Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Endangering Production Safety

Fa Shi [2015] No.22

December 14, 2015

The Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Endangering Production Safety, adopted at the 1,665th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on November 9, 2015 and the 44th Meeting of the 12th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on December 9, 2015, is hereby promulgated for implementation as of December 16, 2015.

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Endangering Production Safety

(Adopted at the 1,665th Meeting of the Judicial Committee of the Supreme People's Court on November 9, 2015 and the 44th Meeting of the 12th Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on December 9, 2015)

In order to penalize the offence of endangering production safety, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law, the interpretation on several issues concerning the application of law in handling such criminal cases is given as follows:

Article 1 The subjects of the offence provided in Paragraph 1 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law include persons in charge, managers, actual controllers, investors and other personnel who undertake organization, command or management responsibilities for production and operations, and the personnel who directly engage in production and operations.

Article 2 The subjects of the offence provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law include persons in charge, managers, actual controllers, investors and other personnel who undertake organization, command or management responsibilities for production and operations.

Article 3 The "persons directly in charge and other persons directly liable" provided in Article 135 of the Criminal Law refer to persons in charge, managers, actual controllers and investors of the production and operation entities who are directly liable for the non-compliance with State provisions of work safety facilities or work safety conditions, and other personnel who undertake management or maintenance responsibilities for work safety facilities or work safety conditions.

Article 4 The "persons responsible for reporting" provided in Article 139A of the Criminal Law refers to persons in charge, managers, actual controllers and investors who undertake organization, command or management responsibilities, and other persons responsible for reporting.

Article 5 Anyone who is aware of risks of accidents as well as the danger in case of continuous operations but still commits any of the following acts in violation of the provisions on safety management shall be deemed as "forcing any other person to conduct risky operations in violation of rules" provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law:
1. using functional power of organization, command and management, to force others to conduct operations in violation of rules;
2. forcing others to conduct operations in violation of rules by means of bullying, coercion, intimidation or otherwise;
3. deliberately concealing risks of accidents, and organizing others to conduct operations in violation of rules; and
4. other acts of forcefully ordering others to conduct operations in violation of rules.

Article 6 Where the acts provided in Article 132, Paragraph 1 of Article 134, Article 135, Article 135A, Article 136 and Article 139 of the Criminal Law are committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under any of the following cases, it shall be deemed that "serious consequences have been caused" or "any serious casualty or any other serious consequence has been caused", and related persons liable shall be sentenced to not more than three years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention:
1. having caused one or more deaths or three or more grievously injured persons;
2. having caused direct economic losses of not less than CNY1 million; and
3. other cases having caused serious consequences or major safety accidents.
Where the act provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under the cases provided in Paragraph 1 of the present article, it shall be deemed that "any serious casualty or any other serious consequence has been caused", and related persons liable shall be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention.
Where the act provided in Article 137 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under the cases provided in Paragraph 1 of the present article, it shall be deemed that "major safety accidents have been caused", and persons directly liable shall be sentenced to not more than five years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention and fines.
Where the act provided in Article 138 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing a safety accident which falls under the case provided in Item 1, Paragraph 1 of the present article, it shall be deemed that "serious casualty has been caused", and persons directly liable shall be sentenced to not more than three years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention.

Article 7 Where the acts provided in Article 132, Paragraph 1 of Article 134, Article 135, Article 135A, Article 136 and Article 139 of the Criminal Law are committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under any of the following cases, related persons liable shall be sentenced to not less than three years but not more than seven years of fixed-term imprisonment:
1. having caused three or more deaths or then or more grievously injured persons, with related persons liable bearing major liability for the accidents;
2. having caused direct economic losses of not less than CNY5 million, with related persons liable bearing major liability for the accidents; and
3. other cases having caused particularly serious consequences, having particularly flagrant circumstances or having particularly serious consequences.
Where the act provided in Paragraph 2 of Article 134 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under the cases provided in Paragraph 1 of the present article, the related persons liable shall be sentenced to not less than five years of fixed-term imprisonment.
Where the act provided in Article 137 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under the cases provided in Paragraph 1 of the present article, the persons directly liable shall be sentenced to not less than five years but not more than ten years of fixed-term imprisonment and fines.
Where the act provided in Article 138 of the Criminal Law is committed, thus causing safety accidents which fall under either of the following cases, persons directly liable shall be sentenced to not less than three years but not more than seven years of fixed-term imprisonment:
1. having caused three or more deaths or ten or more grievously injured persons, with persons directly liable bearing major liability for the accidents; and
2. falling under the case provided in Item 1, Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Endangering Safety Production (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"), and in the meantime having caused direct economic losses of not less than CNY5 million, with persons directly liable bearing major liability for the accidents, or in the meantime having caused adverse social impact.

Article 8 After a safety accident has occurred, if the person responsible for reporting fails to make a report or makes a false report on the conditions of the accident, thereby delaying the rescue for the accident, and one of the following cases is met, it shall be deemed as "serious circumstances" provided in Article 139A of the Criminal Law:
1. having caused the expansion of the consequences of the accident, having increased the number of deaths by one or more deaths, having increased the number of grievously injured persons by three or more such persons, or having increased the direct economic losses by CNY1 million or more; and
2. having one of the following acts, thereby make it impossible to carry out timely and effective rescue for the accident:
(1) having decided to make no report, postpone a report, or make a false report on the conditions of the accident; or instigating or colluding with others to make no report, postpone a report, or make a false report on the conditions of the accident;
(2) during the period of rescue for the accident, leaving the position without permission or escaping from the position;
(3) having falsified or destroyed the site of the accident, having moved, hidden or destroyed the bodies of the deaths in the accident, or having moved or hidden injured persons; and
(4) having destroyed, falsified, or hidden drawings, records, computer data and other information as well as other evidence related to the accident;
3. other cases with serious circumstances.
If one of the following cases is met, it shall be deemed that "circumstances are particularly serious" as provided in Article 139A of the Criminal Law:
(1) having caused the expansion of the consequences of the accident, having increased the number of deaths by three or more deaths, having increased the number of grievously injured persons by ten or more such persons, or having increased the direct economic losses by not less than CNY5 million;
(2) using violence, coercion, command and other means to prevent others from reporting the accident, which has resulted in the expansion of the consequences of the accident; and
(3) other cases with particularly serious circumstances.

Article 9 Where, after a safety accident has occurred, persons collude with the person responsible for reporting to make no report or to make a false report on the conditions of the accident, thereby delaying the rescue for the accident, and the circumstances are serious, such persons shall be identified as accomplices according to Article 139A of the Criminal Law.

Article 10 After a safety accident has occurred, persons directly in charge and other persons directly liable shall be convicted of intentional homicide or of intentional harm for punishment in accordance with Article 232 and Article 234 of the Criminal Law respectively, if they have deliberately obstructed the rescue, which results in deaths or grievous injuries, or have hidden or abandoned the victims in order to avoid legal liability, which results in deaths or severe disabilities of such victims for having not accepted rescue.

Article 11 Persons who manufacture safety equipment which does not comply with national standards or industry standards for protecting personal and property safety, or sell such safety equipment while clearly knowing the non-compliance fact, resulting in safety accidents and serious consequences, shall be convicted of production or sales of products incompliant with safety standards for punishment in accordance with Article 146 of the Criminal Law.

Article 12 The persons shall be subject to heavier punishments if they commit the offences provided in Article 132 and Articles 134 to 139A of the Criminal Law which fall under one of the following cases:
1. having carried out production and operation activities without obtaining a safety license in accordance with the law, or after the expiration, withholding, revocation or cancellation of the safety license.
2. having turned off or destroyed necessary safety monitoring and alarm equipment;
3. taking no measures for the discovered risks of accidents upon report by relevant departments or individuals;
4. having received administrative penalties or criminal penalties on the grounds of offence of endangering safe production within a year;
5. having adopted fraudulent, bribery and other means to deliberately evade or obstruct safety supervision and administration departments' supervision and inspection;
6. having transferred property with intent to evade liability after a safety accident has occurred; and
7. other circumstances subjecting the persons to heavier punishments.
If any person commits the act in Item 5 of the preceding paragraph, which, in the meantime, constitutes the offence provided in Article 389 of the Criminal Law, the principle of "combined punishment for several offences" shall apply.

Article 13 Where offences in Article 132 and Articles 134 to 139A of the Criminal Law are committed, but the relevant persons have actively organized and participated in the rescue for the safety accidents, or actively assisted in the investigation and taken the initiative to compensate for losses after the accidents have occurred, lighter punishments may be imposed on such persons as appropriate.

Article 14 Where State functionaries, in violation of provisions, invest in production and operation, thereby constituting related offences provided in the Interpretation, or where the offence of embezzlement or bribery by State functionaries is relevant to the occurrence of safety accidents, heavier punishments shall be given; if the offence of embezzlement or bribery is also constituted in addition to the offence of endangering production safety, the principle of "combined punishment for several offences" shall apply.

Article 15 Where the abuse of authority or dereliction of duty by functionaries of State organs in the performance of safety supervision and administration duties has caused serious losses to public property and the interests of the State and the people, or where such functionaries, by playing favoritism, fail to transfer such discovered criminal cases as shall be transferred to judicial organs for criminal prosecution in accordance with the law, if the circumstances are serious, such functionaries shall be convicted of abuse of authority, dereliction of duty, or not transferring criminal cases by playing favoritism for punishment in accordance with Article 397 and Article 402 of the Criminal Law respectively.
Staff of companies, enterprises, and public institutions who abuse authority or commit dereliction of duty in performing statutory or commissioned safety supervision and administration duties, thereby constituting a crime, shall be held criminally liable by the application of the offence of dereliction of duty in accordance with the provisions of the Interpretations of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the Issue of Application of Subjects for the Crime of Dereliction of Duty as Prescribed in Chapter IX of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 16 The offenders of the offence of endangering production safety under reprieve may be forbidden within the probation period from engaging in specific activities related to work safety according to the situation of the offence; offenders who have been sentenced to criminal penalties may be prohibited from engaging in any professions related to work safety within three to five years as of the date of expiration of the criminal penalties or the date of parole, according to the situation of the offence and the needs for preventing a further offence.

Article 17 The Interpretation shall enter into force as of December 16, 2015. Upon the implementation of the Interpretation, the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues concerning the Application of Specific Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Endangering Mine Production Safety (Fa Shi [2007] No.5) shall be repealed simultaneously. The Interpretation shall prevail in case of any inconsistency between any previous judicial interpretations and normative documents issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Interpretation.