On December 30, 2019, the Supreme People's Procuratorate of P.R.China ("SPP") issued the Revised Rules for Criminal Procedure of the People's Procuratorate, which will take effect from the date of issuance.
With a total of 684 articles in 17 chapters, the Revised Rules implement people-centered judicial ideas and strengthen judicial protection of human rights. The Rules rigorously implement the exclusionary rule, improve the regulations on the supervision over the withdrawal of a case after disapproving the arrest, and strictly limit the extension of the period of investigation and custody. The Rules further simplify the work process, improve prosecution efficiency and reduce litigation cost for the litigant. With the guiding principle of “education, reformation, salvation” and the juvenile judicial policy of “education-oriented, punishment-assisted”, the Rules clarify the handling principles of priority protection, special protection and two-way protection.
The Revised Rules describe the procedures for handling cases in the procuratorial stage and improve the handling procedure of cases directly accepted by the people's procuratorate, which improve the link-up between Criminal Procedure Law and relevant laws, Supervision Law and Criminal Procedure Law. It also improves the proceeding of default trial during procuratorial stage.
The Rules implement a judicial responsibility mechanism; improves the case-handling mechanism of the integration of arrest and indicting, makes it clear that the prosecutors or prosecutor team shall not be changed during a case; and improves the supervision over criminal prosecution by the people's procuratorate to ensure the correct implementation of laws.