The Ministry of Public Security Issues New Regulations to Rectify the Chaos in "Deep-Sea Fishing"

In recent years, the opposition to "distant-water fishing" and "profit-driven law enforcement" has been growing increasingly louder. This phenomenon is due to various reasons, including the pressure on finances in certain regions leading case handlers to "look for cases that can generate economic benefits," as well as the overly broad provisions of our criminal jurisdiction that provide a legal basis for "distant-water fishing" with the rule of "jurisdiction if it is relevant."

Since the second half of 2024, the judicial system has taken a series of measures to curb distant-water fishing, such as the "Prosecutorial Protection of Enterprises" special action launched by procuratorates across the country, and the deployment of special supervision by national procuratorial organs on irregular cross-regional law enforcement and profit-driven law enforcement. Among them, the most powerful measure is the new regulations issued by the Ministry of Public Security in March 2025, which will curb distant-water fishing from the source and effectively prevent some local public security organs from abusing jurisdiction in pursuit of economic interests through profit-driven law enforcement.

The new regulations clarify that the jurisdiction of cross-provincial criminal cases is primarily based on the main crime location, with the location of the enterprise being a secondary consideration. This differs from the current jurisdiction regulations for criminal cases. Under the existing regulations, criminal cases are under the jurisdiction of the police in the location of the crime and the residence of the suspect, with the crime location including both where the crime occurred and where the result of the crime happened, which is quite broad. For cyber crimes, jurisdiction is even more extensive, covering multiple locations such as the location of the server and the location of the network service provider.

Overly broad jurisdiction regulations may lead to several issues: different regional agencies "competing" for jurisdiction over economically beneficial cases; defense lawyers may find it difficult to adopt effective defense strategies from a jurisdictional perspective; the focus of case handling may shift from "combating crime" to "pursuing economic benefits," affecting the fair handling of cases; off-site handling units may lack the expertise and technical means to deal with new complex cases.

The implementation of the new regulations will effectively change this situation. For example, for an internet company registered and operating in Shenzhen, even if its users are spread across the country, the case should be under the jurisdiction of the local public security in Shenzhen. The new regulations also stipulate that for reported cases, if it is found that they should be under the jurisdiction of another province, they should be transferred to the public security authority at the location of the enterprise.

In the face of "deep-sea fishing", companies can take the following relief measures:

1. Raise an objection to the jurisdiction of the public security organs and have the right to appeal.
2. Call "12389" to report complaints.
3. Log in to the 12309 China Prosecutor's Network to file a complaint.

Since the new regulations were issued in March 2025, local public security systems have been intensively organizing study and implementation. Many public security agencies are also conducting special actions based on these new regulations. This initiative is expected to truly take effect, allowing victims of "deep-sea fishing" to regain their lives and enabling every ordinary person to feel the progress of the rule of law, with individual rights receiving more comprehensive protection.