Following earlier reforms of the PRC’s anti-corruption rules, China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) has published a proposed amendment to the PRC Criminal Law, for public comments. This expands the reach of official bribery offences, gives more freedom to judges to inflict severe punishments, and generally increases the punishments that can be imposed on individuals who commit bribery offences. It further shows the government’s determination to tackle corruption in China.

Compliance officers should be aware of these changes and should update their compliance policies and best practices correspondingly.

Areas covered include:

• Bribery of ex-officials, relatives or close associates
• Thresholds for embezzlement crimes to become more flexible
• Punishments on bribe-givers increased
• Professional bans on bribe-takers

For more information, please read the update.