Article 87 of the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that crimes that exceed the following time limit shall not be prosecuted:
(1) If the statutory maximum penalty is less than five years' imprisonment, the limitation period for prosecution shall be five years.
(2) If the statutory maximum penalty is imprisonment for more than five years but less than 10 year, the limitation period for prosecution shall be 10 year.
(3) If the statutory maximum penalty is fixed-term imprisonment of more than 10 years, the limitation period for prosecution is 15 years.
(4) If the statutory maximum punishment is life imprisonment or death penalty, the limitation period for prosecution shall be twenty years. If it is deemed necessary to prosecute after 20 years, it must be reported to the Supreme People's Procuratorate for approval, and it can still be prosecuted.
Paragraph 1 of Article 88 of the Criminal Law stipulates: "If a people's procuratorate, a public security organ or a state security organ files a case for investigation or a people's court accepts a case, it is not limited by the time limit for prosecution."