Lawmakers from Zhejiang Province review the draft general provisions of civil law during a panel discussion at the annual session of the National People’s Congress on March 10 in Beijing. If adopted, the law will bring the country one step closer to a civil code.

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China will strengthen its system of property rights protection, according to the government work report released at China’s annual national legislative meeting.

Protecting property rights means protecting labor and innovation while developing productivity, according to the Report on the Work of the Government delivered at the Fifth Session of the 12th National People’s Congress of China on March 5, 2017.

At the end of 2016, the central government called for measures to protect the lawful rights of innovators and foster new momentum for economic development in its national planning for the protection and application of intellectual property from 2016 to 2020. Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, said legal protection for property rights will stimulate market vitality, fuel public enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and increase people’s incomes and sense of property security.

Protecting intellectual property rights requires a punitive system for intellectual property torts and the reforms of the scientific research system, Chi suggested. China recently began to establish its intellectual property court system, and the integration of civil, criminal and administrative procedures on intellectual property cases should also be further promoted, Chi added.

In addition to strengthening legal protections for intangible assets, Shi Jie, director of the Sichuan Dingli Law Firm, suggested intellectual property rights holders should do their parts. Intellectual properties should be registered in a timely fashion while more security measures should be taken to safeguard business secrets, Shi said.

At the end of 2016, China issued guidelines for improving the nation’s system of property rights protection. The guidelines called for accelerating the compilation of the Civil Code, abolishing unfair treatment of non-public enterprises.

Entrepreneurs are more willing to invest and expand production when fair protection is emphasized at a national level, said Sun Xianzhong, a research fellow from the Institute of Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In practice, China should provide more legal support for the private economy, and a fair protection mechanism should be established in law enforcement and the judiciary, Sun suggested.

A negative list for investment access to the services industry should be promoted, granting social capital the same access to the industry as public capital, Chi said. Meanwhile, a share-holding system for employees in state-owned companies should be built. And innovation in land property protection should be made to clearly identify and protect all forms of land property and explore new ways to increase farmers’ incomes.

Invisible barriers to the development of non-public economy should be removed, insuring that non-public economy can fairly exploit all production factors, participate in market competition as well as enjoy fair protection and assume social responsibility, Shi said.

The guidelines forbid local governments from breaching investment and cooperation contracts with social capital in the event that local government office terms expire and local leaders change.
A government should submit itself to the rule of law and credibility, Sun said, adding law enforcement activities should be in compliance with the law. Shi suggested a stricter identification of public interest, ensuring government departments do not violate private rights in the name of public interest.