Protection of minors and seniors highlighted in newly-adopted General Provisions of Civil Law

Deputy Sun Xianzhong from Shanghai delegation [Photo: China Plus]

China's top legislature has passed the General Provisions of the Civil Law, as this year's NPC sessions drew to a close this morning.

The General Provisions, which consists of 210 articles in 11 chapters, bring the country one step closer to a long-absent Civil Code.

CRI reporter Huang Yue has further details.

After several years of compilation and revision, the General Provisions of the Civil Law was finally adopted by the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, with 2,782 of the 2,838 deputies present voting in favor. 

The General Provisions aim to protect the civil rights which are closely related to everyone's daily life, address such core values as justice, equality and goodwill.

Some issues have attracted much debate.

Given the special physical, psychological and mental features of minors, the General Provisions stipulated particular protection for minors' rights. 

For example, the statutory age limit for minors with limited capacity for civil conduct has been lowered from ten to eight years old.

Li Yongjun, a professor of China University of Political Science and Law, says such revision is in line with today's reality.

"Taking the world as a whole, that age is commonly set at seven years old. When we passed the current General Principles of Civil Law, Contract Law and Property Law in 1986, we set the age at ten years old. What it looked like at that time was greater protection for juveniles, but it didn't conform to current practice in Chinese society."

In the third draft of the General Provisions submitted to this year's NPC session, the age was actually set at six years old. But after deliberations which got underway last Wednesday, the NPC Law Committee made a total of 126 revisions to the draft based on suggestions from NPC deputies.

Deputy Sun Xianzhong from Shanghai delegation [newspaper.jcrb.com]

Deputy Sun Xianzhong from east China's Shanghai is the Director of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He says many deputies had strongly argued to change the age from six to eight years old.

"At the very beginning when we put forward the legislation scheme, we suggested setting the age at eight years old. However, the legislative body considered that a six-year-old child might attend primary school and that it was reasonable for him or her to buy a pencil or a notebook. Nevertheless, a six-year-old child is still too young to cope with some problems, and many deputies strongly called for changing it back to eight years old."

Deputy Sun also mentioned that another significant article in the General Provisions relates to guardianship for adults.

The General Provisions of the Civil Law prescribes that adults with limited capacity for civil conduct should have guardianship. This is especially beneficial to the protection of seniors.

Deputy Sun Xianzhong explains.

Deputy Sun Xianzhong from Shanghai delegation [newspaper.jcrb.com]

"Actually this is of great significance, because it's already an ageing society in China. The current General Principles mainly focus on the guardianship of minors and some adults with mental health issues. However, take those with Alzheimer's disease for instance, they are not mental patients, but they do need guardians to protect their properties and other interests."

As one of the leading experts in China's civil law field, deputy Sun submitted five motions to four successive years' NPC sessions. He has witnessed the whole process of the birth of the General Provisions.

The adoption of the General Provisions of the Civil Law marks the crucial first step of China's two-step approach for developing the Civil Code which is planned to be in place by 2020.

Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee at the closing meeting of this year's NPC session.

"We will fulfill our mission to ensure that we can form a complete civil code in 2020 that features Chinese characteristics, embodies the spirit of the times, and represents the will of the people."

The second step, the compiling of five individual books that deal with property, contract, tort liability, marriage and inheritance, was started late last year.

The General Provisions of the Civil Law will take effect on October 1, 2017.

For CRI, this is Huang Yue.