Amendment VIII to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China

     Updated : 2015-12-01

24. Article 143 is amended as: “Whoever produces or sells food not up to the food safety standards which may cause any serious food poisoning accident or any other serious food-borne disease shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 3 years or criminal detention and a fine; if any serious damage is caused to the people’s health or there is any other serious circumstance, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 7 years and a fine; or if there are especially serious consequences, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 7 years or life imprisonment and a fine or forfeiture of property.”

25. Article 144 is amended as: “Whoever mixes poisonous or harmful non-food raw materials into food produced or sold or knowingly sells food mixed with poisonous or harmful non-food raw materials shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 5 years and a fine; if any serious damage is caused to the people’s health or there is any other serious circumstance, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 5 years but not more than 10 years and a fine; or if any human death is caused or there is any other especially serious circumstance, shall be punished according to the provisions of Article 141 of this Law.”

26. Article 151 is amended as: “Whoever smuggles weapons, ammunitions, nuclear materials or counterfeit currencies shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 7 years and a fine or forfeiture of property; if the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death penalty and a forfeiture of property; or if the circumstances are minor, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 7 years and a fine.

Whoever smuggles cultural relics, gold, silver or any other noble metal whose export is prohibited by the state or smuggles rare animals whose import and export are prohibited by the state or products made thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 5 years but not more than 10 years and a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and a forfeiture of property; or if the circumstances are minor, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 5 years and a fine.

Whoever smuggles rare plants or products made thereof or other goods or articles whose import and export are prohibited by the state shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 5 years or criminal detention and a fine or be sentenced to a fine only; or if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 5 years and a fine.

Where an entity commits a crime as provided for in this Article, the entity shall be sentenced to a fine, and its directly responsible person and other directly liable persons shall be punished according to the provisions of this Article.”

27. Paragraph 1 of Article 153 is amended as: “Whoever smuggles goods or articles other than those as mentioned in Articles 151, 152 and 347 shall be punished in light of the graveness of the crime according to the following provisions:

(1) Whoever smuggles goods or articles to evade a relatively large amount of tax payable, or smuggles again after having been given administrative punishment twice for smuggling within a year, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 3 years or criminal detention and a fine of not less than the evaded amount of tax payable but not more than five times the evaded amount of tax payable.

(2) Whoever smuggles goods or articles to evade a huge amount of tax payable or with any other serious circumstance shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years and a fine of not less than the evaded amount of tax payable but not more than five times the evaded amount of tax payable.

(3) Whoever smuggles goods or articles to evade an especially huge amount of tax payable or with any other especially serious circumstance shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and a fine of not less than the evaded amount of tax payable but not more than five times the evaded amount of tax payable or a forfeiture of property.”

28. Paragraph 1 of Article 157 is amended as: “Whoever provides armed escort for smuggling shall be given a heavier penalty according to paragraph 1, Article 151 of this law.”

29. Article 164 is amended as: “Whoever gives any property to a staff member of a company, an enterprise or any other entity for any improper benefit shall be sentenced to imprisonment of not more than 3 years or criminal detention if the amount of property is relatively large; or be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than 3 years but not more than 10 years and a fine if the amount of property is huge.

Whoever gives any property to a functionary of a foreign country or an official of an international public organization for any improper commercial benefit shall be punished according to the provision of the preceding paragraph.

Where an entity commits a crime as provided for in the preceding two paragraphs, a fine shall be imposed on it, and its directly responsible person and other directly liable persons shall be punished according to the provision of paragraph 1 of this Article.

A briber who voluntarily confesses to his bribery before a criminal investigation on him is opened may be given a mitigated penalty or be exempted from penalty.”

30 Article 199 is amended as: “Whoever commits a crime as provided for in Article 192 shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death and a forfeiture of property if the amount involved is especially huge and especially material losses are caused to the interests of the state or public.”