China specifies threshold of crime for refusing to comply with judgments, rulings by hiding or transferring property

China issued a judicial interpretation on Monday specifying the determination of the crime of refusing to execute judgments and rulings to hide or transfer property before the verdict takes effect, in an effort to ensure that the judgments and rulings made by courts are enforced in accordance with the law and the legitimate rights and interests of the individuals concerned are effectively safeguarded.

This judicial interpretation is released jointly by China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), and will come into force on December 1.

The judicial explanation clearly stipulates that hiding or transferring property before judgments and rulings come into effect can constitute the crime of resisting the execution of judgments and rulings. In previous judicial practice, the offense of refusing to execute a judgment or ruling generally targeted those who concealed or transferred property after the judgment or verdict had taken effect.

It lists 10 scenarios of refusal to execute despite having the capacity to do so in serious circumstances, as well as five extremely serious circumstances.

The SPC and SPP said that if the cases involved are serious, the perpetrators will be held criminally liable for refusing to execute judgments and rulings.

This explanation has apparently been issued to target deadbeats and aims to fix loopholes in the legislation field as some people have taken advantage of the relatively ambiguous provisions in the law to dodge their debts, Wang Sixin, a professor of law at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times on Monday.

It also guarantees that judgments will be enforced more effectively in the future, Wang noted.

The explanation also clarifies that any person who conspires with deadbeats to assist in hiding and transferring property and other acts of omission or commission that make the judgments and rulings unenforceable, are to be punished as accomplices to the crime.

The explanation specifies that if one refuses to abide by the judgments and rulings to pay, including alimony, maintenance, pension, and medical expenses, the person concerned should be punished severely in accordance with the law.