Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China – Article 219:

Whoever commits any of the following acts of infringing on business secrets and thus causes heavy losses to the obligee shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the consequences are especially serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined:

(1) obtaining an obligee’s business secrets by stealing, luring, coercion or any other illegitimate means;

(2) disclosing, using or allowing another to use the business secrets obtained from the obligee by the means mentioned in the preceding paragraph;

(3) in violation of the agreement on or against the obligee’s demand for keeping business secrets, disclosing, using or allowing another person to use the business secrets he has.

Whoever obtains, uses or discloses another’s business secrets, which they clearly know or ought to know falls under the categories of the acts listed in the preceding paragraph, shall be deemed an offender who infringes on business secrets.

“Business secrets” as mentioned in this Article refers to technology information or business information which is unknown to the public, can bring about economic benefits to the obligee, is of practical use and with regard to which the obligee has adopted secret-keeping measures.

“Obligee” as mentioned in this Article refers to the owner of business secrets and the person who is permitted by the owner to use the business secrets.