A proposed amendment to the Criminal Code, submitted to China's top legislative body Wednesday, legislatively defines gang crimes and eliminates civil servants as the obligatory factor when deciding whether to crackdown on such crimes.

A gang is a stable criminal organization with specific leaders, relatively stable backbone members and considerable membership, according to the draft amendment.

Such organized crime groups are financially sound, due to their illegal activities.

The gangs have illegal dominance or major influence over a certain industry or region that has seriously hampered social and economic order. That makes it easier for the groups to bully the public.

These definitions are included in a judicial definition of gang crime drafted by the Supreme People's Court two years ago.

The judicial explanation says gang crime is different from other organized crime because it forces civil servants to join by bribing or threatening them.

But the inclusion of the term "civil servants" in the definition of gang crime sparked controversy in judicial circles, prompting a legislative definition to be drafted now.

"Generally it is difficult for an illegal organization to form illegal dominance or major influence in a certain industry or region without the tolerance or permission of some civil servants,'' said Hu Kangsheng, vice-director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).

However, he said it is incorrect to rule out the possibility that a gang could be formed without protection from some civil servants.

He said such gangs regularly escape punishment because judicial authorities cannot determine whether civil servants were involved. Punishment for these gangs is stricter than for other organized crimes.

Hu made his remarks Wednesday when he delivered a report on this proposed amendment to the 27th session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth NPC.

The draft amendment defines such a gang as having formed by repeatedly committing organized crimes or by taking advantage of civil servants who look the other way.

The committee will make a preliminary reading of the proposed amendment during its five-day meeting, which opened Wednesday in Beijing.

The proposed definition, if passed after three readings by national legislators, will replace the judicial explanation by the Supreme People's Court.

Only the NPC Standing Committee has the power to make legislative explanations of current law, according to the Legislative Procedure Law.

The lawmakers will also review another amendment to the Criminal Code regarding the crime of misappropriating public funds.

They will hold a second round of deliberations on draft laws on the protection of cultural relics and on the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The draft law on the protection of cultural relics says that private transactions of cultural relics can be permitted while the nation enhances supervision and management of the cultural relics market.

It says that people can get legally maintained cultural relics through purchases or exchanges.

(China Daily April 25, 2002)