Laws of the People's Republic of China

the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China

No. 56

The Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (II), which was adopted at the Twenty-third Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on August 31, 2001, is promulgated hereby and shall come into force as of the date of its promulgation.

the President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin

August 31, 2001

Amendment to the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (II)

In order to punish the crime of reclaiming land by destroying forest and the crime of recklessly occupying or arbitrarily using forested land, and to earnestly protect the forest resource, Article 342 of the Criminal Law is amended to be the following one.

"Whoever, in violation of the regulations on land administration, unlawfully occupies cultivated land, forestland or other land used for agriculture, and change the use of the occupied land, if the area involved is relatively large and a large area of such land is damaged, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only be fined."

This Amendment shall come into force as of the date of its promulgation.