Full text of China's draft civil code to be unveiled soon

BEIJING - The full text of China's draft civil code will be published online to solicit public opinions after the upcoming bi-monthly session of the top legislature, a spokesperson said Friday.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) is scheduled to meet from Dec 23 to 28 to deliberate various legal documents including the draft civil code.

According to work arrangements, the draft is also expected to be submitted to the annual session of the NPC next year for deliberation following a decision of the NPC Standing Committee, said Yue Zhongming, spokesperson of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee.

He also summarized the new changes in the general provisions and six other sections of the draft, such as improvement on the system of the right of habitation, the provisions on sexual harassment, the definition of privacy and new rules on handling cyberspace torts.

The General Provisions of the Civil Law, which was adopted in 2017, is included in the draft code as the first book.

All the other draft books have gone through at least two readings at the NPC Standing Committee sessions as well as wide consultations from the public and authorities, said Yue.

For example, the NPC Standing Committee received 237,057 online suggestions and 5,635 letters on the draft book of marriage and family, which was made public after its third reading.

The suggestions focused on issues including the scope of close relatives, joint marital debt and same-sex marriage, according to Yue.