China's top legislature might add mental distress to conditions covered by the Tort Law to improve civil rights protection, under legislation submitted on Monday.
The long-awaited draft Tort Law, designed to provide compensation for those whose rights are violated, was tabled at the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for a second reading.
"Existing laws don't clearly stipulate provisions for mental distress, but there are already many cases in which such claims have been made," Vice Chairman of the NPC Law Committee, Li Shishi, told lawmakers.
In most cases, people experience both economic loss and mental distress when their civil rights are violated, so the latter should also be covered by law, Li said.
The 1987 General Principles of the Civil Law only cover rights to name, image, reputation and honor. No compensation for mental distress in cases involving death or injury was mentioned.
With an increase in claims for mental distress, the Supreme People's Court in 2001 issued a judicial interpretation that stipulated detailed conditions under which victims can claim compensation for mental distress.
Yang Lixin, a law professor at Renmin University of China, told Xinhua that the General Principles of the Civil Law are "not complete" and to include mental compensation in the Tort Law draft would rectify the "key defect" in China's legal system.
"Even though the 2001 judicial interpretation was very comprehensive, it is not law," Yang said. "The draft marks major progress."
Under the draft, only those whose life or health are seriously damaged would be entitled to compensation. These includes cases in which victims eventually die, are crippled or experience serious psychological damage.
Given the complexity of mental distress cases, the draft doesn't stipulate a uniform compensation standard. Amounts would be left to the courts to decide based on legal precedents.
The law draft was reviewed by the 9th NPC Standing Committee in December, 2002 as a part of the Civil Code draft. The NPC Standing Committee then decided to debate the nine law drafts, which constitute the Civil Code, one by one.
NEW PROVISIONS FOLLOW MILK SCANDAL
The draft also covers compensation for harm from defective products.
It stipulates that victims can seek "punitive damages," which could be more than their actual losses, if companies knowingly produce and sell defective products.
Companies that fail to warn customers, recall defective products or take other effective measures to remedy damage, would face tort liability.
"The provisions are directly linked to the Sanlu scandal," said Yang, who helped draft the law.
Yang said compensation for harm from defective products is included in the Law on Product Quality. But to include the compensation in the Tort Law is "something we have been pushing for years," he said. "I am ecstatic."
Yang and his colleagues were delegated to draft the law in 2000. "The 2002 version didn't have such provisions. They were included in the draft in September," he said.
The law could be applied in compensation cases involving victims of the Sanlu baby formula melamine-adulteration scandal, Yang said.
A central government investigation team found that the Sanlu Group in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei Province, continued producing and selling tainted baby formula even after it began to receive customer complaints at the end of 2007.
According to the Ministry of Health, at least six babies were killed and 290,000 others were sickened by the formula, most of which was produced by Sanlu.
The 88-provision draft covers compensation for a wide range of cases, including traffic accidents, medical accidents, job injury, pollution, Internet abuse and even harm caused by other people's pets.
Yang said in most Continental law systems, tort liabilities are included in credit laws.
"To have a separate tort law, which covers all types of torts, is unique in Continental law," he said.
In contrast to other civil laws like the property law, which tells people what their rights are, the tort law tells people how to protect their rights, Yang said.
"It would be a milestone in China's legislative history," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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