Source: SupChina (8/28/18)
No family planning, and sexual harassment defined in the Civil Code
By Jeremy Goldkorn
NO FAMILY PLANNING IN CIVIL CODE
“‘Family planning’ is gone?” is the headline of one story (in Chinese) published yesterday. What happened?
- The Procuratorial Daily yesterday reported (in Chinese) on the latest draft of China’s Civil Code, which was submitted to the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress for deliberation. Proposed amendments to the marriage and family sections of the Civil Code include:
- Having certain diseases will no longer be an impediment to marriage, as long as the person with the illness informs their spouse to be.
- A one-month cooling-off period after filing for divorce is mandated. During this period, either party may withdraw the divorce application from the registration authority.
- Domestic violence, abuse, abandonment of family members, or other major faults that lead to divorce are grounds for the other party to seek damages.
- “The relevant content of family planning is no longer retained” is the only reference to birth restrictions in the article.
- However, the China Daily informs us: Civil code plans don’t mean family planning is over:
[L]egislators explained on Tuesday there’s a special law on family planning, so there’s no need to duplicate content in the marriage section while drafting the civil code.
Related content can still be found in the Population and Family Planning Law. As for whether the Population and Family Planning Law will be amended due to the changing demographic situation in the country, that needs further consideration, according to the Commission for Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee.
The “changing demographic situation” referred to is, of course, what some call a demographic time bomb: too many old people and not enough births. The One-Child Policy was adjusted to a two-child policy on January 1, 2016, but as the Guardian points out:
Couples have been in no rush to start larger families since the policy was loosened, with 17.9 million babies born in 2016 —just 1.3 million more than in the previous year, and half of what was expected, according to the National Bureau of Statistics… Births in 2017 even slipped to 17.2 million, well below the official forecast of more than 20 million.
This reality probably means that all restrictions on childbirth will eventually be lifted. We just don’t know when. See also:
- China sends further signal on end to family size limits with revised civil code / SCMP
- Forty years of family planning / World of Chinese
A view of China’s fluctuating one-child policy through the often-bizarre lens of rural propaganda slogans.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN THE CIVIL CODE
Sexual harassment is another new addition to the draft Civil Code, according to Xinhua News Agency (in Chinese):
- The Code defines sexual harassment as harmful “words, actions or the abuse of a subordinate.”
- Perpetrators will be subject to civil liability — criminal liability is not mentioned.
- Employers are also required “to take reasonable measures” to stop sexual harassment, including having a complaint system.
INDIVIDUAL INCOME TAX
Individual income tax reform is another issue addressed by the current session of the Standing Committee. One other Chinese media report pairs the tax changes with the family planning news as “heavy news” (重磅 zhòngbàng):
- The taxable threshold for individual income will be raised from 3,500 yuan ($515) to 5,000 yuan ($735) a month from January 1, 2019.
- There are other adjustments to the definition of taxable income, and rules governing contributions to government pension schemes.