Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors (Amended in 2024)
Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors (Amended in 2024)
Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors (Amended in 2024)
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 24
April 26, 2024
(Adopted at the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 4, 1991; revised for the first time at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on December 29, 2006; amended in accordance with the Decision on the Revision of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors which was adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress on October 26, 2012; revised for the second time at the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on October 17, 2020; and amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Agricultural Technology, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, and the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China at the ninth session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on April 26, 2024)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Protection by the Family
Chapter III Protection by Schools
Chapter IV Protection by Society
Chapter V Protection on the Network
Chapter VI Protection by the Government
Chapter VII Judicial Protection
Chapter VIII Legal Liability
Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purpose of protecting the physical and mental health of minors, safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, promoting their all-round development of moral, intellectual, physical, esthetics and labor education, training them into builders of and successors to the socialist cause with lofty ideals, sound morality, good education and a good sense of discipline, and fostering them as a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.
Article 2 The term "minors" in this Law shall refer to citizens under the age of 18.
Article 3 The state guarantees minors' right to life, the right to development, the right to be protected and the right to participation.
Minors shall equally enjoy various rights in accordance with the law, and shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of the ethnicity, race, gender, household registration, occupation, religious belief, education level, family status, physical and mental health status of the minors and their parents or other guardians.
Article 4 In protecting minors, the principle of in the best interest of minors shall be adhered to. In handling matters involving minors, the following requirements shall be met:
1. providing minors with particular and preferential protection;
2. respecting the personality and dignity of minors;
3. protecting the privacy right and personal information of minors;
4. fitting in with the law and features of minors' physical and mental health development;
5. listening to the opinions of minors; and
6. combining education with protection.
Article 5 The state, society, schools and families shall educate minors in respect of ideals, morality, science, culture, legal system, state security, health and labor, enhance the education of minors in aspects of patriotism, collectivism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, foster among them the social ethics of loving the motherland, people, work, science and socialism, fight against the corrosive influences of bourgeois, feudal and other decadent ideologies, and guide minors to establish and practice core socialist values.
Article 6 The protection of minors is the common responsibility of state organs, armed forces, political parties, people's organizations, enterprises and public institutions, social organizations, self-governing mass organizations at grass-root levels in urban and rural areas, guardians of minors, and other adults.
The state, society, schools and families shall educate and help minors to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and enhance their consciousness and capacities for protecting themselves.
Article 7 The parents or other guardians of minors shall assume their guardianship duties for minors according to the law.
The state shall take measures to guide, support, assist and supervise the parents or other guardians of minors in fulfilling their guardianship duties.
Article 8 The people's governments at and above the county level shall incorporate the protection of minors into the plan for national economic and social development, and the relevant expenditures shall be included in the government budget at the corresponding level.
Article 9 The people's governments at all levels shall place emphasis on and strengthen efforts in the protection of minors. The institutions responsible for women's and children's affairs under people's governments at or above the county level shall organize, coordinate, guide, and oversee the protection of minors; relevant departments shall perform related tasks within the scope of their respective duties.
Article 10 The Communist Youth League organs, women's federations, trade unions, the United Association of Disabled People organs, the Working Committee for the Care of the Next Generation organs, youth federations, students' federations, young pioneers' organizations and other people's organizations, and relevant social organizations shall assist the people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments, the people's procuratorates, and the people's courts to do a good job in the protection of minors and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of minors.
Article 11 Any organization or individual has the right to dissuade or stop any act adverse to the physical and mental health of minors or injuring the legitimate rights and interests of minors, or report or file charges against the act with the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Where a state organ, a neighborhood committee, a villagers' committee, or a unit in close contact with minors or its staff find that the physical and mental health of a minor has been injured, is suspected of being injured or faces other dangers in the work, it shall immediately report the same to the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Upon receipt of an accusation, charge or report involving a minor, the relevant departments shall, in accordance with the law, promptly accept and deal with it, and inform the relevant units and personnel of the processing result in an appropriate manner.
Article 12 The state encourages and supports scientific research on the protection of minors, has established relevant disciplines and majors, and is strengthening personnel training.
Article 13 The state has established a sound statistical investigation system for minors, carries out statistics, investigations and analyses of their health and education conditions, and releases relevant information on the protection of minors.
Article 14 The state grants honors and rewards to organizations and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the protection of minors.
Chapter II Protection by the Family
Article 15 The parents or other guardians of minors shall learn knowledge of family education and receive the guidance for family education, so as to create a good, harmonious and civilized family environment.
Other adult family members living together with minors shall assist the parents or other guardians of minors in fostering, educating and protecting the minors.
Article 16 The parents or other guardians of minors shall fulfill the following guardianship duties:
1. providing minors with guarantees of living, health and safety;
2. paying attention to the physiological and psychological conditions of and emotional needs of minors;
3. educating and guiding minors to observe law and discipline, to be diligent and thrifty, and to develop good ideology and morality and behavioral habits;
4. providing safety education for minors, and enhancing their consciousness and capacities for protecting themselves;
5. respecting the right of minors to receive education, and ensuring that minors of school age can accept and complete compulsory education;
6. ensuring the time for rest, recreation and physical exercise of minors, and guiding them to carry out activities conducive to their physical and mental health;
7. properly managing and protecting the property of minors;
8. acting for minors to perform civil juristic acts in accordance with the law;
9. preventing and stopping minors from committing bad acts, and illegal or criminal acts, and reasonably disciplining them; and
10. other guardianship duties that shall be performed.
Article 17 The parents or other guardians of minors may not:
1. maltreat or forsake minors, illegally place minors out for adoption, or commit family violence against minors;
2. indulge, abet or take advantage of minors to commit illegal or criminal acts;
3. indulge, or abet minors to participate in cults or superstitious activities or to accept encroachment by terrorism, separatism or extremism;
4. indulge or abet minors to smoke (including e-cigarettes, the same below), drink alcohol, gamble, roam the streets for begging or bully others;
5. indulge or coerce minors who shall receive compulsory education to discontinue their schooling or drop out of school;
6. indulge minors to be addicted to the network or to access books, newspapers, films, radio and television programs, audio-visual products, electronic publications and network information that may harm or affect their physical and mental health;
7. indulge minors to enter sites unsuitable for minors to carry out activities, such as commercial recreation sites, bars, or internet access service sites, etc.;
8. allow or coerce minors to engage in work other than that prescribed by the state;
9. permit or force minors to marry or undertake an engagement for the minors;
10. illegally dispose of or misappropriate the property of minors, or take advantage of minors to seek illegitimate interests; or
11. commit other acts that injure the physical and mental health of or property rights and interests of minors, or that fail to fulfill the obligations of protection of minors in accordance with the law.
Article 18 The parents or other guardians of minors shall provide the minors with a safe family living environment and promptly remove potential safety hazards that may cause electrocution, scalding, fall injuries and other injuries; they shall take such measures as installing child safety seats and educating minors to observe traffic rules to prevent minors from being injured in traffic accidents; and shall raise the awareness of outdoor safety protection to avoid accidents such as drowning and injury caused by animals among minors.
Article 19 The parents or other guardians of minors shall, in light of their age and intellectual development, listen to the opinions of the minors and take into full consideration their real willingness before making decisions related to the rights and interests of the minors.
Article 20 Where the parents or other guardians of a minor discover that the physical and mental health of the minor has been injured or is suspected of being injured, or that any other lawful rights and interests of the minor have been infringed upon, they shall promptly learn about the situation and take protective measures; in the case of serious circumstances, they shall immediately report the same to the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Article 21 The parents or other guardians of minors may not leave minors, who are under the age of eight or need special care due to physical or psychological conditions, alone without supervision, or transfer them to a person who does not have the capacity for civil acts or has restricted capacity for civil act or suffers from a severe infectious disease, or other unsuitable persons to temporarily take care of the minors.
The parents or other guardians of minors may not release minors under the age of 16 from their guardianship to live alone.
Article 22 Where the parents or other guardians of a minor are unable to fully perform their guardianship duties for the minor within a certain period, because of leaving his hometown to work or due to other reasons, they shall entrust a person with the capacity of guardianship and full capacity for civil conduct to guard the minor on their behalf; in the case of no justifiable reason, they may not entrust others to guard the minor on their behalf.
When determining an entrusted party, the parents or other guardians of a minor shall take into account the entrusted party's moral character, family status, physical and mental health status, and life and emotional connection with the minor, and listen to the opinions of the minor who is capable of expressing its willingness.
An entrusted party may not fall under any of the following circumstances:
1. have committed illegal and criminal acts such as committing sexual assault, maltreatment, abandonment, abduction and trafficking, or violence;
2. have bad habits such as drug-taking, alcoholism, and gambling;
3. have refused to perform its duty of guardianship or care or been slack in doing so for a long period; or
4. other circumstances where the person is not appropriate to act as the entrusted party.
Article 23 The parents or other guardians of a minor shall promptly inform the minor's school or kindergarten and the residents' committee or villagers' committee where the minor actually lives in writing of the care of the minor under the entrustment, and strengthen communication with the minor's school or kindergarten; contact and communicate with the minor and the entrusted party at least once a week to learn about the minor's life, learning, psychology, etc., and provide minors with family affection and care.
The parents or other guardians of a minor shall, upon receiving a notice on the minor's abnormal psychology or behavior from the entrusted party, the residents' committee, the villagers' committee, the school or the kindergarten related to the minor, promptly take intervention measures.
Article 24 When the parents of a minor divorce, they shall properly handle such matters as the upbringing, education, visits and property of the minor, and listen to the opinions of the minor who is able to express its willingness.
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Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 24
April 26, 2024
(Adopted at the 21st Session of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress on September 4, 1991; revised for the first time at the 25th Session of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on December 29, 2006; amended in accordance with the Decision on the Revision of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors which was adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress on October 26, 2012; revised for the second time at the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on October 17, 2020; and amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Agricultural Technology, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, and the Biosecurity Law of the People's Republic of China at the ninth session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on April 26, 2024)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Protection by the Family
Chapter III Protection by Schools
Chapter IV Protection by Society
Chapter V Protection on the Network
Chapter VI Protection by the Government
Chapter VII Judicial Protection
Chapter VIII Legal Liability
Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purpose of protecting the physical and mental health of minors, safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests, promoting their all-round development of moral, intellectual, physical, esthetics and labor education, training them into builders of and successors to the socialist cause with lofty ideals, sound morality, good education and a good sense of discipline, and fostering them as a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.
Article 2 The term "minors" in this Law shall refer to citizens under the age of 18.
Article 3 The state guarantees minors' right to life, the right to development, the right to be protected and the right to participation.
Minors shall equally enjoy various rights in accordance with the law, and shall not be discriminated against on the grounds of the ethnicity, race, gender, household registration, occupation, religious belief, education level, family status, physical and mental health status of the minors and their parents or other guardians.
Article 4 In protecting minors, the principle of in the best interest of minors shall be adhered to. In handling matters involving minors, the following requirements shall be met:
1. providing minors with particular and preferential protection;
2. respecting the personality and dignity of minors;
3. protecting the privacy right and personal information of minors;
4. fitting in with the law and features of minors' physical and mental health development;
5. listening to the opinions of minors; and
6. combining education with protection.
Article 5 The state, society, schools and families shall educate minors in respect of ideals, morality, science, culture, legal system, state security, health and labor, enhance the education of minors in aspects of patriotism, collectivism and socialism with Chinese characteristics, foster among them the social ethics of loving the motherland, people, work, science and socialism, fight against the corrosive influences of bourgeois, feudal and other decadent ideologies, and guide minors to establish and practice core socialist values.
Article 6 The protection of minors is the common responsibility of state organs, armed forces, political parties, people's organizations, enterprises and public institutions, social organizations, self-governing mass organizations at grass-root levels in urban and rural areas, guardians of minors, and other adults.
The state, society, schools and families shall educate and help minors to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and enhance their consciousness and capacities for protecting themselves.
Article 7 The parents or other guardians of minors shall assume their guardianship duties for minors according to the law.
The state shall take measures to guide, support, assist and supervise the parents or other guardians of minors in fulfilling their guardianship duties.
Article 8 The people's governments at and above the county level shall incorporate the protection of minors into the plan for national economic and social development, and the relevant expenditures shall be included in the government budget at the corresponding level.
Article 9 The people's governments at all levels shall place emphasis on and strengthen efforts in the protection of minors. The institutions responsible for women's and children's affairs under people's governments at or above the county level shall organize, coordinate, guide, and oversee the protection of minors; relevant departments shall perform related tasks within the scope of their respective duties.
Article 10 The Communist Youth League organs, women's federations, trade unions, the United Association of Disabled People organs, the Working Committee for the Care of the Next Generation organs, youth federations, students' federations, young pioneers' organizations and other people's organizations, and relevant social organizations shall assist the people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments, the people's procuratorates, and the people's courts to do a good job in the protection of minors and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of minors.
Article 11 Any organization or individual has the right to dissuade or stop any act adverse to the physical and mental health of minors or injuring the legitimate rights and interests of minors, or report or file charges against the act with the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Where a state organ, a neighborhood committee, a villagers' committee, or a unit in close contact with minors or its staff find that the physical and mental health of a minor has been injured, is suspected of being injured or faces other dangers in the work, it shall immediately report the same to the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Upon receipt of an accusation, charge or report involving a minor, the relevant departments shall, in accordance with the law, promptly accept and deal with it, and inform the relevant units and personnel of the processing result in an appropriate manner.
Article 12 The state encourages and supports scientific research on the protection of minors, has established relevant disciplines and majors, and is strengthening personnel training.
Article 13 The state has established a sound statistical investigation system for minors, carries out statistics, investigations and analyses of their health and education conditions, and releases relevant information on the protection of minors.
Article 14 The state grants honors and rewards to organizations and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in the protection of minors.
Chapter II Protection by the Family
Article 15 The parents or other guardians of minors shall learn knowledge of family education and receive the guidance for family education, so as to create a good, harmonious and civilized family environment.
Other adult family members living together with minors shall assist the parents or other guardians of minors in fostering, educating and protecting the minors.
Article 16 The parents or other guardians of minors shall fulfill the following guardianship duties:
1. providing minors with guarantees of living, health and safety;
2. paying attention to the physiological and psychological conditions of and emotional needs of minors;
3. educating and guiding minors to observe law and discipline, to be diligent and thrifty, and to develop good ideology and morality and behavioral habits;
4. providing safety education for minors, and enhancing their consciousness and capacities for protecting themselves;
5. respecting the right of minors to receive education, and ensuring that minors of school age can accept and complete compulsory education;
6. ensuring the time for rest, recreation and physical exercise of minors, and guiding them to carry out activities conducive to their physical and mental health;
7. properly managing and protecting the property of minors;
8. acting for minors to perform civil juristic acts in accordance with the law;
9. preventing and stopping minors from committing bad acts, and illegal or criminal acts, and reasonably disciplining them; and
10. other guardianship duties that shall be performed.
Article 17 The parents or other guardians of minors may not:
1. maltreat or forsake minors, illegally place minors out for adoption, or commit family violence against minors;
2. indulge, abet or take advantage of minors to commit illegal or criminal acts;
3. indulge, or abet minors to participate in cults or superstitious activities or to accept encroachment by terrorism, separatism or extremism;
4. indulge or abet minors to smoke (including e-cigarettes, the same below), drink alcohol, gamble, roam the streets for begging or bully others;
5. indulge or coerce minors who shall receive compulsory education to discontinue their schooling or drop out of school;
6. indulge minors to be addicted to the network or to access books, newspapers, films, radio and television programs, audio-visual products, electronic publications and network information that may harm or affect their physical and mental health;
7. indulge minors to enter sites unsuitable for minors to carry out activities, such as commercial recreation sites, bars, or internet access service sites, etc.;
8. allow or coerce minors to engage in work other than that prescribed by the state;
9. permit or force minors to marry or undertake an engagement for the minors;
10. illegally dispose of or misappropriate the property of minors, or take advantage of minors to seek illegitimate interests; or
11. commit other acts that injure the physical and mental health of or property rights and interests of minors, or that fail to fulfill the obligations of protection of minors in accordance with the law.
Article 18 The parents or other guardians of minors shall provide the minors with a safe family living environment and promptly remove potential safety hazards that may cause electrocution, scalding, fall injuries and other injuries; they shall take such measures as installing child safety seats and educating minors to observe traffic rules to prevent minors from being injured in traffic accidents; and shall raise the awareness of outdoor safety protection to avoid accidents such as drowning and injury caused by animals among minors.
Article 19 The parents or other guardians of minors shall, in light of their age and intellectual development, listen to the opinions of the minors and take into full consideration their real willingness before making decisions related to the rights and interests of the minors.
Article 20 Where the parents or other guardians of a minor discover that the physical and mental health of the minor has been injured or is suspected of being injured, or that any other lawful rights and interests of the minor have been infringed upon, they shall promptly learn about the situation and take protective measures; in the case of serious circumstances, they shall immediately report the same to the relevant departments such as departments of public security, civil affairs and education.
Article 21 The parents or other guardians of minors may not leave minors, who are under the age of eight or need special care due to physical or psychological conditions, alone without supervision, or transfer them to a person who does not have the capacity for civil acts or has restricted capacity for civil act or suffers from a severe infectious disease, or other unsuitable persons to temporarily take care of the minors.
The parents or other guardians of minors may not release minors under the age of 16 from their guardianship to live alone.
Article 22 Where the parents or other guardians of a minor are unable to fully perform their guardianship duties for the minor within a certain period, because of leaving his hometown to work or due to other reasons, they shall entrust a person with the capacity of guardianship and full capacity for civil conduct to guard the minor on their behalf; in the case of no justifiable reason, they may not entrust others to guard the minor on their behalf.
When determining an entrusted party, the parents or other guardians of a minor shall take into account the entrusted party's moral character, family status, physical and mental health status, and life and emotional connection with the minor, and listen to the opinions of the minor who is capable of expressing its willingness.
An entrusted party may not fall under any of the following circumstances:
1. have committed illegal and criminal acts such as committing sexual assault, maltreatment, abandonment, abduction and trafficking, or violence;
2. have bad habits such as drug-taking, alcoholism, and gambling;
3. have refused to perform its duty of guardianship or care or been slack in doing so for a long period; or
4. other circumstances where the person is not appropriate to act as the entrusted party.
Article 23 The parents or other guardians of a minor shall promptly inform the minor's school or kindergarten and the residents' committee or villagers' committee where the minor actually lives in writing of the care of the minor under the entrustment, and strengthen communication with the minor's school or kindergarten; contact and communicate with the minor and the entrusted party at least once a week to learn about the minor's life, learning, psychology, etc., and provide minors with family affection and care.
The parents or other guardians of a minor shall, upon receiving a notice on the minor's abnormal psychology or behavior from the entrusted party, the residents' committee, the villagers' committee, the school or the kindergarten related to the minor, promptly take intervention measures.
Article 24 When the parents of a minor divorce, they shall properly handle such matters as the upbringing, education, visits and property of the minor, and listen to the opinions of the minor who is able to express its willingness.
......