Overview
Beijing partner Susan Munro was quoted in a Law.com article titled “New Criminal Law Targets Bribery, Cybersecurity.” The article, published November 4, discusses the ninth amendment of the PRC Criminal Law, which, among other things, includes new provisions regarding bribery and data protection. The revised law increases punishments for bribe-givers and other corruption-related crimes, and also captures an enlarged scope of industries with respect to data security violations.
According to the article, the monetary thresholds for bribery crimes that were previously used to determine penalties have been replaced with general terms such as “relatively large,” “huge,” and “especially huge” in order to address enforcement discrepancies at local level. These categories are already prevalent in the PRC Criminal Law for corruption sentencing purposes, Ms. Munro says, adding that the revised approach provides flexibility for enforcement authorities.
The law also addresses social issues, including protecting the rights of women and minors, as well as fraud in the examination system. “Examination fraud and cheating are quite detailed subjects to put into law but they can have a huge social impact if they get out of control. This latest amendment shows a genuine attempt by the regulators to address real social and political problems that have arisen as a result of fast-paced development,” Ms. Munro says.
The full article can be read at Law.com (subscription required).