Next month, for the first time, cheating on the national college entrance examinations and other official examinations is against the law, with cheaters facing up to seven years in prison.
The amendment to the Criminal Law, first announced earlier this year, will take effect November 1.
According to the amendment, those organizing surrogate examinees in legally prescribed State tests are sentenced to three years in prison, and the sentence will be between three and seven years imprisonment if the circumstances are serious.
The legally prescribed State tests include over 20 examinations, including the national college entrance examinations and the national judicial examination, the China Youth Daily reported.
"Before amending the Criminal Law, organizing cheating did not constitute a crime. Therefore administrative punishment, such as expelling examinees from schools, instead of criminal penalties, were imposed on cheaters," Hong Daode, a professor from the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times.
A total of 42 people were punished in September over organizing cheating in the college entrance examinations in Jiangxi Province, including 22 governmental officials, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. Among the 22 officials, three were transferred to the judicial department for malfeasance, while the other 19 received administrative punishment.
"Chinese society is experiencing an epidemic of cheating. Imposing criminal penalties on organizing cheating would definitely curb such malpractice," Mo Shaoping, a law professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times.
The amendment also stipulates that examinees who have surrogates take a test for themselves will be punished.
Examinees who previously cheated in legally prescribed State tests such as college English tests would normally receive a warning from school authorities, while the worst case might be a cancellation of the test results, a college counselor surnamed Zhang from a Chongqing-based university told the Global Times.
Cheating is also rampant in foreign examinations in China. Some 357 Chinese students who took the Upper Level Secondary School Admission Test on September 19 were informed that their results were cancelled, because the test board is suspicious about the validity of the examinees' test results.
Foreign examinations such as the GRE or IELTS are not covered by the new law.
Supervision of cheating in foreign examinations belongs to foreign test boards or organizations, instead of China's criminal law, Hong said, explaining that the amendment only applies to legally prescribed State tests such as national college entrance examinations and State service examinations.
