Promulgated by: Research Office of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Document No.: Fa Yan [2018] No. 11.
Issued in 2018. Effective in 2018.
To the Research Office of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate:
Your Office’s Letter Soliciting Opinions on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Crime of Infringing upon Citizens’ Personal Information (Gao Jian Yan Han Zi [2018] No. 1) has been received. Upon study, we agree in principle that “citizens’ personal information” as prescribed in Article 253a of the Criminal Law includes not only the personal information of Chinese citizens, but also the personal information of foreign citizens and other stateless persons. The principal considerations are as follows:
(1) In terms of the statutory wording, Article 253a of the Criminal Law provides for “citizens’ personal information” and does not limit it to “the personal information of citizens of the People’s Republic of China”; therefore, “citizens’ personal information” here should not be restricted to the personal information of Chinese citizens.
(2) In terms of legislative intent, the information of foreigners and stateless persons should receive equal protection under the Criminal Law in the same manner as the information of Chinese citizens.
(3) In terms of judicial practice, excluding the personal information of foreign nationals and stateless persons from the protection of the Criminal Law would let crimes go unpunished. In particular, where a case of infringing upon citizens’ personal information involves both the personal information of Chinese citizens and that of foreign citizens and stateless persons, punishing only the portion involving the personal information of Chinese citizens would be neither reasonable nor workable.