Amendment 5 to the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China (V) - 2005

(The Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (V) was adopted at the 14th session of the 10th Standing Committee of the National Congress of the People's Republic of China on February 28, 2005. It is hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of the date of promulgation)

President Hu Jintao
Febuary 28, 2005

Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (V)
(Adopted at the 14th session of the 10th Standing Committee of the National Congress of the People's Republic of China on February 28, 2005.)

I. Adding an article next to Article 177 of the Criminal Law as Article 177 – 1: "Under any of the following circumstances, anyone who disrupts the management of credit cards shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention or deprivation of political rights, and shall be concurrently or separately fined 10, 000 yuan up to 100, 000 yuan; if the sum involved is huge or if there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 3 up to 10 years and shall be concurrently fined 20,000 yuan up to 200,000 yuan:
(1) knowingly holding or transporting a relatively large number of counterfeited credit cards or blank credit cards;
(2) unlawfully holding a relatively large number of others' credit cards;
(3) having obtained credit cards by using false identity certification;
(4) selling, selling, providing others with counterfeited credit cards or obtaining credit cards by using false identity certification.

Anyone who steals, buys or illicitly supplies information of others' credit cards shall be punished in accordance with the preceding paragraph.

Any employee of a bank or of any other financial institution who violates any of the crimes as described in the second paragraph by taking the advantage of his position shall be given a heavier punishment."

II. Revising Article 196 of the Criminal Law as: "Anyone who commits fraud by means of a credit card in any of the following ways shall, if the amount involved is relatively large, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than 5 years or criminal detention and shall be concurrently or separately fined 20,000 yuan up to 200,000 yuan; if the sum involved is huge, or if there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 5 up to 10 years and shall be concurrently fined 50,000 yuan up to 500,000 yuan; if the sum involved is extremely huge, or if there are other extremely serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment and shall be concurrently fined 50,000 yuan up to 500,000 yuan or be sentenced to confiscation of all personal property:

(1) using a forged credit card or using a credit card obtained by using false identity certification;

(2) using an invalidated credit card;

(3) illegally using another's credit card; or

(4) overdrawing with ill intentions.

The phrase "overdrawing with ill intentions" as mentioned in the preceding paragraph means that a credit card holder who, for the purpose of illegal possession, overdraws beyond the limited amount or beyond the time limit and refuses to repay the overdrawn amount after the bank that issues the card demands him to do so.

Anyone who steals a credit card and uses it shall be convicted and punished in accordance with the provisions in Article 264 of this Law."

III. Adding a paragraph to Article 369 as the second paragraph. This article shall be revised as: "Whoever sabotages weapons or equipment, military installations or military telecommunications shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention or public surveillance; whoever sabotages major weapons or equipment, military installations or military telecommunications shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 3 up to10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death penalty.

Any one who commits a crime as described in the preceding two paragraphs and causes serious consequences due to negligence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are extremely serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of 3 up to 7 years.

He who commits a crime as mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs during wartime shall be given a heavier punishment."

IV. This Amendment shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.