Criminal Liability for Trade Secret Theft in China

Criminal law is for serious, high-harm theft — not a routine employee move.

The Criminal Law punishes obtaining, disclosing or using trade secrets in ways that cause serious losses. Thresholds and charging names have been amended in recent years; treat current SPC/SPP interpretations and the local procuratorate’s appetite as the live test, not a blog number. You still need a real secret (non-public, valuable, measures) and evidence of the prohibited act. Public-security organs may not accept a thin civil file. Wrongful criminal reports against a former employee can create labour, defamation and malicious-prosecution risk. Use crime when the dump is large, the harm is grave, and counsel agrees the file is ready.

The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

Is the civil AUCL case already particularised?

If you cannot plead the secret in civil court, you cannot ask the police to do it.

Secret

Is the harm in the ‘serious’ band?

Loss, scale of copy, and commercial impact — with numbers.

Threshold

Is the evidence police-grade?

Forensics, not only HR suspicion.

Proof

What is the downside of reporting?

Timing versus civil PI, and wrongful-report risk.

Risk

Working rule: The Criminal Law punishes obtaining, disclosing or using trade secrets in ways that cause serious losses.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal

Ask the operating question

Why it changes the route

HR anger only

Is the real complaint that they joined a competitor?

That is labour/non-compete, not crime.

No loss numbers

Can you evidence serious harm?

Without it the case is not criminal.

Parallel civil case

Will a criminal report freeze or help the civil PI?

Sequence is a counsel decision.

Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Secret and measuresThe same three limbs, in a form a PSB can read.

02Act and actorWho obtained, disclosed or used, with traces.

03Loss expert fileHow serious harm is calculated.

04Civil postureWhether a PI or merits case is already on foot.

Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Will the police take any trade-secret complaint?

No. Many are rejected as civil. Threshold, particularity and local practice decide acceptance.

Does a criminal case replace damages?

Not automatically. Civil claims for damages and injunctions often still matter, sometimes after or beside the criminal file.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

National laws database (NPC)

Anti-Unfair Competition Law (gov.cn)

Supreme People’s Court

Supreme People’s Procuratorate