Article 45 of the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Exchange in People's Republic of China (PRC), revised in 2008, stipulates four kinds of illegal acts of foreign exchange, namely, "buying and selling foreign exchange without permission, buying and selling foreign exchange in disguise, buying and selling foreign exchange in reverse, or illegally introducing and buying and selling foreign exchange", and stipulates that these four illegal acts "constitute a crime and shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law".

The Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases of Illegal Payment of Settlement Funds and Illegal Trading of Foreign Exchange, which came into effect on February 1 2009, stipulates that if the circumstances of illegal trading of foreign exchange are serious, the offender shall be convicted and punished according to the crime of illegal business operation as stipulated in Article 225 of the Criminal Law of China.