Lawmakers begin finalizing Tort Law to protect civil rights
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China's top legislature began deliberating final revisions of the draft Tort Law Tuesday, including civil liabilities of construction firms in buildings safety.
The draft law, which was designed to provide compensation for those whose rights are violated, was tabled at the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), which opened Tuesday, for the fourth reading.
The 92-provision draft covers liabilities for a range of circumstances, including traffic accidents, medical accidents, work-related injuries, pollution, harm caused by other people's pets and mental distress.
"It is one of the key laws within China's legal framework of civil rights protection, reflecting a people-oriented society," said legislator Hu Zhengpeng at the previous session.
"China has more than 40 laws involving tort liabilities, making it difficult to work out a tort law to coordinate all provisions," said lawmaker Ren Maodong.
The NPC Standing Committee sought public opinions on the law through its website from Nov. 5 to Dec. 5, and received 3,468 submissions. Most were positive and urged an early introduction.
However, the draft has been revised following a string of controversial personal rights infringement cases.
On June 27, a 13-floor building collapsed at the Lotus Riverside residential complex in Shanghai, killing a worker. An investigation later blamed the developer, construction company, supervisors and safety inspectors for the accident.
The amendment was then revised for the fourth time for deliberation on whether developers and construction companies should take joint liability for the safety of their buildings.
Last year, Sanlu Group, the dairy company based in Hebei's provincial capital Shijiazhuang, was found to have adulterated its infant formula milk powder with melamine, an industrial chemical, leaving at least six infants dead and about 300,000 others suffering kidney and other problems.
The draft then covered compensation for harm from defective products. It stipulated that victims, especially those who died or whose health was seriously damaged, could seek "punitive compensation" higher than their actual losses, if companies knowingly produced or sold defective products.
Companies that failed to warn customers, recall defective products or take other effective measures to remedy damage, could face civil actions.
In response to medical disputes, the fourth draft version reiterated medical staff should not conduct "unnecessary tests" on patients against clinical criteria despite recommendations to delete this provision because it was too hard to define "unnecessary".
Compensation for mental distress has also been covered, but only those whose life or health were seriously damaged would be entitled to compensation. These include cases in which victims eventually die, are crippled or experience serious psychological damage.
Given the complexity of mental distress cases, the draft stipulates no uniform compensation standard. Amounts would be left to the discretion of judges based on legal precedents.
The Tort Law was reviewed by the Ninth NPC Standing Committee in 2002 as a part of the Civil Code draft. The NPC Standing Committee then decided to debate the nine law drafts that constitute the Civil Code, one by one. The draft, if passed, would enjoy equal importance with another civil rights law, the Property Law.
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