The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Public Security further clarified the criteria for transferring criminal cases involving suspected destruction of farmland.

On February 3rd, it was learned from the Ministry of Public Security that recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued guidelines for transferring cases suspected of damaging cropland, implementing the strictest cropland protection system, regulating the work of case execution coordination, and improving the quality and efficiency of case handling. The guidelines require the competent authority of natural resources to transfer suspected criminal cases that need to be investigated for criminal responsibility to the same-level public security organs within 24 hours in accordance with relevant regulations; for cases that meet the transfer criteria, the public security organs should make a decision on whether to file a case within 3 days from the date of accepting the case. The guidelines also specify that if the public security organs directly discover and handle cases of cropland destruction, and after examination, it is found that there is no criminal fact, or after investigating a case and deeming the criminal fact as significantly minor, not requiring the investigation of criminal responsibility, but should be administratively punished by the competent authority of natural resources according to law, the public security organs should transfer the relevant legal documents and evidence materials to the competent authority of natural resources for handling after making a decision not to file a case or cancel the decision. The guidelines also make specific provisions on the requirements for the transfer work, necessary materials and standardization criteria for transferring cases, and improving the system mechanisms.