Sources of Chinese Evidence Law

The Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) is the starting point for any inquiry about evidence rules, followed closely by the Supreme People’s Court’s most recent interpretation of the CPL and the standalone exclusionary rules mentioned above. Other important regulations and judicial interpretations have been issued in recent years by the Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and various ministries. In addition, some of China’s 34 provincial-level administrative units have issued rules that fill in details not covered by the national rules, for example, specifying what evidence is required to convict a defendant of murder.

Here are links to selected Chinese and English evidence texts:

•  National People’s Congress, 刑事诉讼法  Criminal Procedure Law, 2018  

• Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 刑事诉讼规则  Criminal Procedure Rules, 2019  

• Supreme People’s Court, 最高人民法院关于适用《中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法》的解释  Interpretation Concerning Implementation of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China, 2021   

• Supreme People’s Court 人民法院办理刑事案件庭前会议规程(试行) Provisional Rules for Conducting Pretrial Conferences in Criminal Cases, 2018

• Supreme People’s Court 人民法院办理刑事案件排除非法证据规程(试行) Provisional Rules for Excluding Illegal Evidence in Criminal Cases, 2018

• Supreme People’s Court 人民法院办理刑事案件第一审普通程序法庭调查规程(试行）Provisional Rules for Trial Investigation in First Instance Ordinary Procedure Cases, 2018

• Ministry of Public Security 公安机关办理刑事案件电子数据取证规则 Rules for Collecting Electronic Data as Evidence When Handling Criminal Cases, 2019

• Ministry of Public Security 公安机关办理刑事案件程序规定 Provisions on Police Agency Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases, 2020

The following documents were jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the ministries of Public Security, State Security and Justice:

• 关于办理死刑案件审查判断证据若干问题的规定 Provisions on Certain Issues Concerning Examining and Assessing Evidence in Death Sentence Cases, 2010

• 关于办理刑事案件排除非法证据若干问题的规定 Provisions on Certain Issues Concerning the Exclusion of Illegal Evidence in Criminal Cases, 2010

• 关于推进以审判为中心的刑事诉讼制度改革的意见 Opinions on Advancing the Reform of the Trial-Centered Criminal Procedure System, 2016

• 关于办理刑事案件严格排除非法证据若干问题的规定 Provisions on Certain Issues Concerning the Strict Exclusion of Illegal Evidence in the Handling of Criminal Cases, 2017

The following documents were jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security:

• 关于办理刑事案件收集提取和审查判断电子数据若干问题的规定 Provisions on Certain Issues Concerning Collecting, Taking, Examining, and Assessing Electronic Data in the Handling of Criminal Cases, 2016

• 办理毒品犯罪案件毒品提取、扣押、称量、取样和送检程序若干问题的规定 Provisions on Certain Issues in the Handling of Drug-Related Criminal Cases  Concerning Procedures for Taking, Impounding, Weighing, Sampling, and Submitting Drugs for Inspection, 2016

Here is one example of a provincial-level evidence regulation:

• Jiangsu Province Procuratorate 江苏省人民检察院《故意杀人案件证据审查指引（试行）》Guidance Regarding Examination of Evidence in Murder Cases, 2018