民法典(mínfǎdiǎn):Civil Code

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, reviewed the draft of the General Provisions of the Civil Law for the first time on Monday, which is regarded as a milestone of the legislation procedure in China.

The drafting started in March 2015 and was carried out by a panel comprising experts from the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and other legal scholars.

Li Shishi, head of the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, said at the opening meeting of NPC's bi-monthly session that a final draft is expected to be approved in March 2017 and adopted in March 2020.

The major principles of the provisions are equality, fairness and good faith, and they define natural persons, legal persons, civil rights, unincorporated organizations, civil liability and limitation of civil actions.

The draft increases the provisions protecting the civil interests of fetuses in inheritance and acceptance of gifts.

The age of persons with limited capacity of conduct is lowered from 10 years old to 6 years old, in consideration of minors' physical and psychological maturity, and cognitive ability having increased thanks to social development and the improvement of living and educational standards.