Page 16 - 2021 Policy Watch

Policy Watch: A Milestone in Legal Development: China Promulgates a Civil Code

preliminary contract system from sales and purchase d. 保证合同
contracts to all contracts, by providing that a subscrip-
tion, purchase order, reservation, etc., under which the 《物权法》实施后，《担保法》大部分条款失
parties agree to enter into a contract within a certain 效，仅剩“保证”部分仍然沿用《担保法》。《
time in the future shall constitute a preliminary con- 民法典》将《担保法》内关于“保证”的条款并
tract. If a party fails to perform its obligations to con- 入合同编。
tract as agreed in the preliminary contract, the other
party may claim liability of such party for breach of a 《担保法》规定当事人对保证方式没有约定或者
preliminary contract. 约定不明确的，按照连带责任保证承担保证责任
25。但是《民法典》完全颠覆了该原有的规定，
c. Standard Clause System 规定没有约定或者约定不明确的，按照一般保证
承担责任26，即保证人仅对其份额承担责任，不
The Civil Code extends the applicable scope of obliga- 承担连带责任。责任份额没有约定的，平均分
tions of reminder and explanation for those who em- 配。连带保证责任的保证人没有先诉抗辩权，即
ploy standard clauses. A party using standard clauses 债务人没有履行债务的情况下，债权人就可以要
shall, in addition to the obligation of reminder of 求保证人承担保证责任，无需向法院起诉或向仲
clauses regarding relief or restriction of liabilities, has 裁机构申请仲裁。如果保证人承担一般保证责
the obligation of reminder and explanation on all the 任，则需要在债务人不能履行债务的情况下，才
clauses related to the material interests of the other 承担保证责任。例如，保证人承担一般保证责任
party. What is a clause related to material interests? The 时，债务人不履行债务，债权人不能如同承担连
Civil Code, Article 470 provides general clauses that 带保证责任一样直接向保证人要求承担保证责
shall be included in a contract. Generally, the clauses 任，而必须先向法院起诉或向仲裁庭申请仲裁，
listed in this Article are related to the parties’ material 法院判决或者仲裁裁决后，债权人向法院申请执
interests, including object, quantity, quality, price or 行，债务人仍不能履行债务时，债权人才有权要
payment, term, location and method of performance, 求保证人承担责任。债权人直接要求保证人承担
liability for breach of contract and dispute settlement. 责任的，保证人可以先诉抗辩权进行抗辩，拒绝
There are also certain laws that provide clauses related 承担责任。
to material interests. For example, in a consumer con-
tract, a business operator shall remind the consumer, 一般保证人在主合同纠纷未经法院审判或者仲
in an obvious way, to pay attention to the quantity, 裁，并就债务人财产依法强制执行仍不能履行债
quality, price, cost, term and method of performance, 务前有权拒绝承担保证责任，但是具有三种例外
safety precaution, risk warning, after-sale services, civil 情形27。与原先的《担保法》相比，《民法典》
responsibility etc. of products or services24. 增加了一种例外情形，即债权人有证据证明债务
人的财产不足以履行全部债务或者丧失履行债务
If the party providing standard clauses fails to perform 能力28。基于上述特点，最高院公布的《最高人
its obligation of reminder and explanation, the other 民法院关于适用<中华人民共和国民法典>有关担
party, instead of removing such clauses in accordance 保制度的解释》进一步细化规范保证合同的具体
with the previous Contract Law, has the right to claim 适用。例如，除非出现《民法典》第六百八十七
that such standard clauses shall not constitute a part of 条第二款规定的四种情形之一，法院不支持债权
the contract. 人申请对一般保证人的财产进行保全。一般保证
中，债权人不能仅起诉保证人，必须将保证人和
d. Guarantee Contract 债务人列为共同被告，否则，法院将驳回债权人
的起诉。29
After the implementation of the Law of Property Rights,
most provisions in the Guarantee Law are void, leaving 25 《担保法》第十九条
only the “guarantee” part that is still applicable to the 26 《民法典》第六百八十六条
Guarantee Law. The Civil Code incorporates the pro- 27 《担保法》第十七条
28 《民法典》第六百八十七条
24 Law on Protection of Rights and Interests of Consumer, Article 29 《最高人民法院关于适用<中华人民共和国民法典>有
26 (1) 关担保制度的解释》第二十六条

16