Corporate criminal liability in China: legislation and its deficiency

Abstract

The criminalization of corporate crimes committed by legal entities is not a tradition in the legal system of the People`s Republic of China. Due to the special situation in China, until 1978, the case was covered by the revised Code of Criminal Law as “Crimes Committed by a Unit”. This Chinese way of corporate criminal responsibility is featured by the “Double Punishments” imposed both on the corporation that commits a crime and the people who are directly in charge and responsible for the crime. Nowadays, in Chinese Criminal Law, only one kind of monetary penalty (fine) can be imposed to the corporation that commits a crime, whereas the other penalties such as disclosure of the companies, suspending from some business operations and exclusion from participation in a procurement, all can be imposed as administrative sanctions by the authorities, according to related administrative acts and regulations. As attributable liability, corporate criminal responsibility requires more precise and detailed principles of attribution in the national criminal law. Unfortunately, this degree has not been archived in Chinese Criminal Law yet. The rules related to the corporate criminal liability are also analysed.