Seven Circumstances Excluding Criminal Liability
1. Unexpected Event
A person who commits an act causing harmful consequences to society in a situation where such consequences could not have been foreseen, or were not required to be foreseen, shall not bear criminal liability.
2. Lack of Criminal Capacity
A person who commits a socially dangerous act while suffering from a mental illness or another disease that renders them incapable of perceiving or controlling their conduct shall not bear criminal liability.
3. Legitimate Self-Defense
Legitimate self-defense is an act whereby a person, in order to protect their own lawful rights and interests, those of another person, or the interests of the State, agencies, or organizations, necessarily resists a person who is infringing upon such interests.
Legitimate self-defense shall not constitute a crime.
Exceeding the limits of legitimate self-defense is an act of resistance that is manifestly beyond what is necessary, disproportionate to the nature and degree of danger posed by the infringing act.
A person who exceeds the limits of legitimate self-defense shall bear criminal liability.
4. Urgent Circumstances
An urgent circumstance arises when a person, in order to prevent harm to their own lawful rights and interests, those of another person, or the interests of the State, agencies, or organizations, has no other choice but to cause damage that is smaller than the harm sought to be prevented.
An act causing damage under urgent circumstances shall not constitute a crime.
Where the damage caused is manifestly excessive in comparison with the requirements of the urgent circumstance, the person causing such damage shall bear criminal liability.
5. Causing Damage in the Course of Arresting an Offender
A person who, in order to arrest an offender, has no other option but to use necessary force that causes damage to the person being arrested, shall not constitute a crime.
Where the damage caused by the use of force is manifestly excessive, the person causing such damage shall bear criminal liability.
6. Risks in Research, Experimentation, and Application of Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advances
A person who causes damage in the course of conducting research, experimentation, or applying new scientific, technical, or technological advances, while fully complying with regulations, procedures, and preventive measures, shall not constitute a crime.
Any person who fails to comply with regulations, procedures, or preventive measures and thereby causes damage shall still bear criminal liability.
7. Execution of Orders from a Commander or Superior
A person who causes damage while executing an order from a commander or superior in the People’s Armed Forces in the performance of national defense or security tasks, after having fully reported to the issuing authority but the order was still required to be executed, shall not bear criminal liability. In such a case, the person issuing the order shall bear criminal liability.
This provision does not apply to the cases specified in Clause 2 of Articles 421, 422, and 423 of the Penal Code.
Legal basis: Articles 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 of the 2015 Penal Code.
