Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Extortion

Fa Shi [2013] No. 10

April 23, 2013

Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Extortion was adopted at the 1575th meeting of the judicial committee of the Supreme People's Court on April 15, 2013 and at the 2nd meeting of the 12th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on April 1, 2013, and is hereby announced to be implemented as of April 27, 2013.

Interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Extortion

(adopted at the 1575th meeting of the judicial committee of the Supreme People's Court on April 15, 2013 and at the 2nd meeting of the 12th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on April 1, 2013)

For the purpose of legally punishing the crimes of extortion and protecting public and private property rights, several issues on applications of law are hereby interpreted as follows in accordance with the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China:

Article 1 Whoever extorts public or private properties of a value of not less than CNY2,000 to CNY5,000, CNY30,000 to CNY100,000 and CNY300,000 to CNY500,000 shall be respectively determined as being of a "relatively large amount", "large amount" and "extremely large amount" as prescribed in Article 274 of the Criminal Law.
The high people's courts and the people's procuratorates of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the local economic development status and social safety status and to the extent of amounts prescribed in the preceding paragraph, determine the specific applicable standards of amount in their respective areas and report the same to the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate for approval.

Article 2 In the event a person extorting public or private property falls under any of the following circumstances, "relatively large amount" can be determined as 50% of the amount specified in the previous article:
1. The person was subject to criminal punishment before for extortion;
2. The person was subject to administrative penalty before for extortion in the last one year;
3. The person extorts the property of a minor, disabled, elderly person or person without work ability;
4. The person extorts property by threatening to commit arson, detonate explosive or commit other crimes jeopardizing the public security, or to commit murder, kidnapping or other crimes severely infringing the personal rights of citizens;
5. The person extorts property in the name of criminal organizations;
6. The person extorts property by leveraging on his special identity as or passing off as government officials, servicemen or journalists; or
7. The person causes other serious consequences due to his extortion.

Article 3 Whoever extorts more than three times within two years shall be determined as "having conducted multiple extortions" as set out in Article 274 of the Criminal Law.

Article 4 In the case of extortions of public or private properties falling under any of the circumstances specified in Item 3 through Item 7 of Article 2 hereof, and the amount of which reaches 80% of the "large amount" or "extremely large amount" set out in Article 1 hereof, the extortion can be determined respectively as "other serious circumstances" or "other extremely serious circumstances" as set out in Article 274 of the Criminal Law.

Article 5 In the case of extortions of a relatively large amount, where the extorter admits to his crime, shows remorse for his crime, returns the extorted property or compensates for the losses, falling under any of the following circumstances, the severity of the case can be considered as mitigated and the extorter can be exempted from prosecution or from criminal punishment and be subject to administrative sanctions by the competent authority according to law:
1. Where the case is one where mitigated punishment is applicable according to law;
2. Where the extorter has not participated in the distribution of the property extorted or has received a relatively small portion of the property extorted and is not the principal perpetrator;
3. Where the extorter is forgiven by the victim; or
4. Other circumstances of minor severity and not causing major harm.

Article 6 Extortion of property from one's family members or relatives, which has been forgiven, is not to be regarded as a crime generally; if the case is treated as a crime, it shall be dealt with in a lenient manner according to the circumstances of the case.
Where the victim is at fault for the occurrence of an extortion, the extorter shall be dealt with in a lenient manner based on the victim's degree of fault and other circumstances of the case; and if the circumstance is obviously of minor severity and does not cause major harm, the extortion shall not be deemed a crime.

Article 7 In the event a person is fully aware of an extortion and assists the extorter by offering assistance in the form of credit cards, SIM cards, communication tools, communication transmission channels, network technology supports and others, the person shall be determined as a joint offender.

Article 8 An accused convicted of a crime of extortion shall be fined at an amount not lower than CNY2,000 and not higher than twice the amount of extortion; where the extorter has not received any extorted property, the fine shall be not lower than CNY2,000 and not higher than CNY100,000.

Article 9 The Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Determination Criteria for Extortion Amounts in Criminal Cases of Extortion (Fa Shi [2000] No. 11) shall be repealed simultaneously upon the taking effect of these Interpretations. Should there be any discrepancy between the judicial interpretations previously promulgated and these Interpretations, these Interpretations shall prevail.