Chapter VI Civil Liability

Section 1 General Stipulations

Article 106 Citizens and legal persons who breach a contract or fail to fulfil other obligations shall bear civil liability.

Citizens and legal persons who through their fault encroach upon State or collective property or the property or person of other people shall bear civil liability.

Civil liability shall still be borne even in the absence of fault, if the law so stipulates.

Article 107 Civil liability shall not be borne for failure to perform a contract or damage to a third party if it is caused by force majeure, except as otherwise provided by law.

Article 108 Debts shall be cleared. If a debtor is unable to repay his debt immediately, he may repay by installments with the consent of the creditor or a ruling by a people's court. If a debtor is capable of repaying his debt but refuses to do so, repayment shall be compelled by the decision of a people's court.

Article 109 If a person suffers damages from preventing or stopping encroachment on State or collective property, or the property or person of a third party, the infringer shall bear responsibility for compensation, and the beneficiary may also give appropriate compensation.

Article 110 Citizens or legal persons who bear civil liability shall also be held for administrative responsibility if necessary. If the acts committed by citizens and legal persons constitute crimes, criminal responsibility of their legal representatives shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

Section 2 Civil Liability for Breach of Contract

Article 111 If a party fails to fulfil its contractual obligations or violates the terms of a contract while fulfilling the obligations, the other party shall have the right to demand fulfilment or the taking of remedial measures and claim compensation for its losses.

Article 112 The party that breaches a contract shall be liable for compensation equal to the losses consequently suffered by the other party.

The parties may specify in a contract that if one party breaches the contract it shall pay the other party a certain amount of breach of contract damages; they may also specify in the contract the method of assessing the compensation for any losses resulting from a breach of contract.

Article 113 If both parties breach the contract, each party shall bear its respective civil liability.

Article 114 If one party is suffering losses owing to the other party's breach of contract, it shall take prompt measures to prevent the losses from increasing; if it does not promptly do so, it shall not have the right to claim compensation for the additional losses.

Article 115 A party's right to claim compensation for losses shall not be affected by the alteration or termination of a contract.

Article 116 If a party fails to fulfil its contractual obligations on account of a higher authority, it shall first compensate for the losses of the other party or take other remedial measures as contractually agreed and then the higher authority shall be responsible for settling the losses it sustained.

Section 3 Civil Liability for Infringement of Rights

Article 117 Anyone who encroaches on the property of the State, a collective or another person shall return the property; failing that, he shall reimburse its estimated price.

Anyone who damages the property of the State, a collective or another person shall restore the property to its original condition or reimburse its estimated price. If the victim suffers other great losses therefrom, the infringer shall compensate for those losses as well

Article 118 If the rights of authorship (copyrights), patent rights, rights to exclusive use of trademarks, rights of discovery, rights of invention or rights for scientific and technological research achievements of citizens or legal persons are infringed upon by such means as plagiarism, alteration or imitation, they shall have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, its ill effects be eliminated and the damages be compensated for.

Article 119 Anyone who infringes upon a citizen's person and causes him physical injury shall pay his medical expenses and his loss in income due to missed working time and shall pay him living subsidies if he is disabled; if the victim dies, the infringer shall also pay the funeral expenses, the necessary living expenses of the deceased's dependents and other such expenses.

Article 120 If a citizen's right of personal name, portrait, reputation or honour is infringed upon, he shall have the right to demand that the infringement be stopped, his reputation be rehabilitated, the ill effects be eliminated and an apology be made; he may also demand compensation for losses.

The above paragraph shall also apply to infringements upon a legal person's right of name, reputation or honour.

Article 121 If a State organ or its personnel, while executing its duties, encroaches upon the lawful rights and interests of a citizen or legal person and causes damages, it shall bear civil liability.

Article 122 If a substandard product causes property damage or physical injury to others, the manufacturer or seller shall bear civil liability according to law. If the transporter or storekeeper is responsible for the matter, the manufacturer or seller shall have the right to demand compensation for its losses.

Article 123 If any person causes damage to other people by engaging in operations that are greatly hazardous to the surroundings, such as operations conducted high aboveground, or those involving high pressure, high voltage, combustibles, explosives, highly toxic or radioactive substances or high-speed means of transport, he shall bear civil liability; however, if it can be proven that the damage was deliberately caused by the victim, he shall not bear civil liability.

Article 124 Any person who pollutes the environment and causes damages to others in violation of State provisions for environmental protection and the prevention of pollution shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law.

Article 125 Any constructor who engages in excavation, repairs or installation of underground facilities in a public place, on a roadside or in a passageway without setting up clear signs and adopting safety measures and thereby causes damages to others shall bear civil liability.

Article 126 If a building or any other installation or an object placed or hung on a structure collapses, detaches or drops down and causes damages to others, its owner or manager shall bear civil liability, unless he can prove himself not a fault.

Article 127 If a domesticated animal causes harm to any person, its keeper or manager shall bear civil liability. If the harm occurs through the fault of the victim, the keeper or manager shall not bear civil liability; if the harm occurs through the fault of a third party, the third party shall bear civil liability.

Article 128 A person who causes harm in exercising justifiable defence shall not bear civil liability. If justifiable defence exceeds the limits of necessity and undue harm is caused, an appropriate amount of civil liability shall be borne.

Article 129 If harm occurs through emergency actions taken to avoid danger, the person who gave rise to the danger shall bear civil liability. If the danger arose from natural causes, the person who took the emergency actions may either be exempt from civil liability or bear civil liability to an appropriate extent. If the emergency measures taken are improper or exceed the limits of necessity and undue harm is caused, the person who took the emergency action shall bear civil liability to an appropriate extent.

Article 130 If two or more persons jointly infringe upon another person's rights and cause him damages, they shall bear joint liability.

Article 131 If a victim is also at fault for causing the damage, the civil liability of the infringer may be reduced.

Article 132 If none of the parties are at fault in causing damage, they may share civil liability according to the actual circumstances.

Article 133 If a person without or with limited capacity for civil conduct causes damages to others, his guardian shall bear civil liability. If the guardian has done his duty of guardianship, his civil liability may be appropriately reduced.

If a person who has property but is without or with limited capacity for civil conduct causes damages to others, the expenses of compensation shall be paid from his property. Shortfalls in such expenses shall be appropriately compensated for by the guardian unless the guardian is a unit.

Section 4 Methods of Bearing Civil Liability

Article 134 The main methods of bearing civil liability shall be:

(1) cessation of infringements;

(2) removal of obstacles;

(3) elimination of dangers;

(4) return of property;

(5) restoration of original condition;

(6) repair, reworking or replacement;

(7) compensation for losses;

(8) payment of breach of contract damages;

(9) elimination of ill effects and rehabilitation of reputation; and

(10) extension of apology.

The above methods of bearing civil liability may be applied exclusively or concurrently.

When hearing civil cases, a people's court, in addition to applying the above stipulations, may serve admonitions, order the offender to sign a pledge of repentance, and confiscate the property used in carrying out illegal activities and the illegal income obtained therefrom. It may also impose fines or detentions as stipulated by law.

Chapter VII Limitation of Action

Article 135 Except as otherwise stipulated by law, the limitation of action regarding applications to a people's court for protection of civil rights shall be two years.

Article 136 The limitation of action shall be one year on cases concerning the following:

(1) claims for compensation for bodily injuries;

(2) sales of substandard goods without proper notice to that effect;

(3) delays in paying rent or refusal to pay rent; or

(4) loss of or damage to property left in the care of another person.

Article 137 A limitation of action shall begin when the entitled person knows or should know that his rights have been infringed upon. However, the people's court shall not protect his rights if 20 years have passed since the infringement. Under special circumstances, the people's court may extend the limitation of action.

Article 138 If a party chooses to fulfil obligations voluntarily after the limitation of action has expired, he shall not be subject to the limitation.

Article 139 A limitation of action shall be suspended during the last six months of the limitation if the plaintiff cannot exercise his right of claim because of force majeure or other obstacles. The limitation shall resume on the day when the grounds for the suspension are eliminated.

Article 140 A limitation of action shall be discontinued if suit is brought or if one party makes a claim for or agrees to fulfilment of obligations. A new limitation shall be counted from the time of the discontinuance.

Article 141 If the law has other stipulations concerning limitation of action, those stipulations shall apply.

Chapter VIII Application of Law in Civil Relations with Foreigners

Article 142 The application of law in civil relations with foreigners shall be determined by the provisions in this chapter.

If any international treaty concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China contains provisions differing from those in the civil laws of the People's Republic of China, the provisions of the international treaty shall apply, unless the provisions are ones on which the People's Republic of China has announced reservations.

International practice may be applied on matters for which neither the law of the People's Republic of China nor any international treaty concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China has any provisions.

Article 143 If a citizen of the People's Republic of China settles in a foreign country, the law of that country may be applicable as regards his capacity for civil conduct.

Article 144 The ownership of immovable property shall be bound by the law of the place where it is situated.

Article 145 The parties to a contract involving foreign interests may choose the law applicable to settlement of their contractual disputes, except as otherwise stipulated by law.

If the parties to a contract involving foreign interests have not made a choice, the law of the country to which the contract is most closely connected shall be applied.

Article 146 The law of the place where an infringing act is committed shall apply in handling compensation claims for any damage caused by the act. If both parties are citizens of the same country or have established domicile in another country, the law of their own country or the country of domicile may be applied.

An act committed outside the People's Republic of China shall not be treated as an infringing act if under the law of the People's Republic of China it is not considered an infringing act.

Article 147 The marriage of a citizen of the People's Republic of China to a foreigner shall be bound by the law of the place where they get married, while a divorce shall be bound by the law of the place where a court accepts the case.

Article 148 Maintenance of a spouse after divorce shall be bound by the law of the country to which the spouse is most closely connected.

Article 149 In the statutory succession of an estate, movable property shall be bound by the law of the decedent's last place of residence, and immovable property shall be bound by the law of the place where the property is situated.

Article 150 The application of foreign laws or international practice in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall not violate the public interest of the People's Republic of China.

Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions

Article 151 The people's congresses of the national autonomous areas may formulate separate adaptive or supplementary regulations or provisions in accordance with the principles of this Law and in the light of the characteristics of the local nationalities. Those formulated by the people's congresses of autonomous regions shall be submitted in accordance with the law to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval or for the record. Those formulated by the people's congresses of autonomous prefectures or autonomous counties shall be submitted to the standing committee of the people's congress in the relevant province or autonomous region for approval.

Article 152 If an enterprise owned by the whole people has been established with the approval of the competent authority of a province, autonomous region or centrally administered municipality or at a higher level and it has already been registered with the administrative agency for industry and commerce, before this Law comes into force, it shall automatically qualify as a legal person without having to re-register as such.

Article 153 For the purpose of this Law, "force majeure" means unforeseeable, unavoidable and insurmountable objective conditions.

Article 154 Time periods referred to in the Civil Law shall be calculated by the Gregorian calendar in years, months, days and hours.

When a time period is prescribed in hours, calculation of the period shall begin on the prescribed hour. When a time period is prescribed in days, months and years, the day on which the period begins shall not be counted as within the period; calculation shall begin on the next day.

If the last day of a time period falls on a Sunday or an official holiday, the day after the holiday shall be taken as the last day.

The last day shall end at 24:00 hours. If business hours are applicable, the last day shall end at closing time.

Article 155 In this Law, the terms "not less than," "not more than" "within" and "expires" shall include the given figure; the terms "under" and "beyond" shall not include the given figure.

Article 156 This Law shall come into force on January 1, 1987.