The 15th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress was held in Beijing on December 23rd, and the Draft Civil Code was officially promulgated.
The Draft Civil Code consists of seven sections, respectively, general provisions, property, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance, torts and supplementary provisions.
The main amendments in the Civil Code are:
·A. Clarify the responsibility of "organs, enterprises, schools, etc." to prevent sexual harassment
The Draft stipulates that organs, enterprises, schools and other units shall adopt appropriate measures to prevent and stop sexual harassment by taking advantage of power or subordination.
·B. Prohibit usury
The Draft clearly stipulates that usury is prohibited and the interest rates on loans shall not violate relevant regulations of the state.
·C. Clarify the definition of privacy for the first time
The Draft revised the definition of privacy as "Privacy is natural person’s peace of personal life and the private space, private activity and private information that is not willing to be known by others.
According to the work plan for the compilation of the Civil Code, after the Draft be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation decision，it will be submitted to the 3rd session of the 13th National People's Congress to be held in March 2020 for deliberation。