(Adopted on May 12, 1994 at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of  the Eighth National People's Congress and promulgated on the same day) Whole document
Law of the People's Republic of China on State Compensation
(Adopted on May 12, 1994 at the Seventh Session of the Standing
Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress and promulgated on thesame day)

Chapter 1 General Principles

Article 1

In conformity with the Constitution, this Law is enacted to protect
citizens, legal persons and other organizations to enjoy the right to
compensation by the state and to promote the state organs to exercise
their functions and powers in accordance with law.

Article 2

If a state organ or a member of its personnel, when exercising
functions and powers in violation of the law, infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen, legal person or other organization and causes damages the aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages from the state in accordance with this Law.
The obligations of state compensation shall be performed by the organs under compensatory obligations stipulated by this Law.

Chapter 2 Administrative Compensation

Section 1: Scope of Compensation

Article 3

The aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages in one of the following circumstances where an administrative organ or its personnel infringes upon his personal rights when exercising functions and powers:
(1) where there is unlawful detention or an unlawful compulsory
administrative measure to restrict the personal freedom of a citizen;
(2) where there is unlawful custody or otherwise unlawful deprivation
of the personal freedom of a citizen;
(3) where such violent act as battery or abetting others in battery
causes bodily injury to or decease of a citizen;
(4) where the use of weapon or police apparatus in violation of laws
causes bodily injury to or decease of a citizen; or
(5) other unlawful acts which cause bodily injury to or decease of a
citizen.

Article 4

The aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages in one of the following circumstances where an administrative organ or its personnel infringes upon his property right when exercising its functions and powers:
(1) imposing an administrative punishment in violation of the law,
such as fining, revocation of a permit or license, order to suspend
production or business operation or confiscation of property and article;
(2) taking a compulsory administrative measure in violation of the law such as sealing up, distraining or freezing of property;
(3) expropriating property and article or apportioning expenses in
violation of rules and regulations of the state; or
(4) other unlawful acts which cause damage to property.

Article 5

The state shall not be liable for compensation in one of the following circumstances:
(1) where the personal act by personnel of the state organ, which does not relate to his exercise of functions and powers;
(2) where the act by a citizen, legal person or other organization
itself causes damage; or
(3) other situations as provided for by law.

Section 2: Claimant for Compensation and Organs for compensatory Obligations

Article 6

The aggrieved citizen, legal person or other organization shall have
the right to claim compensation.
Where the aggrieved citizen is deceased, his successor or other
relatives with maintenance relation shall have the right to claim
compensation.
Where the aggrieved legal person or other organization hasterminated,
the legal person or other organization which succeeds its rights shall have the right to claim compensation.

Article 7

Where an administrative organ and its personnel infringe upon the
lawful rights and interests of a citizen, a legal person or other
organization and cause damage when exercising its administrative functions and powers, the organ shall be responsible for fulfilling compensatory obligations.
Two administrative organs or more which infringe upon the lawful
rights and interests of a citizen, legal person or other organization and cause damage when exercising their joint administrative functions and powers, shall be the organs under joint compensatory obligations.
An organization authorized by law which infringes upon the lawful
rights and interests of a citizen, legal person or other organization and causes damage when exercising its authorized administrative powers, shall be the organ under compensatory obligations.
An organization or individual entrusted by an administrative organ
infringes upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen, legal person or other organization and causes damage when exercising the entrusted administrative powers, shall be the organ under compensatory obligations.
Where the organ for compensatory obligation has been abolished, the
administrative organ that continues to exercise the abolished organ's
functions and powers shall be the organ under compensatory obligation;
where there is no such a continued administrative organ, the
administrative organ that did the abolishment shall be the organ under compensatory obligations.

Article 8

Where the case has been reconsidered by the organ under
reconsideration, the administrative organ which caused the initial damage shall be the organ under compensatory obligations; where the
reconsideration decision by the organ for reconsideration aggravates the damage, the organ for reconsideration shall be liable for the damage resulting from the aggravation part.

Section 3: Procedure of Compensation

Article 9

The organ for compensatory obligations shall pay compensation in one
of the circumstances as provided for in Article 3 and Article 4 of this Law once confirmed in accordance with law.
A claimant shall, first, file a claim for compensation with an organ
under compensatory obligations and may, in the meantime, file a claim
when applying for an administrative reconsideration and instituting an administrative procedure.

Article 10

A claimant may claim compensation from any one of the organs under
joint compensatory obligations and the said organ under compensatory
obligations shall pay compensation first.

Article 11

The claimant may, depending on different injuries suffered, file
several claims for compensation.

Article 12

The claim for compensation shall be filed by presenting an
application, which shall contain the following contents:
(1) name, sex, age, employer and address of the claimant, name and
address of the legal person or other organization and name and post of its legal representative or main person in charge;
(2) the specific claim, factual basis and reasons; and
(3) the date of application.
Where the claimant has difficulty in writing the application, the
claimant may entrust it with other persons or file a verbal application, which shall be recorded in writing by the organ under compensatory obligations.

Article 13

The organ under compensatory obligations shall, within 2 months from
the date of receipt of the application, pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 of this Law; in case of failure by it to pay compensation within the specific period, or where the claimant is not satisfied with the amount of compensation, the claimant may, within 3
months from the date of expiration of the period, bring an action in a people's court.

Article 14

After paying compensation, the organ under compensatory obligations
shall instruct its personnel or the entrusted organization or person who has committed intentional or grave mistake in the case to bear part or all of the expenses for damage.
The competent authorities shall, in accordance with law, impose
administrative sanctions on those responsible persons who have committed intentional or grave mistakes in the case; If the case constitutes a crime, the criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Chapter 3 Criminal Compensation

Section 1: Scope of Compensation

Article 15

Where organs and their personnel which exercise the functions and
powers of detection, prosecution, adjudication and administration of
prison cause any of the following infringements upon personal rights when exercising their functions and powers, the aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages:
(1) a wrong detention of a person without criminal facts or without
facts evidencing the person with gross criminal suspicion;
(2) a wrong arrest of a person without criminal facts;
(3) an adjudication of innocence is given to change an original
sentence in the retrial according to the procedure for trial supervision, and the original sentence of penalty has been executed;
(4) bodily injury to or death of a citizen caused by torture
arrangement or such violent acts as battery or abetting others in battery;
(5) the bodily injury to or decease of a citizen caused by unlawful
use of weapon or police apparatus.

Article 16

Organs and their personnel which exercise the functions and powers of
detection, prosecution, adjudication and administration of prison cause one of the following infringements upon property rights when exercising their functions and powers, the aggrieved person shall have the right to recover damages:
(1) where there is a measure, such as sealing up, distraint, freezing
or recovery of property in violation of law; or
(2) where an adjudication of innocence is given to change an original
sentence in the retrial in accordance with the procedure for retrial
supervision, and the original court supervision of fine or confiscation of property has been executed.

Article 17

The state shall not be responsible for compensation in any of the
following circumstances:
(1) where a citizen was put into custody or was sentenced criminal
penalty because of his intentionally false confession or falsification of other evidence of guilt;
(2) where a person, who shall not bear criminal responsibility in
accordance with Article 14 and Article 15 of the Criminal Law, was put into custody;
(3) where a person, who shall not be prosecuted for criminal
responsibility in accordance with Article 11 of the Criminal procedure Law, was put into custody;
(4) personal act by the personnel of the organs that exercise the
functions and powers of detection, prosecution, adjudication and
administration of prison, which does not relate to his exercise of the said functions and powers;
(5) where the damage was caused by such intentional acts as
self-injuring or self-disabling; or
(6) other situations as provided for by law.

Section 2: Claimant for Compensation and Organ for Compensatory Obligations

Article 18

The claimant for compensation shall be determined in accordance with
Article 6 of this Law.

Article 19

Where organs and their personnel which exercise the functions and
powers of detection, prosecution, adjudication and administration of
prison infringe upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen, legal person or other organization when exercising their functions and powers,
the organs shall be responsible for fulfilling compensatory obligations. The organ which makes a wrong decision to detain a person without criminal facts or a person without facts evidencing gross criminal suspicion shall be the organ for compensatory obligations.
The organ which makes a wrong decision to arrest a person without
criminal facts shall be the organ for compensatory obligations.
Where a sentence is given to change an original judgment in the
retrial, the people's court which made the original effective judgment shall be the organ for compensatory obligations. Where an adjudication of innocence is given to change an original judgment in the second instance, the people's court which made the judgment of first instance and the organ which made the decision of arrest shall be the organ for compensatory obligations.

Section 3: Procedures of Compensation

Article 20

The organ for compensatory obligations shall pay compensation in any
of the circumstances as provided for in Article 15 and Article 16 of this Law when confirmed in accordance with law.
Where the claimant for compensation demands the confirmation of one of the circumstances as provided for in Article 15 and Article 16 of this Law and the demanded organ refuses to make the confirmation, the claimant shall have the right to lodge a complaint.
Where the claimant claims compensation, the claim shall, first, be
lodged to the organ for compensatory obligations.
The procedures of compensation shall apply to the provisions of
Article 10, Article 11 and Article 12 of this Law.

Article 21

The organ for compensatory obligations shall, within 2 months from the date of receipt of the application, pay compensation in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 of this Law; in case of failure by it to pay compensation within the period specified or where the claimant is not satisfied with the amount of compensation, the claimant may, within 30 days from the date of expiration of the time limit, apply for reconsideration by an organ at the next higher level.
Where the organ under compensatory obligations is a people's court,
the claimant for compensation may, pursuant to the provisions of preceding paragraph, apply to the compensation commission of the people's court at the next higher level for a decision of compensation.

Article 22

The organ for reconsideration shall, within 2 months from the date of
receipt of the application, make a decision.
Where the claimant for compensation is not satisfied with the
reconsideration decision, he or she may, within 30 days from the date of receipt of reconsideration decision, apply for a decision of compensation to the compensation commission of the people's court at the same level at the place where the organ for reconsideration is located; Failure by the organ for reconsideration to make a decision within the period specified, the claimant for compensation may, within 30 days from the date of expiration of the time period, apply for a decision of compensation to the compensation commission of the people's court at the same level at the place where the organ for reconsideration is located.

Article 23

An intermediate people's court or the people's court above the
intermediate level shall set up a compensation commission, which shall consist of 3 to 7 judges.
The compensation commission shall make a decision of compensation on
the principle of the minority subordinate to the majority.
Where the decision of compensation by the compensation commission is
of validity of law, it must be executed.

Article 24

Having paid compensation, the organ under compensatory obligations
shall recover part or all of the damages from its personnel in any of the following circumstances:
(1) the circumstances as provided for in Article 15 (4), (5) of this
Law; or
(2) where its personnel embezzle or take bribery and embezzlement or
act wrongly out of personal considerations or commit fraudulent act or bring in judgment by perverting the law.
The competent authorities shall, in accordance with law, impose
administrative sanctions on those responsible persons who fall in one of the circumstances as provided for in (1) and (2) of the proceeding
paragraph; If the case constitute a crime, the criminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Chapter 4 Methods of Compensation and Calculation Standards

Article 25

The main method of state compensation shall be the payment of damages.
Where the property can be returned or can be restored to the original
state, it shall be returned or made restoration to the original state.

Article 26

Where the personal rights of a citizen are infringed upon, the amount
of money for compensation per day shall be calculated according to the average salary per day of the staff of the state in the preceding year.

Article 27

Where the rights of life and health of a citizen are infringed upon,
the amount of money for compensation per day shall be calculated according to the following provisions:
(1) Where bodily injury is caused, medical expenses and compensation
for losses of income for absence from work shall be paid. The amount of money for compensation per day for losses of income shall be calculated according to the average salary per day of the staff of the state in the preceding year. The maximum amount shall be five times as much as the annual average salary of the staff of the state in the preceding year.
(2) Where partial or total loss of the ability to work is caused,
medical expenses and compensation money for disablement shall be paid. The amount of money for compensation for disablement shall be calculated according to the seriousness of loss of the ability to work. The maximum amount of compensation money for partial loss of ability to work shall be ten times as much as the annual average salary of the staff of the state in the preceding year. The maximum amount of compensation money for total loss of ability to work shall be twenty times as much as the annual average salary of the staff of the state in the preceding year. In case of total loss of ability to work, living expenses shall be paid to the person
who is maintained by the aggrieved and without ability to work. and
(3) Where decease is caused, compensation money and funeral expenses
shall be paid, the total amount of which shall be twenty times as much as the annual average salary of the staff of the state in the preceding year.
Living expenses shall be paid to the person who is maintained by the
aggrieved before his or her decease and without ability to work.
The granting of living expenses mentioned in (2) and (3) of the
preceding paragraph shall be made in light of the relevant provisions
concerning subsistence relief promulgated by the local civil
administration department. Should the person maintained be a juvenile, the living expenses shall be paid until the juvenile reaches the age of 18; Should the person be of no ability to work, the living expenses shall be paid until his decease.

Article 28

Where the property rights of a citizen, legal person or other
organization are infringed upon and damage is caused, it shall be dealt with according to the following provisions:
(1) in case of imposition of a fine or penalty, recovery or
confiscation of property, or expropriation of property and article, or appointment of expenses in violation of the provisions of the state, the property shall be returned;
(2) in case of sealing up, distraint and freezing of property and
causing damage or destruction to the property, compensation shall be paid according to the provisions of (3) and (4) of this Article;
(3) in case of damage to the property which should be returned, the
original state shall be restored if it can be done. If the original state can not be restored, corresponding compensation money shall be paid according to the seriousness of the damage;
(4) in case of destruction of the property which should be returned,
corresponding compensation money shall be paid;
(5) in case the property has been auctioned, proceeds from the auction shall be paid;
(6) in case of rescission of a permit or license, order to suspend
production or business operation, compensation shall be paid to cover the necessary current expenses incurred during the suspension period; or
(7) in case of other damages caused to the property, compensation
shall be made in light of direct loss of the property.

Article 29

The expenses for compensation shall be listed in the fiscal budget of
governments at all levels, the detailed rules of which shall be formulated by the State Council.

Chapter 5 Other Provisions

Article 30

Where any of the circumstances as provided for in Article 3 (1) and
(2) and Article 15 (1), (2) and (3) of this Law, is confirmed according to law and causes infringement upon the rights of reputation and honor of the aggrieved person, the organ compensatory obligations shall eliminate the bad effect, rehabilitate the reputation of and make an apology to the aggrieved person to the extent of the infringing acts affected.

Article 31

Where a people's court, in the course of a civil or administrative
procedure, illegally undertakes compulsory measures against impairment of action, preservative measures or wrongfully executes the judgment or award or other legal effective documents and which causes damages, the procedure for the claim of compensation by the claimant shall apply to the provisions of this Law concerning the procedures of criminal compensation.

Article 32

The prescription of claim for state compensation by the claimant shall be 2 years, which shall be calculated from the day on which the act of exercising the functions and powers by the State organ and its personnel was confirmed unlawful according to law, but the period of custody shall be excluded from the limitation of time.
Where the claimant for compensation can not exercise his or her right
of claim due to force majeure or other obstacles during the last 6 months of the prescription of claim for compensation, the limitation of time shall be suspended. The time of prescription of claim for compensation shall resume from the day when the grounds for the suspension are eliminated.

Article 33

This Law shall be applicable to such cases as claiming by a foreigner, foreign enterprise or organization in the territory of the People's Republic of China upon the People's Republic of China for state compensation.
If the mother state of a foreigner, foreign enterprise or organization does not protect or imposes restrictions upon the right of claiming for state compensation from that state by a Chinese citizen, legal entity or other organization, the People's Republic of China shall follow the principle of reciprocity with regard to such mother state of the said foreigner, foreign enterprise or organization.

Chapter 6 Supplementary Provisions

Article 34

Where the claimant claims for state compensation, the organ under
compensatory obligations, the organ for reconsideration and the people's court shall not charge anything to the claimant.
Taxes shall not be levied upon the compensation money obtained by
claimant for compensation.

Article 35

This Law shall enter into force as of January 1, 1995.

Appendix:Related Articles of Laws

1. Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 14

Any person who has reached the age of 16 and who commits a crime shall bear criminal responsibility.
Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 and who commits a homicide, inflicting serious bodily injury, robbery, arson, habitual theft or any other crime seriously undermining social order shall bear criminal responsibility.
Any person who has reached the age of 14 but not the age of 18 and who commits a crime shall be given a lighter or mitigated punishment.
If a person is not punished because he has not reached the age of 16,
the head of his or her family or his or her guardian shall be ordered to discipline and educate him or her. When necessary, he or she may also be taken in by the government for reeducation.

Article 15

If a mental patient causes dangerous consequences at a time when he or she is unable to recognize or control his or her own conduct, he or she shall not bear criminal responsibility, however, his or her family or guardian shall be ordered to make him or her under strict custody and give medical treatment.
Any person whose mental illness is of an intermittent nature shall
bear criminal responsibility if he or she commits a crime when he or she is in a normal mental state.
Any intoxicated person who commits a crime shall bear criminal
responsibility.

2. Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China

Article 11
In any of the following circumstances, no criminal responsibility
shall be investigated; if investigation has already been undertaken, the case shall be dismissed, or prosecution shall not be initiated, or innocence shall be declared:
(1) if an act is obviously of minor importance, causing no serious
harm, and is therefore not deemed as a crime;
(2) if the limitation period for criminal prosecution has expired;
(3) if an exemption of criminal punishment has been granted in a
special amnesty decree;
(4) if the crime is to be handled only upon complaint according to the Criminal Law, but there has been no complaint or the complaint has been withdrawn;
(5) if the defendant is deceased; or
(6) if other laws or decrees provide an exemption from investigation
of criminal responsibility.