英文： Extradition Law of the People’s Republic of China
Extradition Law of the People’s Republic of China
(Adopted at the 19th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress on December 28, 2000)
Order of the President of the People’s Republic of China No.42

The Extradition Law of the People’s Republic of China, adopted at the 19th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress on December 28, 2000, is hereby promulgated and shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.

Jiang Zemin President of the People’s Republic of China December 28, 2000

Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Request Made to the People’s Republic of China for Extradition

Section 1 Conditions for Request for Extradition

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purpose of ensuring normal extradition, strengthening international cooperation in punishing crimes, protection the lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations, safeguarding national interests and maintaining public order.

Article 2 This Law is applicable to extradition conducted between the People’s Republic of China and foreign states.

Article 3 The People’s Republic of China cooperates with foreign states in extradition on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

No cooperation in extradition may impair the sovereignty, security or public interests of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 4 The People’s Republic of China and foreign states shall communicate with each other through diplomatic channels for extradition.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China is designated as the communicating authority for extradition.

Where in an extradition treaty there are special provisions to govern the communication authority, the provisions there shall prevail.

Article 5 In handling cases of extradition, compulsory measures including detention, arrest and residential surveillance may, depending on the circumstances, be taken against the person sought.

Article 6 The terms used in this Law are defined as follows:

(1)"the person sought "refers to the person for whom a request for grant of extradition is made by a requesting state;

(2)"the person extradited" refers to the person extradited from the requested state to the requesting state;
(3)"extradition treaty" refers to a treaty on extradition, which is concluded between the People’s Republic of China and a foreign state or to which both the People’s Republic of China and a foreign state are parties, or any other treaty which contains provisions in respect of extradition.

Chapter II Request Made to the People’s Republic of China for Extradition

Section 1 Conditions for Extradition

Article 7 Request for extradition made by a foreign state to the People’s Republic of China may be granted only when it meets the following conditions;

(1)the conduct indicated in the request for extradition constitutes an offence according to the laws of both the People’s Republic of China and the Requesting State; and

(2)where the request for extradition is made for the purpose of instituting criminal proceedings, the offence indicated in the request for extradition is, under the laws of both the People’s Republic of China and the Requesting State, punishable by a fixed term of imprisonment for one year or more or by any other heavier criminal penalty; where the request for extradition is made for the purpose of executing a criminal penalty, the period of sentence that remains to be served by the person sought is at least six months at the time when the request is made.

If the request for extradition concerns miscellaneous offences which conform to the provisions of subparagraph (1) of the preceding paragraph, as long as one of the offences conforms to the provisions of subparagraph (2) of the preceding paragraph, extradition may be granted for all of those offences.

Article 8 The request for extradition made by a foreign state to the People’s Republic of China shall be rejected if :

(1)the person sought is a national of the People’s Republic of China under the laws of the People’s Republic of China;

(2)at the time request is received, the judicial organ of the People’s Republic of China has rendered an effective judgement or terminated the criminal proceedings in respect of the offence indicated in the request for extradition;

(3)the request for extradition is made for a political offence, or the People’s Republic of China has granted asylum to the person sought;
(4)the person sought is one against whom penal proceedings instituted or punishment may be executed for reasons of that person’s race, religion, nationality, sex, political opinion or personal status, or that person may, for any of those reasons, be subjected to unfair treatment in judicial proceedings;

(5)the offence indicated in the request for extradition is a purely military offence under the laws of the People’s Requesting of China or the laws of the Requesting State;

(6)the person sought is, under the laws of the People’s Republic of China or the laws of the Requesting State, immune from criminal responsibility because, at the time the request is received, the limitation period for prosecution the offence expires or the person is pardoned, or for other reasons;

(7)the person sought has been or will probably be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or humiliation treatment or punishment in the Requesting State;

(8)the request for extradition is made by the Requesting State on the basis of a judgement rendered by default, unless the Requesting State undertakes that the person sought has the opportunity to have the case retried under conditions of his presence.

Article 9 The request for extradition made by a foreign state to the People’s Republic of China may be rejected if:

(1)the People’s Republic of China has criminal jurisprudence over the offence indicated in the request and criminal proceedings are being instituted against the person or preparations are being made for such proceedings; or

(2)extradition is incompatible with humanitarian considerations in view of the age, health or other conditions of the person sought.

Section 2 Submission of the Request for Extradition

Article 10 The request for extradition made by the Requesting State shall be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 11 The Requesting State shall present a letter of request for extradition which shall specify:

(1)the name of the requesting authority;

(2)the name, sex, age, nationality, category and number of identification documents, occupation, characteristics of appearance, domicile and residence of the person sought and other information that may help to identify and search for the person;
(3)facts of the offence, including the time, place, conduct and outcome of the offence; and

(4)legal provisions on adjudgement, measurement of penalty and pres cription for prosecution.

Article 12 A letter of request for extradition submitted by the Requesting State shall be accompanied by:

(1)where extradition is requested for the purpose of instituting criminal proceedings, a copy of the warrant of arrest or other document with the same effect; where extradition is requested for the purpose of executing criminal punishment, a copy of legally effective written judgment or verdict, and where part of punishment has already been executed, a statement to such an effect; and

(2)the necessary evidence of the offence or evidentiary material.

The Requesting State shall provide the photographs and fingerprints of the person sought and other material in its control which may help to identify that person.

Article 13 The letter of request for extradition and other relevant documents submitted by the Requesting State in accordance with the provisions of this Section shall be officially signed or sealed by the competent authority of the Requesting State and be accompanied by translations in Chinese or other languages agreed to by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China.

Article 14 The Requesting State shall make the following assurances when requesting extradition:

(1)no criminal responsibility shall be investigated against the person in respect of the offences committed before his surrender except for which extradition is granted, nor shall that person be re-extradited to a third state, unless consented by the People’s Republic of China, or unless that person has not left the Requesting State within 30 days from the date the proceedings in respect of the offence for which extradition is requested are terminated, or the person completes his sentence or is released before the sentence expires, or after leaving the country the person has returned of his own free will; and

(2)where after submitting the request for extradition, the Requesting State withdraws or waives it, or it is a mistake for the Requesting State to submit such a request, the Requesting State shall bear the responsibility for the harm thus done to the person.
Article 15 Where there is no extradition treaty to go by, the Requesting State shall make a reciprocity assurance.

Section 3 Examination of the Request for Extradition

Article 16 Upon receiving the request for extradition from the Requesting State, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall examine whether the letter of request for extradition and the accompanying documents and material conform to the provisions of Section 2 in Chapter II of this Law and the provisions of extradition treaties.

The Higher People’s Court designated by the Supreme People’s Court shall examine whether the request for extradition made by the Requesting State conforms to the provisions of this Law and of extradition treaties regarding conditions for extradition and render a decision on it.

The decision made by the Higher People’s Court is subject to review by the Supreme People’s Court.

Article 17 Where two or more states request extradition of the same person for the same or different conducts, the order of priority of the request for extradition shall be determined upon considering the factors such as the time when those requests for extradition are received by the People’s Republic of China and the fact whether there are extradition treaties between the People’s Republic of China and the Requesting States to go by.

Article 18 Where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after examination, believes that the request for extradition submitted by the Requesting State does not conform to the provisions of Section 2 in Chapter II of this Law or the provisions of extradition treaties, it may ask the Requesting State to furnish supplementary material within 30 days.

The time limit may be extended for 15 days at the request of the Requesting State.

If the Requesting State fails to provide supplementary material within the time limit mentioned above, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall terminate the extradition case. The Requesting State may make a fresh request for extradition of the person for the same offence.

Article 19 Where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after examination, believes that the request for extradition submitted by the Requesting State conforms to the provisions of Section 2 in Chapter II of this Law and the provisions of extradition treaties, it shall transmit the letter of request for extradition and the accompanying documents and material to the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.