China on Tuesday publicized a judicial interpretation which sets specific rules for the country's courts to mete out penalties to people who forge military documents, uniforms or car plates.

The interpretation, jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and Supreme People's Procuratorate, says people can face up to 10 years' imprisonment if found guilty of forging, trading or robbing military documents, stamps, uniforms or car plates.

Such practices are "rampant" and causing increasingly harm, Sun Jungong, the SPC spokesman, said on Tuesday.

Swindlers have faked military ID cards to defraud the public when recruiting military officers and students to military academies, some have forged military car plates to evade vehicle taxes and road tolls, according to Sun.

Each year, the forgery of military car plates is estimated to cause 1 billion yuan (155 million U.S. dollars) in economic losses for the country, he said.

Accomplices, referring to those who intentionally fund or provide technical support for the production of fake military-only products such as uniforms, documents and car plates, will also be heavily punished, according to the interpretation, which will become effective Aug. 1.