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or to death along with the confiscation of their property. Heavier punishments shall be meted out for the parties who demand a bribe. 

If other crimes arise while undertaking illegal activities as a result of bribery, the crimes shall be dealt with in accordance with the regulation on punishment on multiple crimes. 

Article 6. Any unit, agency or group owned by the whole people who demands or receives property from others and seeks personal gains for others in exchange shall be levied a fine if the case is serious, and a prison term below 5 years or a detention shall be meted out on the persons in charge of the unit, agency or group and others who hold direct re- sponsibilities. 

Article 7. The crime of bribing refers to the act of a party who offers property to government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or others who are in charge of public affairs to gain illegal interests. 

In the process of economic dealings, a party who violates State regulations in offering relatively large amounts of prop- erty to government workers, workers of collective economic orga- nizations or others who are in charge of public affairs, or who violated State regulations in offering commissions and fees for undertaking procedures to government workers, workers of collec- tive economic organizations or other who are in charge of public affairs shall be investigated and punished for the crime of bribing. 

If a party offers property to government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or others who are in charge of public affairs as a result of blackmail by the latter and the party gains no illegal interests therefrom, the party's act shall not be considered as bribing. 

Article 8. A party who commits the crime of bribery shall be given a prison term below 5 years or a detention. If a party gains illegal interests by bribing in a serious case, or if a bribing party causes grave losses to State and collective interests, the party shall be sentenced to 5 years or more in prison; If a case is extremely serious, the party shall be sentenced to life imprisonment along with confiscation of his property. 

If a bribing party voluntarily confesses his action before litigation, the party shall get a reduction over punishment or be exempted from criminal penalties. 

If other crimes arise while undertaking illegal activities as a result of bribing, the crimes shall be dealt with in accordance with the regulation on punishment on multiple crimes. 

Article 9. Any enterprise or government unit, agency or group who offers a bribe for obtaining illegal interests, or who violates State regulations in State regulations in offering commissions and procedure-undertaking fees to government workers, workers of collective economic organizations or other who are in charge of public affairs shall be levied a fine if the case is serious, and a prison term below 5 years or a detention shall be meted out on the persons in charge and others who hold direct responsibilities. If any illicit gains resulted from bribing are personally seized, the party shall be punished in accordance with the stipulations of Article 8 of these Regula- tions. 

Article 10. A government worker who fails to hand over gifts they receive in exchanges with the outside world that should be handed over to the State shall be investigated and punished in the crime of corruption if the amount is large. 

Article 11. A government worker whose property or expenses have obviously exceeded his legal income shall be obliged to explain the sources of income. If the government worker himself can not testify his incomes are legal, the portion that exceeds his legal income shall be considered as illegal income and shall be subject to a prison term of below 5 years, a detention, together with/or the confiscation of the illegal portion of his property. 

A government worker shall report his offshore deposit in accordance with State regulations. If any government worker keeps his offshore bank account secret, he may be subject to a prison term of below 2 years or a detention if the amount is large; If the case is light, disciplinary action shall be taken against him by his unit or a higher level authority. 

Article 12. The embezzled and misappropriated public property shall be recovered without exception, and property used in bribery and other illegal gains shall be confiscated without exception. 

The recovered embezzlement and misappropriation property shall be returned to the original unit; If such property is not returned to the original unit as stipulated by law, it shall be handed over to the State treasury. The confiscated property shall be handed over to the State treasury without exception. 

Article 13. These Regulations shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation. 

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Supplementary Provisions Concerning the Punishment of Crimes of Counterfeiting Registered Trademarks
(Adopted at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on February 22, 1993)

In order to punish such criminal acts as to counterfeit registered trademarks, the following supplementary provisions shall be made and added to the Criminal Law:

Where any person uses, without the authorization of the proprietor of a registered trademark, a trademark that is identical with the registered trademark in question in respect of the same goods, and the amount of his illegal income is considerable or he has committed other serious acts, he shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, or sentenced concurrently or exclusively to a fine; where the amount of his illegal income is enormous, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and concurrently to a fine. 
Where any person sells goods that he knows bear a counterfeited registered trademark, and the amount of his illegal income is considerable, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, or sentenced concurrently or exclusively to a fine; where the amount of his illegal income is enormous, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and concurrently to a fine. 


Where any person counterfeits, or makes, without authorization, representations of a registered trademark of another person, or sells such representations of a registered trademark as were counterfeited, or made without authorization, and the amount of his illegal income is considerable or he has committed other serious acts, he shall be punished according to the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 1 above. 

Where any enterprise or institution has committed any of such crimes as enumerated in the preceding two articles, it shall be sentenced to a fine, and the person in charge who is directly responsible and any other persons who are directly responsible shall be prosecuted, according to the provisions of the preceding two articles, for their criminal liabilities. 

Where any functionary of the State exploits his office to intentionally harbor any enterprise, institution or individual that he knows to be guilty of any of such criminal acts as enumerated in these Provisions and make it or him to escape being prosecuted, he shall be prosecuted, mutatis mutandis under the provisions of Article 188 of the Criminal Law, for his criminal liabilities. 
Where any functionary of the State who is responsible for prosecuting such criminals as enumerated in these Provisions fails to perform his functions of prosecution as prescribed by law, he shall be prosecuted, according to the provisions of Article 187 of the Criminal Law or mutatis mutandis under the provisions of Article 188 of the Criminal Law, for his criminal liabilities. 


These Provisions shall enter into force on July 1, 1993. 

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Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Regarding the Punishment of Criminals Engaged in Aircraft Hijacking
(Adopted at the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on December 28, 1992, promulgated by Order No. 67 of the President of the People's Republic of China on December 28, 1992, and effective as of December 28, 1992)

With a view to punishing aircraft hijacking criminals and safeguarding the safety of passengers and aircraft, it is hereby decided as follows:


Whoever hijacks any aircraft by means of violence, intimidation or in any other manner shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of no less than ten years or life imprisonment; 
Any hijacker who causes serious bodily injury to or death of any other person, or serious damage to the aircraft, or if the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to death; and 

If the circumstances are relatively minor, the hijacker shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years.

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