[Important Interpretation] The new regulations of the Ministry of Public Security are aimed at "distant-sea fishing"! The chaos of "arresting people across provinces" is finally going to be rectified!

In recent years, the calls against "distant-sea fishing" and "profit-seeking law enforcement" have become increasingly louder.

But the three-foot-thick ice is not formed overnight. From a practical perspective, there are many reasons for this phenomenon. For example, due to financial pressure in some regions, case handlers need to "find rice to cook" and look for cases that can create economic benefits, "enforcing the law for profit."

Another important reason is that China's criminal jurisdiction regulations are too broad, and the "jurisdiction over anything that has anything to do with it" regulations provide a legal basis for "distant-sea fishing."

At the same time, since the second half of 2024, we have also seen the judicial system take frequent actions to effectively curb distant-water fishing, such as the "Prosecution to Protect Enterprises" special action launched by procuratorates in various places, and the national procuratorate's deployment of "special judicial supervision of illegal law enforcement in other places and profit-seeking law enforcement".

However, the most powerful one is the new regulation issued by the Ministry of Public Security in March 2025 [1]. The implementation of this regulation will curb distant-water fishing at the source and effectively prevent some local public security organs from abusing their jurisdiction over cases and conducting profit-seeking law enforcement in pursuit of economic interests.

This article interprets the new regulations.

Author: Lawyer Shao Shiwei

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About Jurisdiction

New regulations from the Ministry of Public Security

How is it stipulated?

The new regulations clarify that the jurisdiction of cross-provincial criminal cases is based primarily on the location of the main crime, supplemented by the location of the enterprise .

What are the current regulations on the jurisdiction of criminal cases in our country?

According to the "Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Organs (Revised in 2020)", criminal cases are under the jurisdiction of the public security bureau at the place where the crime was committed or the place where the criminal suspect resides.

The crime location includes the location where the crime occurs and the location where the crime results. The location where the crime occurs includes the location where the crime is committed, as well as the location where the crime is prepared, started, passed through, and ended. If the crime is continuous, ongoing, or ongoing, all locations where the crime is continuously, ongoing, or ongoing are considered the location where the crime occurs. The location where the crime results occur includes the location where the crime object is violated, the location where the proceeds of the crime are actually obtained, hidden, transferred, used, and sold.

The place of residence includes the place of household registration and the place of habitual residence. The place of habitual residence refers to the place where a citizen has lived continuously for more than one year after leaving the place of household registration, except for hospitalization for medical treatment. The registered place of residence of the unit is its place of residence. If the main place of business or the location of the main office is inconsistent with the registered place of residence, the main place of business or the location of the main office is its place of residence.

With regard to cybercrime , the public security organs may have jurisdiction over the location of the server used to commit the crime, the location of the network service provider, the location of the compromised network information system and its manager, the location of the network information system used by the criminal suspect and the victim during the crime, the location where the victim was violated, and the location where the victim's property suffered losses.

According to the 2018 "Several Provisions on the Handling of Economic Crime Cases by Public Security Organs", economic crime cases that are mainly committed using communication tools, the Internet and other technical means shall be under the jurisdiction of the public security organ that initially discovered and accepted the case or the public security organ at the main crime location.

There are too many words above, let me give you an example to help you understand:

In the article " How should enterprises save themselves in the face of profit-seeking law enforcement of "distant-sea fishing"? ", Lawyer Shao mentioned what characteristics enterprises that are easily targeted by "distant-sea fishing" have? Usually, they are mainly non-local private enterprises with certain economic strength. In addition, in today's society with developed networks, private enterprises with network-based operations registered and operated in economically developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen often become eligible fishing targets because of their good economic benefits.

For example, an Internet company registered in Shenzhen and operating in Shenzhen on a daily basis developed a national-level game app with users all over the country. One day, the law enforcement department of a fifth-tier city thousands of kilometers away suddenly came to the company, claiming that the game developed by the company involved gambling, and forcibly detained all the company's employees and escorted them to the local area for interrogation.

According to the current "Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Public Security Organs (Revised in 2020)", the case-handling unit can "take charge as long as it is involved", and the parties can hardly question whether the local case-handling unit has jurisdiction over the case. For example, asking local users to make a report and claiming that they were defrauded by the platform is very common in some cases handled by Lawyer Shao.

Even according to the above-mentioned 2018 regulations, even if the local area has no jurisdiction, since it is the public security agency that " first discovered " the crime, the local law enforcement department has jurisdiction granted by law. This is too scary, and they can manage it without "being involved".

What problems will arise from overly broad jurisdictional provisions?

• For cases with economic benefits, it triggers a "competition" for jurisdiction among law enforcement agencies in different regions;

• For obvious cases of "profit-seeking law enforcement", defense lawyers find it difficult to adopt corresponding defense strategies from the perspective of jurisdiction in the face of realistic legal grounds;

• When the goal of handling criminal cases changes from "fighting crime" to "pursuing economic benefits", can local authorities handle cases in accordance with the law and in a fair manner? Is it possible that unjust, false and wrongful convictions may occur?

• The cases involved are new types of cases or criminal cases that require higher investigation and evidence collection by public security organs (such as criminal cases involving blockchain and web3).

  ), and as the case-handling units in fourth- and fifth-tier cities thousands of kilometers away, who went to the companies involved in the case to conduct "distant-sea fishing", do they have the relevant professional knowledge and technical means?

  To investigate such cases?

For example, the case of Xing Yanjun ( Trading life for innocence - thoughts triggered by the case of a Beijing programmer pointing out abnormal death during residence ) is a typical example of tragedy caused by the abuse of jurisdiction by the case-handling department, which urgently needs to be reflected upon.

The new regulations clarify that the jurisdiction of cross-provincial criminal cases is based on the principle of the main crime location, supplemented by the location of the enterprise. So for the Shenzhen enterprise mentioned above, since its daily operations and registered place are both in Shenzhen, it should be under the jurisdiction of the local Shenzhen public security.

The new regulations also stipulate that for reported cases, if it is found that they should be under the jurisdiction of other provinces, they should be transferred to the public security organs in the location of the enterprise.

Therefore, even if the case-handling unit in a fifth-tier city claims that there is a so-called "victim" in their area who has reported the case, then according to the new regulations, the reporting unit should transfer the report materials to the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau for jurisdiction and should not continue investigating the case.

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Facing “distant-sea fishing”

What are the companies

Remedies?

In the article " How should enterprises save themselves in the face of profit-seeking law enforcement of the "distant-sea fishing" type? ", Lawyer Shao gave relevant suggestions, mentioning that in the face of profit-seeking law enforcement by public security organs, enterprises can take a series of countermeasures to take precautions beforehand and respond and deal with them during and after the event.

Now, in combination with the new regulations and the latest policies, Lawyer Shao continues to summarize the following relevant suggestions for everyone:

1. Submit an objection to the jurisdiction of the public security organ and have the right to appeal

According to the new regulations, law enforcement agencies should promptly accept and investigate and verify jurisdictional objections raised by parties and defense counsel in cross-provincial business-related cases. If the objection is deemed invalid, they should be informed of their right to appeal.

2. Dial "12389" to report a complaint

According to the new regulations, those who violate the regulations and manufacture jurisdiction will be held accountable according to law.

3. Log in to 12389 China Procuratorate Network to file a complaint

In early April 2025, the Supreme People's Procuratorate opened a " Special Supervision Zone for Illegal Law Enforcement in Other Places and Profit-Seeking Law Enforcement and Judicial Supervision of Enterprises" on the 12309 China Procuratorate Network. Parties can log in to report 10 types of appeals, including crimes suspected of infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, and criminal cases involving enterprises that should be filed but are not filed, or should not be filed but are filed, or should be withdrawn but are not withdrawn.

(Photo source: Internet)

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Conclusion

According to media reports[2], since the new regulations were issued in March 2025, local public security systems have been intensively organizing study and implementation of the regulations, and public security organs in many places are currently carrying out special operations based on the new regulations.

As a criminal lawyer, I sincerely hope that the new regulations can be truly implemented, so that the victims of "distant-sea fishing" can be reborn, and every ordinary person can feel that the rule of law is constantly improving, and their individual rights and interests are being increasingly fully protected!

[1] Internal regulations: Due to platform rules, mentioning the name will result in this article not being published.

[2] Prevent “distant-sea fishing”-style law enforcement! The Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Public Security speak out https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/xlmZTpAvHaafczKdZfeI-A

"This article is an original article by lawyer Shao Shiwei. It only represents the personal views of the author and does not constitute legal consultation or legal opinion on specific matters. For article reprinting, legal consultation, and peer communication, please add: sswls66"