(Adopted at the 23 rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on August 31, 2001 and promulgated by Order No. 56 of the President of the People’s Republic of China on August 31, 2001)

In order to punish the crimes of cutting down trees for opening up farmland and of unlawfully occupying or indiscriminately using forestland and to effectively protect the forest resources, Article 342 of the Criminal Law is revised as follows:

" Whoever, in violation of the law or regulations on land administration, unlawfully occupies cultivated land, forestland or other farmland, and uses it for other purposes, if the area involved is relatively large and a large area of such land is damaged, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and shall also, or shall only, be fined. "

This Amendment shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.

(Source:npc.gov.cn)