(Adopted at the 19th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on December 28, 2000)
Thanks to the vigorous advocacy and promotion by the State, China's computer network is applied more and more extensively in economic development and other fields of endeavour, which has brought about deep- going changes in the mode of production, other work, study and people's way of life and will continue to do so, which will play an important role in speeding up the development of the national economy and science and technology as well as the computerization of public services. Meanwhile, the question of how to ensure the operational and information security of the computer network has aroused general concern in the whole society. The following decision has been adopted in order to promote what is beneficial and eliminate what is harmful, promote the sound development of China's computer network, preserve the security of the State, safeguard interests and protect the lawful rights and interests of individuals, legal corporations and other organizations.
1. For the purpose of ensuring the operational security of the computer network, anyone who commits any of the following acts, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law:
(1)invading the computer data system of State affairs, national defence buildup or the sophisticated realms of science and technology;
(2)intentionally inventing and spreading destructive programs such as computer viruses to attack the computer system and the communications network, thus damaging the computer system and the communications network; or
(3)in violation of State regulations, discontinuing the computer network or the communications service without authorization, thus making it impossible for the computer network or the communications system to operate normally.
2. For the purpose of preserving the security of the State and maintaining social stability, anyone who commits any of the following acts, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law:
(1)making use of the computer network to spread rumours, libels or publicize or disseminate other harmful information for purpose of whipping up attempts to subvert state power and overthrowing the socialist system, or to split the country and undermine unification of the State;
(2)Stealing or divulging State secrets, intelligence or military secrets via the computer network;
(3)making use of the computer network to stir up ethnic hostility or discrimination, and thus undermining national unity; or
(4)making use of the computer network to form cult organizations or contact members of cult organizations, thus obstructing the implementation of State laws and administrative regulations.
3. For the purpose of maintaining order of the socialist market economy and ensuring the administration of public order, anyone who commits any of the following acts, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law;
(1)making use of the computer network to sell shoddy products or give false publicity to commodities or services;
(2)making use of the computer network to jeopardize another person's business credibility and commodity reputation;
(3)making use of the computer network to infringe on another person's intellectual property right;
(4)making use of the computer network to fabricate and spread false information which effects the exchange of securities and futures or other information which disrupts financial order; or
(5)establishing on the computer network pornographic web sites or web pages, providing services for connecting pornographic web sites, or spreading pornographic books and periodicals, movies, audiovisuals or pictures.
4. For the purpose of protecting the lawful rights of the person and property of individuals, legal corporations and other organizations, anyone who commits any of the following acts, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law:
(1)making use of the computer network to humiliate another person or to libil another person with fabrications;
(2)in violation of the law, intercepting, tampering with or deleting other persons' emails or other data, thus infringing on citizens' freedom and privacy of correspondence; or
(3)making use of the computer network to commit theft, fraud or blackmail.
5. Anyone who, making use of the computer network, commits any act other than the ones listed in the first, second, third and fourth items of this Decision, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law.
6. Anyone who, making use of the computer network, commits any illegal act which is in violation of the administration of public security but does not constitute a crime shall be punished by the public security organ in accordance with the Regulations on Administrative Penalties for Public Security; anyone who violates other laws or administrative regulations, which does not constitute a crime, shall be given administrative punishment by the relevant administrative department in accordance with law; the persons who are directly in charge and the other persons who are directly responsible shall be given administrative or disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law.
Anyone who, making use of the computer network, infringes on another person's lawful rights and interests, which constitutes a tort, shall be bear civil liability in accordance with law.
7. While promoting the application of the computer network and the popularization of network technology, the people's governments at all levels and the departments concerned shall take effective measures to attach importance to and support research and development of the technology for computer network security and enhance the ability of maintaining security of the network. The department in charge shall increase publicity and education in the importance of the operational and information security of the computer network and exercise effective supervision in accordance with law, in order to prevent and stop any illegal activities conducted via the computer network and create a good social environment for the healthy development of the computer network. Any unit that engages in the computer network business shall carry out activities in accordance with law and, when it discovers illegal or criminal acts or harmful information on the computer network, shall take measures to suspend transmission of harmful information and report the matter to the relevant authority without delay.All units or individuals shall. When using the computer network, observe disciplines and laws and resist all illegal and criminal acts and harmful information. The people's courts, the people's procuratorates, the public security organs and the organs for State security shall perform their own duties and closely cooperate with each other so as to crack down on all the crimes committed via the computer network. We should mobilize all the forces of the society and rely on the joint efforts of the entire community in order to ensure the operational and information security of the computer network and promote socialist ethical and material progress.
