Article 7 The items to be registered in an ordinary passport consist of the holder’s name, sex, date and place of birth, the date of issue, term of validity and place of issue of the passport and the issuing authority.

The term of validity of an ordinary passport for the holder under the age of sixteen shall be five years; and for the holder at or over the age of sixteen, it shall be ten years.

The specific measures for issue of ordinary passports shall be formulated by the Ministry of Public Security.

Article 8 Diplomats, consuls and their spouses or children who are minor, and diplomatic couriers shall hold diplomatic passports.

Employees who are dispatched by the Chinese government to work for the embassies or consulates of the People’s Republic of China, or the United Nations or its special commissions and other international organizations, and their spouses or children who are minor shall hold service passport.

For citizens other than those prescribed in the preceding two paragraphs who are to go abroad on official missions, their work units shall, in accordance with the provisions of Subparagraphs (2) and (3) of Article 4 in this Law, submit applications to the department for foreign affairs, which shall, in light of need, issue service passports or diplomatic passports.

Article 9 The items to be registered in a diplomatic passport or a service passport consist of the holder’s name, sex, date and place of birth, date of issue and term of validity of the passport and the issuing authority.

The issuing scope of diplomatic passports and service passports, the measures for issue of such passports, their terms of validity and the specific categories of service passports shall be prescribed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Article 10 Where a registered item in a passport is to be altered, the holder of the passport shall submit an application with the relevant certification documents to the issuing authority for having the alteration noted.

Article 11 A holder of passport may, under one of the following circumstances, apply for renewing the passport or reissue of a passport:

(1) when the term of validity is to be expired;

(2) when the pages for visas are to be used up;

(3) when the passport is so damaged that it can not be used any more;

(4) when the passport is lost or stolen; or

(5) under other circumstances when the passport needs to be renewed or reissued on justifiable grounds.

When the holder of an ordinary passport applies for renewal or reissue of such a passport in China, he shall, in person, submit an application shall to the exit-entry control department of the department for public security under the people’s government at or above the county level where his residence is registered; if he applies for the same abroad, he shall, in person, submit the application to an embassy or consulate of the People’s Republic of China, or a mission overseas authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Where a Chinese citizen residing abroad applies for renewal or reissue of an ordinary passport after returning to China, he shall, in person, submit an application to the for exit-entry control department of the public security organ under the people’s government at or above the county level at the place where he lives temporarily.

The renewal or reissue of a diplomatic passport or a service passport shall be handled according to the relevant regulations of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs.

Article 12 The passports shall be readable both visually and by computer.

The anti-forgery properties of the passports shall be based on international technical standards.

The passport issuing authority and its staff members shall keep confidential citizen's personal information gained through processing issuing passports.

Article 13 The passport issuing authority shall refuse to issue a passport if the applicant:

(1) does not possess the nationality of the People’s Republic of China;

(2) cannot prove his identity;

(3) practices fraud in the course of application;

(4) is punished for a crime and is serving a sentence;

(5) is not allowed to leave the country because of an unsettled civil case, as is notified by a people’s court;

(6) is a defendant in a criminal case or a criminal suspect; or

(7) is a person who the relevant competent department of the State Council believes will undermine national security or cause major losses to the interests of the State.

Article 14 The passport issuing authority shall refuse to issue the passport for a period ranging from six months to three years from the date the criminal punishment against him has been executed or the date he is repatriated, if the applicant:

(1) has received criminal punishment for obstructing border (frontier) control; or

(2) is repatriated after illegally leaving the country, residing or working abroad.

Article 15 People’s courts, people’s procuratorate, public security organs, national security organs and administrative supervisory authorities may, where necessary for handling a case, seize the passports of the parties of a case according to law.

Where the parties of the case refuse to hand over the passports, the State organs specified in the preceding paragraph may request the passport issuing authorities to declare the passports of the parties of the case invalid.

Article 16 If the holder of a passport forfeits the nationality of the People's Republic of China, or his passport is lost or stolen, the passport issuing authority shall declare the passport invalid.

All passports that are forged, tampered with or obtained by fraud, or are declared invalid by the passport issuing authority shall be null and void.

Article 17 Where a passport is obtained by fraudulent means, it shall be confiscated or declared invalid by the passport issuing authority; the holder of the passport shall be fined not less than RMB 2,000 yuan but not more than 5,000 yuan; and if a crime is constituted, he shall be investigated for criminal responsibility in accordance with law.