Legal basis: People's Republic of China (PRC) Criminal Law.
Article 219 Whoever commits one of the following acts of infringing on trade secrets, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years and shall also, or shall only, be fined; If the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined: (1) obtaining the business secrets of the obligee by theft, bribery, fraud, coercion, electronic intrusion or other improper means; (2) disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets of the obligee obtained by means of the preceding paragraph; (3) disclosing, using or allowing others to use the business secrets in their possession in violation of confidentiality obligations or the requirements of the obligee to keep business secrets. In the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, anyone who knowingly obtains, discloses, uses or allows others to use the trade secret shall be regarded as infringing on the trade secret theory. The obligee mentioned in this article refers to the owner of the business secret and the user of the business secret with the permission of the owner. Article 219-1 Whoever steals, spies on, buys or illegally provides business secrets for overseas institutions, organizations or personnel shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and shall also, or shall only, be fined; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and fined.
Article 220 Where a unit commits the crimes specified in Articles 213 to 219 of this section, it shall be fined, and the persons who are directly in charge and other persons who are directly responsible shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of this section.