China is rewriting the rules of criminal justice. In March 2026, the National People’s Congress approved a plan to amend the Criminal Procedure Law for the fourth time since its 1979 enactment — a revision that legal scholars inside China are calling the most consequential reform in a generation. At the center of the debate sits a single, deeply controversial practice: Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location, known internationally by its acronym RSDL.

For the global electronic monitoring industry, this reform carries an implication that few Western observers have grasped: if China restricts or abolishes RSDL and expands genuine non-custodial alternatives, it would create demand for GPS ankle bracelet and electronic monitoring systems on a scale that dwarfs any existing market. China’s criminal justice system processes roughly 10 million cases annually. Even a modest shift from pretrial detention to electronic monitoring would generate demand for hundreds of thousands of devices.

What Is RSDL and Why Does It Matter for Electronic Monitoring?

Under Article 74 of China’s current Criminal Procedure Law, residential surveillance was designed as a humane alternative to detention — suspects would remain at their own homes under monitoring rather than being held in custody. Article 78 explicitly authorizes the use of electronic monitoring during residential surveillance, making it one of the few jurisdictions where GPS ankle bracelet use in pretrial supervision has a clear statutory basis.

In practice, however, the system diverged sharply from its intended purpose. Authorities exploited an ambiguity in the law — the concept of having “no fixed domicile” in the relevant jurisdiction — to designate locations other than suspects’ homes. What was meant to be residential surveillance became, in the words of Chinese legal scholars, “disguised detention” (变相羁押). Suspects were held in undisclosed facilities, sometimes incommunicado, without the procedural protections that formal arrest requires.

This matters for electronic monitoring because it reveals a fundamental gap: China has the legal framework for GPS ankle bracelet supervision but has historically defaulted to physical custody instead. The Fourth Amendment to the CPL aims to close that gap — either by abolishing RSDL entirely or by restricting it so severely that genuine electronic monitoring becomes the primary non-custodial alternative.

What the Fourth Amendment Proposes

The NPC Standing Committee’s 2026 legislative work plan places the Criminal Procedure Law amendment among the year’s top priorities, alongside revisions to the Prison Law and a new Prosecutorial Public Interest Litigation Law. A draft amendment is already circulating internally for expert feedback, though it has not been publicly released. As Caixin Global reported, the CPL is often described as a “mini-constitution” governing the balance of power between state investigative organs and the rights of suspects.

Chinese legal scholars have proposed two main approaches to RSDL reform:

• Complete abolition — Prominent scholars argue that RSDL has been so thoroughly misused that it should be eliminated entirely. Without RSDL, authorities would need to choose between formal arrest (with full procedural protections) or genuine non-custodial measures like bail with GPS ankle bracelet monitoring.
• Severe restriction — A more likely outcome, according to legal observers, would limit RSDL exclusively to national security and terrorism cases while abolishing it for all other crime categories. This approach acknowledges rare legitimate investigative needs while closing the loophole that enabled widespread abuse.

Either outcome would dramatically expand the addressable market for electronic monitoring technology in China. If RSDL is abolished or restricted, prosecutors and courts would need scalable, reliable alternatives for pretrial supervision — and GPS ankle monitors with real-time monitoring represent the most mature technology available.

China’s Existing Electronic Monitoring Infrastructure

China is not starting from zero. The country has already developed and deployed innovative electronic monitoring systems, though their scale remains limited compared to the overall criminal justice caseload.

The most notable innovation is Hangzhou’s “Non-Custodial Code” (非羁码) system, launched in 2020. This smartphone-based monitoring platform uses GPS positioning, facial recognition, blockchain verification, and AI-powered risk assessment to supervise suspects on bail or residential surveillance. The system assigns red, yellow, and green status codes based on compliance behavior — similar to the health code system Chinese citizens became familiar with during COVID-19.

According to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), the Non-Custodial Code system has been cited as a model for nationwide expansion. It supports scheduled check-ins, geofencing alerts, unscheduled inspections, and real-time location monitoring. For higher-risk individuals, GPS ankle bracelets or electronic wristbands supplement the smartphone-based tracking.

However, Chinese legal scholars have identified critical limitations in the smartphone-only approach. As one SPP-published analysis noted: cunning suspects can evade monitoring by handing their phone to someone else or positioning another device’s video call in front of the monitored phone’s camera. This vulnerability is precisely why dedicated GPS ankle bracelet hardware — devices that cannot be transferred or spoofed — remains essential for credible non-custodial supervision.

Community corrections in China already uses GPS ankle bracelets for sentenced offenders on probation, parole, and temporary release. The Ministry of Justice’s SF/T 0056-2019 standard establishes technical specifications for electronic positioning wristbands, categorizing them into wrist-worn and ankle-worn models with requirements for anti-disassembly, waterproofing, and BeiDou/GPS dual positioning. What has been missing is the political will to extend electronic monitoring systematically to the pretrial phase — and the CPL Fourth Amendment could provide exactly that.

The Numbers: Why This Reform Creates Massive EM Demand

To understand the potential scale, consider the data:

• China’s procuratorates approved approximately 870,000 arrests in 2023, with a pretrial detention rate that — despite years of reform rhetoric — remains among the highest in the world
• The SPP’s “fewer arrests, cautious prosecution, cautious detention” (少捕慎诉慎押) policy, elevated from a judicial concept to official criminal justice policy in April 2021, has been the driving force behind reducing pretrial detention
• China’s community corrections system supervises approximately 700,000 individuals at any given time — already a substantial population that could benefit from upgraded electronic monitoring
• For comparison, the United States had 254,700 people on electronic monitoring as of 2021 (Vera Institute, 2024) — China’s potential EM population could be three to five times larger

If even 10% of China’s annual pretrial detentions were converted to GPS ankle bracelet monitoring, that represents 87,000 new devices per year — more than the current installed base of several mid-sized national markets combined.

The June 2025 RSDL Regulations: Reform or Entrenchment?

In a move that surprised many legal observers, China’s Ministry of Public Security and Supreme People’s Procuratorate jointly issued new regulations on RSDL implementation on June 30, 2025 — months before the expected CPL amendment. The regulations, as translated by China Law Translate, introduced several reforms:

• Location restrictions — RSDL facilities cannot be detention centers, jails, police stations, or dedicated case-handling premises
• Jurisdictional limits — Police cannot designate jurisdiction to another area solely to apply RSDL on a suspect who has a fixed residence locally
• Attorney access — Lawyers must be permitted to meet with suspects under RSDL
• Recording requirements — Full audio-video recording of interrogations during RSDL
• Prosecutorial oversight — Procuratorates must be notified within three days of RSDL being applied

International observers, including Safeguard Defenders, offered a more skeptical assessment. The regulations could be interpreted as institutionalizing RSDL rather than preparing for its abolition — a signal that the practice will be retained, albeit under tighter controls.

For the electronic monitoring industry, however, both interpretations point in the same direction. Whether RSDL is abolished (forcing a shift to genuine non-custodial monitoring) or tightened (requiring verifiable compliance with location restrictions and attorney access), the need for transparent, auditable electronic monitoring systems increases substantially.

How This Connects to the Global Electronic Monitoring Landscape

China’s reform trajectory parallels trends already reshaping electronic monitoring markets worldwide. In the United States, Ohio’s House Bill 667 mandates real-time GPS monitoring after retrospective-only systems failed to prevent two murders. In Louisiana, a monitoring company was criminally convicted for failing to report GPS ankle bracelet exclusion zone violations. Across jurisdictions, the pattern is consistent: passive data collection is giving way to active, real-time electronic monitoring requirements.

China’s scale magnifies these trends. A country that simultaneously reforms pretrial detention practices, expands community corrections, and mandates electronic monitoring compliance would create technology requirements that existing GPS ankle bracelet vendors — most of whom serve markets measured in thousands or tens of thousands of devices — are not equipped to handle.

The technical requirements are also distinct. China’s monitoring systems need to operate across the world’s largest cellular network, support Mandarin-language interfaces, integrate with the country’s existing judicial information systems, comply with Chinese data sovereignty requirements, and handle population densities that make urban GPS positioning especially challenging. Multi-constellation GNSS (GPS + BeiDou + GLONASS + Galileo) is not optional — it is baseline.

What Makes China’s EM Market Unique

Several factors distinguish the Chinese electronic monitoring market from its Western counterparts:

• Smartphone-first architecture — Unlike Western markets where dedicated GPS ankle bracelets are standard, China’s initial approach centers on smartphone apps supplemented by hardware devices. This creates a hybrid monitoring model that requires devices capable of seamless BLE connectivity with smartphones.
• Scale and density — Urban population densities in Chinese cities create unique positioning challenges. Indoor environments, underground transit systems, and high-rise residential buildings require multi-mode connectivity (BLE + WiFi + cellular) to maintain continuous monitoring coverage.
• Judicial information integration — China’s procuratorial and court systems are increasingly digitized. Electronic monitoring devices need APIs and data formats compatible with existing judicial platforms.
• BeiDou requirement — Chinese government procurement typically requires BeiDou satellite navigation support, making multi-constellation GNSS capability a market entry requirement rather than a differentiator.
• Data sovereignty — All monitoring data must be stored within Chinese borders, requiring on-premise deployment capability rather than cloud-only architectures.

The Road Ahead: When Reform Becomes Procurement

The NPC Standing Committee’s 2026 work plan indicates the CPL amendment will undergo its first deliberation this year. Chinese legislative practice typically requires two to three readings before adoption, meaning the final text could be enacted in late 2026 or 2027.

For electronic monitoring technology providers, the timeline creates a clear preparation window. The key milestones to watch:

• NPCSC first reading — Expected in 2026. The draft text will reveal whether RSDL is abolished, restricted, or retained with modifications
• Public comment period — Typically 30-60 days after the first reading. This is when technology requirements and procurement frameworks begin to crystallize
• Provincial pilot programs — Chinese reforms typically launch in select provinces before nationwide rollout. Provinces like Zhejiang (where Hangzhou’s Non-Custodial Code originated) and Guangdong are likely early adopters
• SPP procurement guidance — The Supreme People’s Procuratorate will issue technical standards and procurement guidelines for electronic monitoring equipment used in pretrial supervision

A landmark NIJ-funded study of Florida offenders found that GPS monitoring reduces the risk of reoffending under community supervision by approximately 31% (NIJ, 2011). If China achieves similar results at scale, the implications for both public safety and the global electronic monitoring industry would be transformative.

The world’s most populous country is preparing to fundamentally restructure how it handles pretrial detention. For an industry accustomed to markets measured in thousands of devices, China’s reform could represent a generational shift — one where electronic monitoring moves from a niche correctional tool to a mainstream component of criminal justice infrastructure serving millions.