China’s civil code addresses problems of internet era

By Xue Jun, People’s Daily
Internet is now integrated into all sectors of the Chinese society, and this social change has been
fully taken into consideration in the making of China’s civil code.
Because of this, the Chinese civil code is considered a symbolic one in the internet era, and
deserves an important place in the global history of civil code compiling.
Paperless revolution and electronization are a major change brought by the internet, and they are
widely applied in social and economic exchanges. To address the transformation, the Chinese civil
code has made systematic regulation.
How can an online transaction or contract be valid? What online behaviors are considered legally
binding offers and what are considered promises? When is an online delivery considered
completed? These problems all have legal basis in the Chinese civil code.
To some extent, the civil code offers a complete statutory rules for online economic exchanges,
which will effectively lower the institutional cost of online transactions and propel the
development of e-commerce and other businesses.
Internet also facilitated the emergence of platform economy, and many internet platforms are
playing a pivotal role in today’s social and economic life. Therefore, these platforms, as new
market entities, are also a focus of the civil code, and complete liability clauses have been
developed in this regard. For instance, the “notice and take down” rules are replaced by the more
detailed “notification and counter-notification” in the civil code. All infringement of rights and
interests on internet platforms can be compensated under this institutional frame, which will
further normalize the platform economy and make it more sustainable.
People’s social activities are more and more moved online in the internet era, which has brought
new features of and changes to the rights of personality and property. For instance, online ID is
now an important carrier of a person’s social personality image, so it is protected by the civil code.
New properties, such as virtual properties and data, are also taken into consideration by the civil
code.
It is expected that as the internet economy further develops, a new property law system will be
created for the internet era on the basis of relevant civil code regulations.
The enhanced protection over personal information in the internet era is another focus and
highlight of the civil code. The protection over personal information in the internet era is a global
issue, and many countries have made special laws to respond to it. China also has similar
legislation plan. The civil code, from the perspective of civil law, pays high attention on the
protection of individuals’ legal interests in terms of personal information. The implementation of
the civil code will bring China’s legal protection of personal information onto a new level.
The civil code’s close relation with the internet era comes from the remarkable development of
China’s information and technology industry. Its clauses and terms related to the internet not only
regulate, but also propel the healthy and sustained development of the internet industry.
The implementation of the civil code will further improve China’s stable and expectable legal
environment, and make China’s digitalization and informatization more stable and sustainable.