Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate, Several Questions Concerning the Specific Application of Law to the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving the Production or Sale of Fake or Sub-standard Goods Interpretation

Issued: April 9 2001
Effective: April 10 2001

Main contents: The Interpretation concerns Articles 140 to 148 of the PRC, Criminal Law, which are found under the section of “Crimes of Producing or Selling Fake or Sub-standard Goods? It provides specific definition to terms such as “contamination or adulteration of products? “passing off spurious products as genuine products? “passing off products of poor quality as quality products?and “sub-standard products?in Article 140 of the Criminal Law (Article 1). For cases involving the production or sale of fake medicines, the Interpretation defines what would be “sufficiently capable of seriously endangering human health?or “causing particularly serious harm to human health?(Article 3). For cases involving the production or sale of contaminated food, the Interpretation defines what would be “sufficiently capable of causing serious outbreaks of food poisoning or other severe food-borne diseases?and what kind of accidents should be considered as “having particularly serious consequences? “causing serious harm to human health?or “causing particularly serious harm to human health?(Articles 4 and 5). For cases involving the production or sale of sub-standard medical devices and supplies, the Interpretation defines what would be considered “causing serious harm to human health?and what kind of cases have “particularly serious consequences?or “particularly vile circumstances?(Article 6). For cases involving the production or sale of fake or sub-standard insecticides, veterinary medicines, chemical fertilizers and seeds, the Interpretation defines what are “relatively large? “grave?or “particularly grave?losses in production (Article 7). The Interpretation also stipulates that the maximum penalty shall be given to a crime of producing or selling fake or sub-standard commodities which also involves infringement of intellectual property rights (Article 10).
Related legislation: PRC, Criminal Law (Revised), Dec 25 1999, CLP 1997 No.5 p39 & CLP 2000 No.1 p4 and PRC, Product Quality Law (Revised), July 8 2000, CLP 2000 No.7 p66