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Author of this article: Attorney Shao Shiwei

 

 

Acts involving the forgery, alteration, or buying and selling of certificates and seals are

subject to relevant provisions under the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Law on Administrative Penalties for Public Security.

 

 

 

·01·

 

Criminal Law

 

Article 280 [Crime of forging, altering, or buying and selling official documents, certificates, or seals of state organs; Crime of stealing, snatching, or destroying official documents, certificates, or seals of state organs] Whoever forges, alters, buys, sells, steals, snatches, or destroys official documents, certificates, or seals of state organs shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance,

or deprivation of political rights, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are serious, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and a fine.

[Crime of forging seals of companies, enterprises, institutions, or people’s organizations] Whoever forges seals of companies, enterprises, institutions, or people’s organizations shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights, and shall also be fined.

[Crime of forging, altering, or buying and selling identity documents] Whoever forges, alters, buys, or sells resident identity cards, passports, social security cards, driver’s licenses, or other certificates that may legally be used to prove identity shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are serious, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven

years, and a fine.

Article 280-1 [Crime of using false identity documents or misappropriating identity documents] In activities where proof of identity is required pursuant to state regulations, whoever uses forged or altered resident identity cards, passports, social security cards, driver’s licenses, or other certificates that may legally be used to prove identity, or misappropriates another person’s such certificates, if the circumstances are serious,

shall be sentenced to criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined or solely fined.

Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 52 provides: “Any person who commits any of the following acts shall be detained for not less than 10 days but not more than 15 days, and may additionally be fined not more than RMB 1,000; if the circumstances are relatively minor, the person shall be detained for not less than 5 days but not more than 10 days, and may additionally be fined not more than RMB 500:

(1) forging, altering, or buying or selling official documents, certificates, certification documents, or seals of state organs, people’s organizations, enterprises, public institutions,

or other organizations;

(2) buying or selling, or using, forged or altered official documents, certificates, or certification documents of state organs, people’s organizations, enterprises, public institutions, or other organizations;

 

With respect to the boundary between criminal penalties and public security administration penalties, the demarcation between these two forms of liability is relatively blurred in practice.

 

 

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Public Security Administration Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China (2012 Amendment)

Article 2: Where an act disturbs public order, endangers public safety, infringes upon personal rights or property rights, or obstructs social administration, and is socially harmful, if it constitutes a crime under the provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law; if it does not warrant criminal punishment, the public security organ shall impose public security administration penalties in accordance with this Law.

penalty.

Criminal Law

Article 13 [Concept of Crime] All acts that endanger state sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, split the State, subvert the political power of the people’s democratic dictatorship and overthrow the socialist system, disrupt social order and economic order, infringe upon state-owned property or property collectively owned by the working masses, infringe upon citizens’ privately owned property, infringe upon citizens’ personal rights, democratic rights, and other rights, as well as other acts that endanger society and should be subject to criminal punishment in accordance with the law, constitute crimes; however, if the circumstances are clearly minor and the harm is not significant, the act shall not be deemed a crime.

Any act that infringes upon citizens' personal rights, democratic rights, and other rights, as well as any other act endangering society, which is subject to criminal punishment in accordance with the law, constitutes a crime; however, acts where the circumstances are obviously minor and the harm caused is not significant shall not be deemed crimes.

Article 37 [Non-criminal Disposition Measures] Where the circumstances of a crime are minor and criminal punishment is not required, exemption from criminal punishment may be granted; however, depending on the specific circumstances of the case, the offender may be reprimanded, ordered to sign a statement of repentance, make an apology, or provide compensation for losses, or the competent authorities may impose administrative penalties or administrative sanctions.

 

Where motor vehicle driving licenses and registration certificates are involved, the quantitative standards are specified as follows:

 

Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases Related to the Theft, Robbery, Fraud, and Snatching of Motor Vehicles [Fa Shi (2007) No. 11]

Article 2 Whoever forges, alters, or buys or sells three or more motor vehicle driving licenses or registration certificates shall be convicted and punished for the crime of forging, altering, or buying or selling official documents of state organs in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 280 of the Criminal Law, and shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.

Where the number of forged, altered, or bought or sold motor vehicle driving licenses or registration certificates reaches five times or more of the quantity standard specified in the preceding paragraph, it shall constitute "serious circumstances" as provided in Paragraph 1 of Article 280 of the Criminal Law, and the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.

Case Example: Forging Documents Identical to the Originals Still Constitutes a Criminal Offense

 

[Prosecution's Allegations] The defendant, Zhao Qiang, successfully bid for the state-owned land use rights of Plot GY2013-02, located west of Xiangyang Road and south of Beihuan Road in Guoyang County, at a price of RMB 2.15 million, and obtained the State-Owned Land Use Rights Certificate No. Wo Guo Yong (2013) 0671409.

Subsequently, the defendant, Zhao Qiang, purchased two counterfeit State-Owned Land Use Rights Certificates bearing the same plot information and certificate numbers from a document-forger for RMB 400. He used these two forged certificates as collateral to borrow over RMB 3 million from Fang Mou and Zhang Mou respectively between 2013 and 2014. To date, he has failed to repay the loan owed to Fang Mou.

According to the appraisal conducted by the Bozhou Public Security Judicial Appraisal Center: the content on the two State-Owned Land Use Rights Certificates purchased by Zhao Qiang, including the "Special Seal for Land Registration of the People's Government of Guoyang County," ... was not affixed by the same seals as the three specimen seals provided by the Guoyang County Bureau of Land and Resources.

[Defendant's Defense] The defendant, Zhao Qiang, raised no objection to the purchase of the two forged certificates, arguing that he purchased them for exhibition purposes at his construction site.

[Court's Opinion] Regarding the defense counsel's argument that the defendant Zhao Qiang's conduct did not constitute a crime, the Court holds that Zhao Qiang knowingly purchased forged official documents of state organs, thereby disrupting the order of social management. His conduct constitutes the crime of buying and selling official documents of state organs. Therefore, the Court does not accept this part of the defense counsel's argument.

[Court's Judgment] The defendant, Zhao Qiang, is guilty of the crime of buying and selling official documents of state organs and is exempted from criminal punishment.

[Case No.] (2018) Wan 1621 Xing Chu No. 30

 

Case: Illegally obtaining citizens’ personal information to forge motor vehicle driving licenses, thereby committing two offenses, with combined punishment for multiple crimes

 

[Prosecution’s Allegations] In 2018, the defendant Bi Hongfei illegally purchased two forged motor vehicle driving licenses and two motor vehicle registration certificates for use and profit. To obtain illegal benefits, the defendant Bi Hongfei illegally obtained citizens’ personal information for the purpose of forging motor vehicle driving licenses. On January 22, 2019, Bi Hongfei engaged in the forgery

of motor vehicle driving licenses and registration certificates at a hotel, completing the forgery of seven motor vehicle driving licenses, while eight driving licenses remained unfinished and four motor vehicle registration certificates remained unfinished. On January 23, 2019, Bi Hongfei hired another person to use the forged driving licenses to handle traffic violations for others, which was later detected by traffic police.

[Court’s View] The defendant, Bi Hongfei, forged seven vehicle registration certificates (two of which were completed and five were unfinished). His conduct constitutes the crime of forging state organ documents. As he failed to consummate the offense due to reasons beyond his control, it is an attempted crime, for which he shall be subject to criminal punishment.

[Court’s Judgment] The defendant Bi Hongfei was convicted of the crime of forging state organ documents, sentenced to six months’ fixed-term imprisonment and fined RMB 2,000; and convicted of the crime of forging identity documents, sentenced to six months’ fixed-term imprisonment and fined RMB 2,000. It was decided that he shall serve a combined term of ten months’ fixed-term imprisonment and pay a total fine of RMB 4,000.

[Case No.] (2019) Yun 0802 Xing Chu No. 155