Civil Code Preamble

The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, has passed the General Provisions of the Civil Law, the opening chapter of a civil code to be enacted in 2020.

The General Provisions were adopted at the closing meeting of the annual session of the NPC on March 15 and will take effect on October 1.

Compiling a civil code, a decision made by the central leadership in 2014, was deemed a “must-do” to promote China’s rule of law and modernize state governance. It was also a crucial move to build China into a moderately prosperous society by 2020.

The code is being developed in two steps. The adoption of the General Provisions, which lay down the basic principles for regulating civil activities, marked the completion of the crucial first step.

The second step, the compilation of five sets of laws dealing with prop- erty, contract, tort liability, marriage and inheritance, started last year.