CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Haitao (Harry) Liu, King & Wood Mallesons
Significant Changes in Criminal Investigation Procedural Rules Amendment of the PRC Supervision Law On 25 December 2024, the Standing Committee of the PRC National People’s Congress issued the amended version of the Supervision Law. The Supervision Law aims to strengthen oversight of public officials and combat corruption through a national supervision system and this amendment came into effect on 1 June 2025. It added provisions breaking through the restrictions on the dispatch of supervisory agencies or supervisors to vertically managed or dual-led units, thus resolving the “supervision blind spots” of the ver - tical management system to achieve full supervision that covers all aspects horizontally and vertically. The amendment also added provisions covering compul - sory appearance, protective custody (seven plus three days), orders to await investigation, etc. On top of all these amendments, the change to the detention period is the most notable and significant for future investigations. Article 48 mandates the following: “ The detention period shall not exceed three months. Under particular circumstances, the period may be extended once for not more than three months. If a supervision authority at or below the provincial level extends the detention period, the extension shall be reported to the supervision authority at the next high- er level for approval. If the supervision authority finds that it is inappropriate to take the detention measure or it is unnecessary to continue taking the detention measure, it shall promptly lift or change the detention measure to an order to await investigation. Where the person under investigation for suspected crimes by state personnel may be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment of ten years or more, and the supervision authority still cannot conclude the investi- gation upon the expiration of the extension specified in the preceding paragraph, the period may be extended for another two months with the approval or by deci- sion of the National Supervision Commission. If a supervision authority at or above the provincial level finds in the course of its investigation that the
person under investigation for suspected state per- sonnel crimes has committed another major state per- sonnel crime different from the crime for which he or she has been detained, or the same kind of major state personnel crime affecting the determination of criminal charges and sentencing range, with the approval or by decision of the National Supervision Commission, the detention period shall be recalculated from the date of discovery according to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article. The detention period shall be recal- culated only once. ” Based on the above new amendment, the detention period may last as long as 14 months. The advan - tages to the investigating authorities of prolonging the detention period need no explanation. It will give the supervision authority great latitude in investigat - ing complex cases. Meanwhile, the strict extension approval procedures display the cautiousness in mak - ing the decision. Any extension above six months shall be decided by the National Supervision Commission. Other likely results of the amendment also cannot be neglected. First, the amendments will impact the psy - chological state of the detainees particularly because of their lack of access to external counsel throughout the whole course of the investigation by the super - vision commission, and some will inevitably fall into the situation of the “prisoner’s dilemma”. This will in turn test the reliability of the detainees’ confessions obtained during the extension period and fuel further challenges to judgments made against this backdrop, which existed even before the law was amended. In addition, the negative impact to the stability of a com - pany’s operations may be significant if the controller of the company is detained for such a long time. To take special caution before making such a decision is an entirely reasonable step under these circumstances. No more “distant-water fishing” Chinese companies have long been bothered and dis - tressed by the far-reaching arms of the law enforce - ment authorities of other jurisdictions, particularly in criminal investigations by the police. Such conduct is widely referred to as “distant-water fishing”. Apart from the Criminal Law, the Regulations on the Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Authorities by the Ministry of Public Security
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