The Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (the "Civil Code") was recently adopted by vote at the Third Session of the 13th National People's Congress ("NPC") and shall enter into force from January 1, 2021.

The 1,260-article Civil Code contains seven parts that provide for general provisions, property rights, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance, and tort liability respectively, in addition to the supplementary provisions. The Civil Code is the product of an all-round and systematic codification of several existing separate laws for civil affairs in China, including the General Principles of the Civil Law, the Real Rights Law, the Contract Law, and the Guaranty Law, that were enacted and launched in different phases. The code with Chinese characteristics reflects the characteristics of the new era and represents aspirations of the people. Based on the current Contract Law, Part III on Contracts, for example, is designed to improve the system of contracts, with a view to implementing the spirit for deepening reforms in all aspects, stressing safeguarding contracts, give-and-take principle and fair competition and promoting free flow of commodities and elements. The improvement is embodied in three subparts of Part III on Contracts, i.e. general rules, typical contracts and quasi contracts. To be more specific, additional four types of contracts, including guarantee contracts and factoring contracts, are added to the subpart on typical contracts; improvement to some other existing typical contracts, such as sales contracts and loan contracts, is incorporated.

(Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com)