Supreme People's Procuratorate

Origins The most rudimentary version of the Supreme People's Procuratorate was established in September 1949 with the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Central People's Government. Initially titled the "People's Prosecutor-General's Office", the Supreme People's Procuratorate was the first national agency tasked with the supervision of the law in the newly founded People's Republic of China. The new Procuratorate was formally enacted in the 1954 State Constitution subsequently adopted by the Congress, Reflecting this sentiment, the Supreme People's Procuratorate was abolished from the 1975 State Constitution alongside all other procuratorates. The Supreme People's Procuratorate was subsequently re-established in 1978 via the reinstatement of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates in the 1978 State Constitution. Its renewal served as a mechanism for the Party to oversee and prevent misconduct within the administration. In a trial led by the serving Prosecutor-General Huang Huoqing, the defendants were found guilty of plotting a coup to overthrow the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution. These changes occurred primarily in response to the reform and opening up as a socialist market economy, a development instigated by Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992. Four of these offices were established to handle the prosecution of various types of criminal cases. Anti-corruption enforcement In 1979, the Supreme People's Procuratorate began its involvement in the investigation and prosecution of corruption by establishing a specialized department to investigate economic crimes. However, the Procuratorate's supervision of corruption was later streamlined by legislation from the National People's Congress in late 2014, which resulted in the amalgamation of the agency's three anti-corruption departments into a single anti-corruption authority. Pursuant to the memorandum, the Bureau provides Alibaba and Ant Group with access to criminal records from bribery cases and Alibaba and Ant Group query those records including during verification of Taobao sellers and in connection with anti-money laundering initiatives and financial risk controls. The Supreme People's Procuratorate role in anti-corruption enforcement was largely rescinded, with all these responsibilities directly transferred to the new National Supervisory Commission. The Procuratorate's anti-corruption personnel saw a similar transition. == Powers and jurisdiction ==

The Supreme People's Procuratorate serves as the highest prosecutorial power in the People's Republic of China, overseeing the nation's local and special procuratorates. As determined by the Organic Law, the primary function of the Procuratorate is to suppress illegal activities, particularly those which undermine the interests of China's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party. The agency does not oversee the prosecution of cases from the special administrative regions of Hong Kong or Macau, except those that are investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. As specified in the Constitution of China, the Supreme People's Procuratorate nominally exerts its powers independently, without interference from "any administrative organ, social organization or individual." However, like the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate must report to the National People's Congress, the highest state body in China. Prosecution and litigation The Supreme People's Procuratorate acts as a public prosecutor by handling both the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases in court, Such systems are also seen in Japan and socialist legal systems. Further guidance refines prosecutorial obligations toward defense counsel. In 2023, justice agencies issued the Ten Opinions on Protecting Lawyers’ Practice Rights in Accordance With Law, which in American and British would translate to Guidelines for Prosecutorial Conduct Toward Defense Counsel. The guidelines require prosecutors to use a centralized case-management system to administer attorney access to clients and discovery requests, provide notice to defense counsel of procedural actions, and ensure a right to be hear, particularly before pretrial detention or plea decisions. They also provide for internal oversight and complaint procedures, including a prosecutor liaison or on-site office in detention facilities and expedited timelines for attorney access complaints, which are incorporated into performance evaluations linked to compliance with attorney access policies and may lead to disciplinary sanctions for prosecutorial staff who violate attorney or defendant rights. In addition to its prosecutorial authority, the agency has also developed prosecutorial tools to influence how corporate defendants are administered. In 2022, the chief prosecutor's office issued the Measures on Compliance Establishment, Assessment, and Review for Enterprises Involved in Criminal Cases (Provisional), which in American and British English translate to the Criminal Corporate Compliance Remediation, Assessment, and Review Interim Procedures. The procedures specify how prosecutors should use corporate compliance remediation to inform criminal case disposition. Under these procedures, independent compliance monitors assess whether an implicated entity has effectively ceased illegal conduct, uses internal compliance policies, and mitigated risks. Prosecutors then review the assessment reports. Where the assessment meets the provided criteria, the prosecutor's office may lawfully take the compliance results into account in deciding whether to arrest, modify pretrial restrictions, decline to prosecute, or recommend more lenient sentencing or administrative penalties. Legal supervision The Supreme People's Procuratorate conducts reviews of rulings and investigations performed by local and special procuratorates. Additionally, for all types of cases, the Procuratorate may protest any rulings of the lower people's courts that it deems inappropriate or flawed by lodging a formal appeal with the Supreme People's Court. Despite theoretically possessing less legal authority than the law, academics C.H. van Rhee and Yulin Fu perceive the Procuratorate's judicial interpretations as being "almost as effective as law" in court. Material obtained using Shuanggui was passed onto the Procuratorate and used in the prosecution of party members. As of March 2018, the Supreme People's Procuratorate no longer performs these responsibilities. These powers have instead been assumed by the National Supervisory Commission, which campaigns against corruption in conjunction with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the anti-graft agency of the Chinese Communist Party. Some academics prompted that these changes have reduced the overall power of the Procuratorate. == Organisation ==

The Supreme People's Procuratorate is led by a Procurator-General, who serves as the Chief Grand Prosecutor and President of the Procuratorate. The National People's Congress also carries the executive ability to remove a serving Prosecutor-General from power. All other members of the Procuratorate are appointed by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Various additional departments, such as the Political Work Department, also exist within the Procuratorate, to oversee additional affairs. Several subordinate institutions are also directly affiliated with the Procuratorate. Executive bodies • Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate • Office of the Prosecutor General Internal departments Subordinate institutions • Supreme People's Procuratorate Service Center • The Procuratorate Daily (newspaper) • China Procuratorate Publishing House • Procuratorate Technology Information Research Center • Procuratorate Theory Research Institute • State Procurators College == See also ==