Clear! Since January 8, the violation of epidemic prevention and control measures are no longer criminalized and punished

January 7, 2023January 7, 2023

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On January 7, 2023, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the “Notice on Appropriate Handling of Criminal Cases in Accordance with the Adjustment of the New Phase of Epidemic Prevention and Control Policy”.

The Notice clarifies that since January 8, 2023, the implementation of the new coronavirus infection “category B B control”, no longer included in the management of quarantine infectious diseases, for violations of the new coronavirus infection epidemic prevention, control measures and cross-border health and quarantine regulations, no longer under Article 330 of the Criminal Law obstructing the prevention and control of infectious diseases, Article 312 of the crime of obstructing cross-border health. Article 32 of the crime of obstructing the sanitary and quarantine of the state border conviction and punishment. The relevant cases currently being handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of China’s criminal law and criminal procedure law, and properly handled in a timely manner. Criminal suspects, defendants in custody, the case authorities shall be promptly released from custody compulsory measures in accordance with the law; property involved in the case was seized, seized, frozen, should be promptly lifted in accordance with the law.

The notice emphasizes the need to fully and accurately implement the criminal policy of leniency and severity. To violate the personal safety of medical personnel, disrupt the normal medical order and serious harm to elderly institutions, social welfare institutions and other key institutions of prevention and control order, the epidemic-related drugs, testing reagents and other counterfeit, smuggling and trafficking, price gouging and other serious harm, the nature of the crime, according to the law to severely punish, and resolutely maintain national security and social stability. For minor criminal cases involving epidemics, the focus is on easing and resolving contradictions, implementing the criminal justice policy of less arrests and cautious prosecutions, and integrating the focus on retroactive governance, restoring social order, and promoting social harmony and stability into the judicial handling of cases.