The General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council recently jointly issued the Opinions on Imposing Severe Punishment on Illegal Securities Activities in accordance with Law (hereafter referred to as the Opinions). Recently, Professor Chen Jie, Head of the Commercial Law Department of CASS Institute of Law, pointed out in an interview with a reporter from the China Securities Journal that the new Securities Law and Amendment (XI) to the Criminal Law have comprehensively upgraded the supply of the rule of law in the capital market.However, as a number of recent major cases have shown,the current securities regulatory law enforcement and judicial system are still not able to provide a strong enough support for the structural changes that are taking place in the capital market, and some supporting rules need to be revised and improved as soon as possible. For example, China should promulgate as soon as possible the interim regulations on the management of private equity investment funds that are compatible with the new securities law. With the continuous unblocking of the'entry' of capital market, China should further strengthen the construction of the mechanism for the enforcement of the securities law during and after the event and the related judicial system.

The Opinions have improved the supporting systems and rules of the relevant lawsin terms of top-level design. The new Securities Law providesfor the extraterritorial application systemin principle, but itsconcrete implementation also requires the adoption of operable rules. The Opinions, which propose to establish and improve a system of extraterritorial application of Chinese capital market laws, are conducive to promoting the concrete implementationof the general principles of system of extraterritorial application of laws, upholding the authority of Chinese laws, effectively punishing securities violations, protecting investors’ interests, and ensuring the healthy development of the capital market.

Professor Chen Jiealso pointed out that, in the context of the registration system, the responsibility of intermediaries is of utmost importance. The Opinions clearly demand that the supervision of intermediary institutions should be strengthened and institutions and their practitioners who violate the securities law be held accountable in accordance with the law, and illegal activities such as participating in and assisting financial fraud be severely punished in accordance with the law. As such, the Opinionsare of great guiding significance to judicial practice.