The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China (NPC) has published the Civil Code of China (Draft) on the website of NPC (www.npc.gov.cn) to invite comments from the public, from 28 December 2019 until 26 January 2020.

 

This draft civil code, comprising 1,260 articles, integrates the General Provisions of Civil Law with six civil laws on the special areas of property, contract, personality rights, marriage, succession, and tort respectively. The General Provisions of Civil Law, as the first part of the civil code, has been passed and entered into force in October 2017.

 

The compilation of the draft code, initiated in 2016, was based on existing relevant laws with changes and additions to address issues arisen in the actual economic and social situations in the country. This draft represents the first comprehensive codification of the civil laws following the explicit national statement in 2014 regarding the compilation of the civil code.

 

The draft code, subject to further revision, is scheduled to be presented before the plenary session of the NPC for deliberation in March 2020. Upon the implementation of the civil code, the existing General Principles of Civil Law, Tort Liability Law, Property Law, Guaranty Law, Contract Law, Marriage Law, Succession Law, Adoption Law, and the General Provisions of Civil Law will be repealed.