Divorce, harassment and organ donors: China to debate new civil code

Divorce, sexual harassment, organ donations, privacy: China’s sweeping first-ever civil code will be debated at its annual parliament meeting in Beijing this week.

The rubber-stamp legislature rarely rejects bills, and this law has been in the works since 2017. If adopted, many laws currently regulating aspects of life in China from marriage to adoption will be completely or partially abolished and replaced by the new civil code.

Here is a look at key highlights of the proposed law:

Divorce ‘cooling-off period
A proposed — and controversial — rule to require a spouse suing their partner in court for a divorce to have a “30-day cooling-off period” could be scrapped, a top Chinese official said last week. The current draft of China’s civil code says all couples seeking a divorce must “deliberate on their decision” for a month.

Privacy protection
The code could see China defining for the first time what privacy means for its 1.4 billion citizens. The current draft says private information counts as anything an individual is “not willing to be made known to other persons” and prohibits businesses, individuals — and even the government — from accessing such information without consent.

Protection against land grabs
In China, land can only be owned by the state or collective organisations. Private individuals or businesses can only buy the right to use land for up to 70 years. Local governments are allowed to expropriate land or revoke land-use rights for projects that serve the “public interest”, and have abused this power in the past.

Sexual harassment, organ donations
A few other key moves in the civil code include expanding the definition of “sexual harassment” to include being groped at the workplace or being assaulted by a teacher on campus — key demands from China’s scuttled #Metoo movement.

What’s missing?
The draft code omits any reference to “family planning” — the current policy which limits couples to having only two children — although experts have cautioned that this does not mean decades of controversial family-planning rules will be scrapped.

Separately, lawmakers are also working on a biosecurity law and a draft revision to the animal epidemic prevention law — key legislation in response to the coronavirus outbreak. China has already banned the sale of wildlife — except for medicinal purposes — after the virus was linked to consuming wild animals. These last two laws are still open for public comments until June 13, meaning they will not be ready for approval during the upcoming parliamentary session.

Source: DJ