The Chinese expression “不正当手段” can be translated into the English “Improper means” and other terms. A translation guide for various contexts is provided below.
Contexts
Legal – Business
Translation Equivalents
- Improper means
Evidence for Translation Approach
According to National People’s Congress :
“不正当手段：以盗窃、利诱、胁迫或者其他不正当手段获取权利人的商业秘密。“其他不正当手段”，包括以高薪聘请挖人才、以重金收买知悉秘密的人等。”
According to Cornell University Legal Information Institute:
” “improper means”—includes theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage through electronic or other means.”
Analysis
The Chinese legal terminology uses a high context approach, and generally the writer will not directly inform the reader about the nature of the crime, but rather will use this vague expression and require the reader to imply the specific meaning of the terminology from the description of the conduct. Writers of English however will generally state with high specificity the nature of the criminal conduct and therefore are much less likely to refer to improper means, and thus the term is considered less technical than its Chinese counterpart. When translating white-collar crime related documents, give consideration to the possibility that rigidly translating this expression as improper means may confuse the English speaking reader. For example, if writing a complaint that states another party has used bribery to obtain an unfair advantage over your client in a particular market, the Chinese lawyer would be better understood in an English translation if instead of repeatedly describing improper means using high context language, that illegal bribery is specified directly throughout the complaint. This is particularly relevant two recent cases where one Chinese company has sued another Chinese company in a foreign market, and is using English to describe its knowledge of practices criminalized under Chinese law.