???????-??新《破产法》出台有望工资债权有限优先
21世纪经济报道 2005-05-25 15:35:33
本报记者 陈欢 上海报道
最新的送审稿中，此前争议颇大的职工债权和抵押担保债权孰先孰后的问题有重大修改，劳动债权虽可优先受偿，但优先的范围仅限于企业破产前3至6个月的工资债权。
即将在今年6月召开的十届全国人大常委会第十六次会议上，难产十年之久的新《破产法》有望上会三读，并很有可能获得通过。这是记者从全国人大法工委最新获得的消息。
记者同时获悉，最新的送审稿中，此前争议颇大的职工债权和抵押担保债权孰先孰后的问题有重大修改，劳动债权虽可优先受偿，但优先的范围仅限于企业破产前3至6个月的工资债权，在二读草案中作为第一顺序清偿的社会保险费用以及法律、行政法规规定应当支付给职工的补偿金，将不再优先于有抵押担保的债权。
政策性破产清障
市场经济发展的这20多年来，每发育到一定阶段，破产法律法规就随之变化。其中几个关键的节点包括1986年的《企业破产法（试行）》、1991年《民事诉讼法》关于破产程序的规定、1994年关于“政策性破产”的一序列文件和2002年最高人民法院《关于审理企业破产案件若干问题的规定》等。
这一系列相互不衔接的立法直接导致的结果就是：国有企业、非国有企业分别适用不同的破产法律，破产条件、破产程序各不相同，国有企业内还有政策性破产和依法破产的区别。
拐点在1994年出现，全国人大财经委开始组织起草新《破产法》，而几乎同时，国务院及其相关部委陆续发布了一系列关于试点城市国有企业破产的行政性文件，就是现在所说的“政策性破产”。
政策性破产的主要特点，就是国有企业在破产时，将全部资产优先用于安排失业和下岗职工，而不是清偿银行债务。对破产职工的救济安置费由谁来承担，是政策性破产和依法破产的最大区别。
让很多人没有想到的是，本应该殊途同归的新《破产法》和政策性破产，却在两股道上越走越远。
2004年6月21日，全国人大常委会首次审议新《破产法》草案，财经委副主任委员贾志杰向会议作说明：“1994年开始起草的破产法，由于对出台时机有不同意见，以及社会保障制度不配套等原因，当时未安排审议。”
中国政法大学王卫国教授在一次破产法立法研讨会上表示，1994年起草的第一稿草案受到了很高的评价，但后来因故未能审议，其中很重要的一个原因是因为政策性破产的出台。
2003年8月，全国人大财经委组成新的起草班子，再次启动起草工作。贾志杰在解释草案制定的若干重要问题时说，“国有企业破产是本法起草中的一个难点问题”，一方面一大批经营不善的国企需要破产，另一方面破产的难度又很大，“主要难在职工安置上”。
全国人大法工委的人士告诉记者，在立法过程中，政策性破产因其存在违背破产法基本原则、损害债权人利益、违反担保法等问题，一些立法者尤其是债权人方面强烈反对，坚决主张废除。
但是，考虑到政策性破产的确在优化国有经济结构、提高国有企业经济效益、解决部分国有企业职工的安置费用、维护社会稳定等方面起到一定作用，因此，在提交审议的草案中，政策性破产被保留下来，但是拖了一句尾巴“在国务院规定的期限和范围内”。
此后，关于政策性破产是否保留的争论告一段落，关门的期限和有多少企业能享受政策性破产成为矛盾的焦点。不久以后，2004年2月24日，国资委主任李荣融首次表态，“将在四年之内，基本实现国有企业由政策性破产向依法破产的过渡。”此后，国资委一直在加速制定计划和时间表。
2005年5月12日，国资委终于给出了最后的期限和范围：还有最后2167家国企在2008年之前完成政策性破产，此后，政策性破产大门彻底关闭。国资委副主任邵宁特意指出，政策性破产关门的一个重要目的，就是为了适应新《破产法》即将出台的需要。
清偿顺序之争
政策性破产关门清障之后，外界普遍预期这是新《破产法》即将出台的信号。记者从全国人大法工委获悉，此时，新《破产法》所存的唯一争议就是：劳动债权和担保债权哪一个将优先受偿。
也正是这一点，导致本该于2004年12月提交第三次审议的新《破产法》，在当年10月第二次审议之后意外搁浅。
对照第一次审议和第二次审议的草案可以发现，两者最大的区别在于：一读草案，被抵押的财产由抵押债权人优先受偿，而二读草案修改为：职工工资、社保费用以及职工补偿金，列为在第一顺序受偿，这就意味着，即使是被抵押的财产，也要首先用来偿还职工工资等劳动债权。
这一修改遭致银行界激烈的反对，因为一般情况下，银行是破产企业最大的抵押债权人，而且，大多数破产企业在安置职工后就所剩无几，很难清缴欠税，更谈不上清偿银行债权，也就是说，没有了抵押财产，银行将基本上一无所获。
有受访专家向记者表示，将劳动债权，包括破产企业所欠职工工资和欠缴的社会保险费用，以及因企业破产解除劳动合同依法应支付职工的补偿金，放在第一顺序受偿，而有抵押财产（实践中多为土地）的债权人利益也在清偿劳动债权的破产财产范围内，实际上就是让银行为破产企业买单。
而这样的制度安排使得银行的风险控制手段显得多余，“那我们也无须区别抵押贷款和无抵押贷款了，风险都是一样的。”上海一银行信贷科长对记者说。
法学界也有人持反对意见。“这是严重违背担保法的规定的。”多年来一直参与破产法起草的中国政法大学李曙光教授则说：“破产法是商法，不是社会保障法，对破产企业职工的安置问题，应该由社会保障法来解决。”
但职工债权优先于抵押债权的清偿顺序，受到了中华全国总工会，劳动和社会保障部的热烈欢迎，在二读过程中，中华全国总工会副主席周玉清称：“《破产法》草案是越改越好。突出的特点之一是在维护职工合法权益、保证社会稳定方面有较好的表达。”
清华大学法学院申卫星教授也认为，应确立劳动债权的优先权地位，职工工资、社保费用等劳动债权应优先于担保债权清偿。
这确实是个两难命题，破产企业职工安置是个现实问题，处理不好可能会影响社会稳定和人民生活，由国家财政独自负担目前来说压力太大，让银行买单则银行权益受损，可能引发金融体系的问题。据称，在一次立法研讨会上，争论双方已经将此上升到是要国计（银行债权）还是要民生（劳动债权）的高度。
争论之激烈，从中国人民大学的民法专家王利明教授在接受记者采访时的谨慎表述，可略见一斑：“这两种顺序各有利弊，破产法应该有保护弱者的价值取向。”接下去话锋则轻轻一转，“但我还是倾向于担保物权优先。”随后又是一个转折：“也可以保留例外情况，在短时期内，仅限于工资债权的范围，可以在担保债权之先受偿。”
据上述全国人大法工委人士透露，将被提交审议的是一个折中的方案，既要考虑到破产职工的生活和社会稳定，也不能全部由银行买单。社会保险费用和劳动补偿金应该纳入整个社保体系解决，但要保证破产企业职工的基本生活，破产前3至6个月拖欠的职工工资应该优先受偿。“必须有期限限制，否则有的破产企业都十来年没发工资了，不可能全部优先受偿。”
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
land use rights China Internet Information Center
China Internet Information Center
The Forest Or the Trees?
Due to a lack of wood to feed the blazing stove of national economic growth, China is considering radical changes to its forestry policies to lure both private and foreign investment.
The central government is working on new regulations to legalize the separation of use rights from the ownership of land already covered by or destined to be planted with trees, said Li Zujiao, head of the Economic Development and Research Centre under the State Forestry Bureau.
The new rules will pave the way for the transfer of the forest land use rights to marketize the sector and protect the interests of investors, Li said.
The separation of land ownership from the right to use it was instituted roughly 20 years ago as part of a plan to lease urban areas to foreign investors, and later non-State investors, for up to 70 years, as the Constitution stipulates that all land in the country is owned by the nation and cannot be sold.
The transfer of land use rights is believed to be one of the fundamental factors in the nation's rapid economic development, and experts hope the introduction of the concept to the forestry sector will similarly work to eliminate the 270-million-cubic-meter shortage of timber China suffers annually.
Besides legalizing the marketization of the sector, Li said, the government will also move to cut red tape to facilitate related investments as well as logging operations by distinguishing protected trees from wood-production forests.
The government currently imposes strict controls on the logging industry in an effort to check further damage to the environment. Applications to invest in wood production, processing and sales involve long, complicated approval procedures.
Heavy tax levies on the sector are expected to be cut to reduce investors' costs and bring down domestic wood prices, which are higher than foreign supplies, making domestic wood and related products less competitive against imports.
Uniform policies on financing, investment, taxation and the use of resources will be applied to all investors in the sector, regardless of whether the investors are State-owned, private or foreign.
"The sector is opening wider," Li said. Meanwhile, the government encourages foreign and private investment in tree planting and wood processing, and in domestic and foreign trade by the establishment of wholly owned companies or joint ventures, land leases, or the acquisition of stakes in related State-owned enterprises.
Investors will enjoy full freedom in their business development and be guaranteed their earnings as well as legal, social and political status, he added.
Severe shortage
China has been a forest-poor country for decades, and the shortage of wood and inadequate timber resources may continue for another half century, according to analysts.
"Existing forests still fall short of protecting the national ecological environment even if not a single tree is allowed to be cut," said Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Bureau, "but felling every single tree in the country for the logging industry can only satisfy domestic wood demand for a few decades."
Lei Jiafu, deputy director of the bureau, said China's wood reserves only account for 2.9 per cent of the world's total, far from adequate to meet the demand of a country that contains about 22 per cent of the world's population.
According to international standards, at least 30 per cent of a country's land should include forested acreage to achieve a good, stable and sustainable ecological environment, but the ratio in China is only 16.55 per cent.
An expected GDP growth rate of 7 per cent per year and an annual net population growth of about 11 million in the next five to 10 years will create a strong and steady increase in the demand for wood, said Lei, adding that China faces an even more severe shortage in the decades to come.
China's per capita wood consumption is now just 0.29 cubic meters, far below the worldwide average of 0.58 cubic meters.
An optimum 370 million cubic meters of wood is needed annually, but domestic supply only came to 100 million cubic meters in 2002, said Li Zujiao. China relies heavily on imports and is already the largest importer of wood in the world.
He noted that per capita forested areas and wood reserves in China equaled only 20 and 12 per cent of the world average, respectively, explaining that the country will require at least 18.5 billion cubic meters of wood in the next 50 years, 1.6 times the amount all the forests in China can produce today. And the country must plant more than 90 million hectares of new forests to realize its forest coverage target of 26 per cent of national land areas by 2050.
Official statistics indicate that domestic forests have only supplied a little more than 5 billion cubic meters of wood since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
Afforestation efforts
For their part, the public and the government have made immense and continuous afforestation efforts. Altogether, 6.2 billion people participated in tree-planting activities in the last 14 years, with a total of 39.8 billion trees planted.
Man-made afforestation efforts in 2002 alone encompassed 6.67 million hectares. Live planted trees covered 46.7 million hectares by 2002, accounting for 26 per cent of the world's total. As a result, China leads all other countries as home to the largest number of planted forests in the world.
These endeavours have brought China's forest coverage to its current 16.55 per cent, compared with 8.6 per cent in the early 1950s and 12 per cent in the 1980s. Total forested areas were expanded to 15.87 billion hectares, creating 12.5 billion cubic meters in total timber reserves.
The forestry sector's financial output hit 438 billion yuan (US$52.96 million) last year, according to government statistics.
These efforts, however, are still dwarfed by an accelerated demand, so the government decided to take bigger steps with an ambitious plan to create 13.34 hectares of fast-growing timber forests before 2015, aiming to provide 133.37 million cubic meters of wood annually.
The project, kicked off last August, was one of six massive afforestation programs requiring a combined investment of more than 700 billion yuan (US$84.64 billion). The others include the protection of natural forests, sand-break forests near Beijing and Tianjin, shelter forests in North, Northwest and Northeast China and along the Yangtze River, wildlife protection parks and a program to return some arable land to forests and grasslands.
The fast-growing, high-yield timber forests will be located in 886 counties in 18 provinces and autonomous regions in central and eastern China.
However, analysts noted, the massive undertaking will require heavy investments and much patience as the plan will take time to bear fruit, which explains why the government is considering new regulations and polices encouraging foreign and domestic investment and trade.
The project's key players are businesses, not government entities, said Shi Min, a senior official under the State Forestry Bureau in charge of the plan.
Financing the market-oriented project will depend on the market, and the government can only provide limited policy credit, Shi said.
Businesses must be prepared to supply an abundance of capital and technology, while the investment returns will not be high, said a representative of a State-owned company who declined to be named, adding that commercial banks are reluctant to grant loans for such projects.
Besides, he said, most of the existing companies in the sector are small and unlikely to be able to list on stock exchanges as a way of raising money.
In the short run, analysts said, China will still have to depend heavily on imports.
The State Council held a national meeting in September after issuing a set of new policies in June focused on tapping both domestic and foreign supplies.
Premier Wen Jiabao promised at the meeting to grant forestry "strategic importance" status in national development and include the sector in the country's overall social and economic development plans.
Wen vowed to speed up related legislation and further improve government polices to create a favorable environment for the sector's development.
Encouraged by the government's latest moves and attracted by the market demand, domestic and foreign businesses are starting to invest more in the sector.
In Guangdong Province alone, more than 540,000 small- and medium-sized businesses have invested in timber forests, according to the State Forestry Bureau. Together they have planted 1.1 million square meters of timber forests, accounting for 50 per cent of the province's total commercial woodlands.
Meanwhile, large timber companies and financial groups from seven countries - the United States, Malaysia, Australia, Britain, France, Italy and New Zealand - as well as China decided at the end of last month to launch what will become the largest international timber exchange in the world.
In the first phase, construction of the exchange is planned to cover 100,000 square meters of floor space at a cost of US$200 million.
The investor behind the exchange, which will conduct both cash and futures trading in timber, is registered in Hong Kong and includes 12 multinational financial groups.
Some of the foreign financial groups have already expressed interest in investing in the fast-growing timber forests in China, said Zhang Lei, deputy head of the Economic Development and Research Center of the State Forestry Bureau.
The exchange is expected to not only attract foreign and private investment in timber forests, Zhang said, but also bring China's timber trade in line with the international market.
China's afforestation targets
* 2010: National forest coverage of 19 per cent; 22 million hectares of land affected by desertification converted to forests and grasslands; 30 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
* 2020: National forest coverage of 23 per cent; 20 million more hectares of land affected by desertification converted to forests and grasslands; 35 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
* 2050: National forest coverage of 26 per cent; all land affected by desertification deemed suited to afforestation converted to forests and grasslands; 45 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
(China Daily November 27, 2003)
The Forest Or the Trees?
Due to a lack of wood to feed the blazing stove of national economic growth, China is considering radical changes to its forestry policies to lure both private and foreign investment.
The central government is working on new regulations to legalize the separation of use rights from the ownership of land already covered by or destined to be planted with trees, said Li Zujiao, head of the Economic Development and Research Centre under the State Forestry Bureau.
The new rules will pave the way for the transfer of the forest land use rights to marketize the sector and protect the interests of investors, Li said.
The separation of land ownership from the right to use it was instituted roughly 20 years ago as part of a plan to lease urban areas to foreign investors, and later non-State investors, for up to 70 years, as the Constitution stipulates that all land in the country is owned by the nation and cannot be sold.
The transfer of land use rights is believed to be one of the fundamental factors in the nation's rapid economic development, and experts hope the introduction of the concept to the forestry sector will similarly work to eliminate the 270-million-cubic-meter shortage of timber China suffers annually.
Besides legalizing the marketization of the sector, Li said, the government will also move to cut red tape to facilitate related investments as well as logging operations by distinguishing protected trees from wood-production forests.
The government currently imposes strict controls on the logging industry in an effort to check further damage to the environment. Applications to invest in wood production, processing and sales involve long, complicated approval procedures.
Heavy tax levies on the sector are expected to be cut to reduce investors' costs and bring down domestic wood prices, which are higher than foreign supplies, making domestic wood and related products less competitive against imports.
Uniform policies on financing, investment, taxation and the use of resources will be applied to all investors in the sector, regardless of whether the investors are State-owned, private or foreign.
"The sector is opening wider," Li said. Meanwhile, the government encourages foreign and private investment in tree planting and wood processing, and in domestic and foreign trade by the establishment of wholly owned companies or joint ventures, land leases, or the acquisition of stakes in related State-owned enterprises.
Investors will enjoy full freedom in their business development and be guaranteed their earnings as well as legal, social and political status, he added.
Severe shortage
China has been a forest-poor country for decades, and the shortage of wood and inadequate timber resources may continue for another half century, according to analysts.
"Existing forests still fall short of protecting the national ecological environment even if not a single tree is allowed to be cut," said Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Forestry Bureau, "but felling every single tree in the country for the logging industry can only satisfy domestic wood demand for a few decades."
Lei Jiafu, deputy director of the bureau, said China's wood reserves only account for 2.9 per cent of the world's total, far from adequate to meet the demand of a country that contains about 22 per cent of the world's population.
According to international standards, at least 30 per cent of a country's land should include forested acreage to achieve a good, stable and sustainable ecological environment, but the ratio in China is only 16.55 per cent.
An expected GDP growth rate of 7 per cent per year and an annual net population growth of about 11 million in the next five to 10 years will create a strong and steady increase in the demand for wood, said Lei, adding that China faces an even more severe shortage in the decades to come.
China's per capita wood consumption is now just 0.29 cubic meters, far below the worldwide average of 0.58 cubic meters.
An optimum 370 million cubic meters of wood is needed annually, but domestic supply only came to 100 million cubic meters in 2002, said Li Zujiao. China relies heavily on imports and is already the largest importer of wood in the world.
He noted that per capita forested areas and wood reserves in China equaled only 20 and 12 per cent of the world average, respectively, explaining that the country will require at least 18.5 billion cubic meters of wood in the next 50 years, 1.6 times the amount all the forests in China can produce today. And the country must plant more than 90 million hectares of new forests to realize its forest coverage target of 26 per cent of national land areas by 2050.
Official statistics indicate that domestic forests have only supplied a little more than 5 billion cubic meters of wood since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
Afforestation efforts
For their part, the public and the government have made immense and continuous afforestation efforts. Altogether, 6.2 billion people participated in tree-planting activities in the last 14 years, with a total of 39.8 billion trees planted.
Man-made afforestation efforts in 2002 alone encompassed 6.67 million hectares. Live planted trees covered 46.7 million hectares by 2002, accounting for 26 per cent of the world's total. As a result, China leads all other countries as home to the largest number of planted forests in the world.
These endeavours have brought China's forest coverage to its current 16.55 per cent, compared with 8.6 per cent in the early 1950s and 12 per cent in the 1980s. Total forested areas were expanded to 15.87 billion hectares, creating 12.5 billion cubic meters in total timber reserves.
The forestry sector's financial output hit 438 billion yuan (US$52.96 million) last year, according to government statistics.
These efforts, however, are still dwarfed by an accelerated demand, so the government decided to take bigger steps with an ambitious plan to create 13.34 hectares of fast-growing timber forests before 2015, aiming to provide 133.37 million cubic meters of wood annually.
The project, kicked off last August, was one of six massive afforestation programs requiring a combined investment of more than 700 billion yuan (US$84.64 billion). The others include the protection of natural forests, sand-break forests near Beijing and Tianjin, shelter forests in North, Northwest and Northeast China and along the Yangtze River, wildlife protection parks and a program to return some arable land to forests and grasslands.
The fast-growing, high-yield timber forests will be located in 886 counties in 18 provinces and autonomous regions in central and eastern China.
However, analysts noted, the massive undertaking will require heavy investments and much patience as the plan will take time to bear fruit, which explains why the government is considering new regulations and polices encouraging foreign and domestic investment and trade.
The project's key players are businesses, not government entities, said Shi Min, a senior official under the State Forestry Bureau in charge of the plan.
Financing the market-oriented project will depend on the market, and the government can only provide limited policy credit, Shi said.
Businesses must be prepared to supply an abundance of capital and technology, while the investment returns will not be high, said a representative of a State-owned company who declined to be named, adding that commercial banks are reluctant to grant loans for such projects.
Besides, he said, most of the existing companies in the sector are small and unlikely to be able to list on stock exchanges as a way of raising money.
In the short run, analysts said, China will still have to depend heavily on imports.
The State Council held a national meeting in September after issuing a set of new policies in June focused on tapping both domestic and foreign supplies.
Premier Wen Jiabao promised at the meeting to grant forestry "strategic importance" status in national development and include the sector in the country's overall social and economic development plans.
Wen vowed to speed up related legislation and further improve government polices to create a favorable environment for the sector's development.
Encouraged by the government's latest moves and attracted by the market demand, domestic and foreign businesses are starting to invest more in the sector.
In Guangdong Province alone, more than 540,000 small- and medium-sized businesses have invested in timber forests, according to the State Forestry Bureau. Together they have planted 1.1 million square meters of timber forests, accounting for 50 per cent of the province's total commercial woodlands.
Meanwhile, large timber companies and financial groups from seven countries - the United States, Malaysia, Australia, Britain, France, Italy and New Zealand - as well as China decided at the end of last month to launch what will become the largest international timber exchange in the world.
In the first phase, construction of the exchange is planned to cover 100,000 square meters of floor space at a cost of US$200 million.
The investor behind the exchange, which will conduct both cash and futures trading in timber, is registered in Hong Kong and includes 12 multinational financial groups.
Some of the foreign financial groups have already expressed interest in investing in the fast-growing timber forests in China, said Zhang Lei, deputy head of the Economic Development and Research Center of the State Forestry Bureau.
The exchange is expected to not only attract foreign and private investment in timber forests, Zhang said, but also bring China's timber trade in line with the international market.
China's afforestation targets
* 2010: National forest coverage of 19 per cent; 22 million hectares of land affected by desertification converted to forests and grasslands; 30 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
* 2020: National forest coverage of 23 per cent; 20 million more hectares of land affected by desertification converted to forests and grasslands; 35 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
* 2050: National forest coverage of 26 per cent; all land affected by desertification deemed suited to afforestation converted to forests and grasslands; 45 per cent of urban areas covered by trees and grass in 70 per cent of cities.
(China Daily November 27, 2003)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
China drafts civil law code
China's First Draft Civil Code Submitted for Review
China's first draft civil code was submitted to the top legislative body for preliminary reading Monday, raising hopes of better protection of the rights of individuals and corporations.
PRINT
DISCUSSION
CHINESE
SEND TO FRIEND
To facilitate its transformation from a planned economy to a market economy and to cater to requirements of the World Trade Organization, China has begun compiling a complete civil code essentially covering all kinds of civil relationships. The 216-page and 1200-odd-article draft law was presented Monday to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, for the first hearing. The civil code is intended to regulate the property and personal relations of individuals and legal entities, and to serve as a standard, or the "Bible", of social life, jurists said. Over the past more than two decades, China has formulated General Rules of Civil Law and separate laws on contracts, hypothecation, copyright, trademark, patent, marriage, adoption and inheritance. Articles regulating civil relations also appearedin many other laws. "All the laws and provisions have formed the existing civil law system in China, but there are still other components yet to be created," said Gu Angran, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee. In the draft civil code, additions have been made on laws concerning property, personal rights, legal consequences for civil rights violations and civil relations involving foreign parties. According to the draft, victims whose civil rights were violated are entitled to seek moral compensation. The draft law also made provisions relating to the legal consequences of auto accidents, environmental pollution, product defects, work under dangerous conditions and injury caused by animals or facilities. The existing laws on contract, marriage, adoption and inheritance were incorporated into the draft civil code with no change.
China's first draft civil code was submitted to the top legislative body for preliminary reading Monday, raising hopes of better protection of the rights of individuals and corporations.
DISCUSSION
CHINESE
SEND TO FRIEND
To facilitate its transformation from a planned economy to a market economy and to cater to requirements of the World Trade Organization, China has begun compiling a complete civil code essentially covering all kinds of civil relationships. The 216-page and 1200-odd-article draft law was presented Monday to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, for the first hearing. The civil code is intended to regulate the property and personal relations of individuals and legal entities, and to serve as a standard, or the "Bible", of social life, jurists said. Over the past more than two decades, China has formulated General Rules of Civil Law and separate laws on contracts, hypothecation, copyright, trademark, patent, marriage, adoption and inheritance. Articles regulating civil relations also appearedin many other laws. "All the laws and provisions have formed the existing civil law system in China, but there are still other components yet to be created," said Gu Angran, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee. In the draft civil code, additions have been made on laws concerning property, personal rights, legal consequences for civil rights violations and civil relations involving foreign parties. According to the draft, victims whose civil rights were violated are entitled to seek moral compensation. The draft law also made provisions relating to the legal consequences of auto accidents, environmental pollution, product defects, work under dangerous conditions and injury caused by animals or facilities. The existing laws on contract, marriage, adoption and inheritance were incorporated into the draft civil code with no change.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)