Top Ten China Law Stories of ‘07

Posted by Stan on 1/08/08 • Categorized as China Law

Don Clarke reports on this list put together by CCTV et al. As an IP and corporate lawyer, a lot of this stuff never got on my radar screen, but it’s all quite interesting. We could use some good commentary; maybe someone like Steve Dickinson will post on this (hint hint):

1. Hu Jintao’s Oct. 15, 2007 report to the 17th Party Congress stresses the rule of law, mentioning terms such as "law," "rule of law," and "according to law" no fewer than 85 times.

2. Property Law (Law on Real Rights) (物权法) goes into effect on Oct. 1, 2007.

3.Labor Contract Law (劳动合同法) passed on June 29, 2007.

4. Death penalty review power fully re-centralized back to Supreme People’s Court as of Jan. 1, 2007.

5. Cabinet-level State Bureau for the Prevention of Corruption (国家预防腐败局) established on Sept. 13, 2007.

6. State Administration of Industry and Commerce leads crackdown on illegal sex toys, sex medicines, and associated advertising (Nov. 2007).

7. Slavery in Shanxi brick kilns (山西黑砖窑) exposed in May 2007.

8. The story of the Chongqing "nail household" (钉子户) hits the media in March 2007.

9. Lanzhou municipal authorities issue controversial order on June 25 putting a ceiling on the price of beef noodles (牛肉面).

10. Pregnant woman Li Liyun (李丽云) dies in hospital because husband refuses to sign consent and hospital refuses to operate without it (Nov. 2007).

Let’s see. I think I posted on maybe three of the ten stories, and I wouldn’t call myself an expert on any of those issues.

The last item was a story I wanted to post about, but I never got around to it. Interesting issues related to informed consent, the role of the family vs. the State, even some possible criminal matters. I worked one summer at the Boston Health & Human Services in-house legal department (it also serviced Boston City Hospital), so this is probably more interesting to me than the average IP lawyer out there. The story generated a huge amount of attention — the rumors on the local blogs and BBSs were wild for a while there. Quite a dramatic story that got no play in the English-language press.

3 Comments

  1. Chris Devonshire-Ellis
    Tuesday, January 8, 2008 • 10:45 am

    Your last story Stan is highly relevant. We’ll be running a piece on the status or otherwise of the Hippocratic oath in China so look out for that. We’ll be kicking off 2008 with a hard look at Chinese medical facilities and the legal support (or lack of them) for the underpriviledged. Just wait until an overseas student / English teacher / overweight tourist on the Great Wall during the Olympics dies through lack of medical care because they didn’t have the ready cash available for treatment. Sad prediction but one I think will hit the fan this year, and big time. Time for the Medical lawyers to get their asses over here.

  2. China Law Blog
    Tuesday, January 8, 2008 • 4:05 pm

    Stan,

    Don (as one would expect) has come up with a great list and one on which I am not sure even Steve could comment fully on. Steve is actually in Beijing right now, heading to Shanghai this evening, I believe, so he will probably miss it.

    I was just interviewed by a reporter who listed the big legal news of 2007 as the following:

    1. The labor law
    2. Changes in the FDI catalogue
    3. Changes in corporate taxation

    I pretty much just went along with his list and I think it is probably pretty accurate, at least from the perspective of foreign businesses. But the property law changes probably should be in there as well.

    I am proud to confess (and willing to take a lie detecter test to prove it) that this is the first I have heard regarding the crackdown on sex toys.

  3. Stan
    Tuesday, January 8, 2008 • 5:27 pm

    I don’t think the changes to the FDI catalogue were that big of a deal, honestly. Lots of press, but it hasn’t touched my practice at all, at least not yet.