Laws of the People's Republic of China

1. These General Rules are formulated to unify the inspection work relating to the entry and exit trains, train crew, passengers, luggage, and articles passengers carry along in order to ensure the safety of driving, to maintain the public order in the border areas, to prevent epidemic diseases from spreading, and to suppress smuggling.

2. The following government organs shall, in accordance with their respective competent scope of operations carry out inspections, at stations in the country's border areas, of the entry and exit trains, train crew, passengers, luggage, and articles passengers carry along.

(1) Public security organs: It shall be responsible for inspecting passengers' passports and other certificates, for safeguarding the operations on trains, and for maintaining the public order in the country's border areas; shall work in cooperation with the Customs Office in inspecting trains, train crew, passengers, luggage, and articles passengers carry along; and, when necessity arises, shall inspect certain suspicious passengers separately.

(2) Quarantine organs: It shall be responsible for inspection and prevention of diseases and epidemic diseases on trains and among train crew and passengers.

(3) Customs offices: It shall be responsible for inspecting trains, train crew, passengers, luggage, and articles passengers carry along, for smuggled goods; and when necessary, it shall inspect passengers suspicious of smuggling individually.

Other government organs, unless specially authorized by the Government Administrative Council, are not permitted to conduct inspections.

3. To carry out the inspection of the entry and exit trains, train crew, passengers, luggage, and articles passengers carry along, the railway authorities shall notify all inspection units concerned to effect a coordinated inspection at a specified time in accordance with the stipulations in the preceding article; if no special situation occurs, the inspection shall be made, in principle, just once.

4. In principle, inspections are not carried out on board the trains; when necessity arises, however, a coordinated inspection shall be carried out on board the trains by the public security organ, the Customs office and the quarantine organ; the working procedures for such a coordinated inspection shall be worked out by the organs concerned through consultation.

5. The inspection of foreign diplomatic personnel shall be carried out in accordance with the pertinent provisions promulgated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Central People's Government.

6. In principle, inspections are not carried out on board the domestic trains, except by the public security organ; however, inspections shall be carried out by the organs concerned through the railway authorities under either of the following two circumstances.

(1) When trains running from or to epidemic-stricken areas, or when epidemic cases or deaths from epidemic diseases occur on the train, and the quarantine organ considers it necessary to make an inspection;

(2) When the train is running close to border area where smuggling is rampant, or when suspicious cases of smuggling arise and the Customs office considers it necessary to make an inspection.

7. At all stations on the country's borders, the public security organ shall be responsible for calling and presiding over regular meetings on the coordination in inspection work; and all organs concerned shall discuss problems that crop up during the inspections, and exchange views on how to coordinate their actions, to work in close cooperation under division of competence, and to simplify operative procedures.

8. Government inspection personnel shall wear uniforms and the badges and armbands issued by their respective organs.

9. The term inspection, as mentioned in these General Rules, refers to the inspection provisions listed in the various items in Article 2 of these General Rules. Other provisions of inspection, such as the control of cargo shipment and the inspection and examination of goods for taxation as executed by the Customs office, shall be executed by various organs concerned in accordance with the existing relevant provisions.

10. All the inspection organs concerned under the Central Government shall, in accordance with their respective competent scope of operations, send immediately to the Ministry of Railways the regulations and decrees concerning the prohibitions, restrictions and bans to be imposed on the railway transportation of passengers and cargos; and the same procedure shall be followed when amendments are made.

11. These General Rules shall go into effect after their promulgation by the Government Administrative Council. If any former inspection procedures adopted in various regions conflict with these General Rules, the former shall be abolished.