· Document Number：Order No. 37 of the President

· Area of Law： Civil Law

· Level of Authority： Laws

· Date issued：12-27-2015

· Effective Date：03-01-2016

· Issuing Authority： Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

· Status： Effective

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China
(No. 37)
The Anti-Domestic Violence Law of China, as adopted at the 18th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 27, 2015, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on March 1, 2016.
President of the People's Republic of China: Xi Jinping
December 27, 2015
Anti-Domestic Violence Law of the People's Republic of China
(Adopted at the 18th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on December 27, 2015)
Table of Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Prevention of Domestic Violence
Chapter III Handling of Domestic Violence
Chapter IV Personal Safety Protective Order
Chapter V Legal Liability
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is developed for purposes of preventing and curbing domestic violence, protecting the lawful rights and interests of family members, maintaining equal, harmonious and civilized family relations, and promoting family harmony and social stability.
Article 2 For the purpose of this Law, “domestic violence” means the inflicting of physical, psychological or other harm by a family member on another by beating, trussing, injury, restraint and forcible limits on personal freedom, recurring verbal abuse, threats and other means.
Article 3 Family members shall help each other, love each other, live in harmony, and fulfill family obligations.
Anti-domestic violence is the common responsibility of the state, society and each family.
The state prohibits any form of domestic violence.
Article 4 The institutions in charge of women and children affairs of the people's governments at the country level or above shall be responsible for organizing, coordinating, providing guidance for and urge the relevant departments to effectively perform the anti-domestic violence work.
The relevant departments of the people's governments at the county level or above, judicial organs, people's organizations, social organizations, residents' committees, villagers' committees, enterprises, and public institutions shall, in accordance with this Law and relevant laws, effectively perform the anti-domestic violence work.
The people's governments at all levels shall provide necessary fund guarantees for the anti-domestic violence work.
Article 5 Anti-domestic violence work shall observe the principles of putting prevention first and combining education, correction and punishment.
In the anti-domestic violence work, the true will of victims shall be respected and the privacy of the parties concerned shall be protected.
The minors, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant and lactating women, and seriously ill patients suffering domestic violence shall be given special protection.
Chapter II Prevention of Domestic Violence
Article 6 The state will carry out family virtues publicity and education, and popularize knowledge of anti-domestic violence, so as to enhance the citizens' anti-domestic violence awareness.
Trade unions, communist youth leagues, women's federations, disabled persons' federations shall, within the scope of their work, organize publicity and education on family virtues and anti-domestic violence.
Radios, televisions, newspapers, and the Internet, among others, shall conduct publicity on family virtues and anti-domestic violence.
Schools and kindergartens shall conduct education on family virtues and anti-domestic violence.
Article 7 The relevant departments of people's governments at the county level or above, judicial organs and women's federations shall incorporate the prevention and curb of domestic violence into business training and statistical work.
Medical institutions shall keep medical records of domestic violence victims.
Article 8 The people's governments at the township level and sub-district offices shall organize the prevention of domestic violence, and residents' committees, villagers' committees and social work service institutions shall provide cooperation and assistance.
Article 9 The people's governments at all levels shall provide support for social work service institutions and other social organizations to provide such services as mental health counseling, family relationship guidance, and domestic violence prevention knowledge education.
Article 10 The people's mediation organizations shall mediate family disputes in accordance with the law to prevent and reduce the occurrence of domestic violence.
Article 11 Where an employer discovers that any of its employees commits domestic violence, it shall criticize and educate the employee, and effectively mediate and resolve family conflicts.
Article 12 The guardians of minors shall conduct family education in a civilized manner, fulfill the duties of guardianship and education, and may not commit domestic violence.
Chapter III Handling of Domestic Violence
Article 13 Domestic violence victims and their statutory agents and close relatives may make complaints, report or resort to the employers for whom the inflicters or victims work, residents' committees, villagers' committees, women's federations and other entities. The relevant entities shall, upon receipt of the complaints about or reports on domestic violence or requests for help against domestic violence, provide help and handle the domestic violence.
The domestic violence victims and their statutory agents and close relatives may also report to public security organs or file lawsuits with the people's courts.
Entities and individuals shall have the right to promptly discourage the occurrent domestic violence they find.
Article 14 Where schools, kindergartens, medical institutions, residents' committees, villagers' committees, social work service institutions, relief management institutions, and welfare institutions and their staff members find in their work that persons with no or limited capacity for civil conduct are suffering or are suspected of suffering domestic violence, they shall report to public security organs in a timely manner. The public security organs shall keep confidential the information on informants.
Article 15 Public securities organs shall, upon receipt of reports on domestic violence, promptly assign police to deter domestic violence, conduct investigations and collect evidence in accordance with the relevant provisions, and assist the victims in seeing doctors and identifying the state of injuries.
Where persons with no or limited capacity for civil conduct are suffering grievous bodily injury, facing personal safety threats, unattended, or under any other dangerous state due to domestic violence, public security organs shall notify civil affairs departments, and assist the departments in relocating such persons to temporary shelters, relief management institutions or welfare institutions.
Article 16 Where the domestic violence is not serious enough for public security administration punishment in accordance with the law, the public security organ shall criticize and educate the inflicter or issue a caution letter.
The caution letter shall cover the inflicter's identity information, statements of facts of domestic violence, and content of prohibiting the inflicter from committing domestic violence, among others.
Article 17 The public security organ shall send the caution letter to the inflicter and victim, and inform the residents' committee or villagers' committee.
Residents' committees, villagers' committees and public security organs shall pay inspection visits to the inflicters who have received caution letters and the victims, and supervise the inflicters to ensure that they no longer commit domestic violence.
Article 18 The people's governments at the level of county or districted city may, on their own or by relying on relief management institutions, set up temporary shelters to provide temporary living assistance for domestic violence victims.
Article 19 Legal aid institutions shall provide legal aid for domestic violence victims in accordance with the law.
The people's courts shall postpone the collection of, reduce or waive the litigation costs for domestic violence victims in accordance with the law.
Article 20 When trying cases involving domestic violence, the people's courts may, based on such evidence as police records, caution letters and injury identification opinions of public security organs, find the facts of domestic violence.
Article 21 Where a guardian commits domestic violence which has seriously infringed the lawful rights and interests of the ward, the people's court may, upon the application of the relevant person or entity such as a close relative of the ward, residents' committee, villagers' committee, and the civil affairs department of the people's government at the county level, disqualify the guardian in accordance with the law, and designate a new guardian.
The inflicter whose guardianship is revoked shall continue to burden the appropriate alimony for the spouse or the costs for supporting the aging parents or children.
Article 22 Trade unions, communist youth leagues, women's federations, disabled persons' federations, residents' committees, and villagers' committees, among others, shall conduct law-related education for inflicters committing domestic violence, and may, where necessary, provide psychological counseling for the inflicters and victims.
Chapter IV Personal Safety Protective Order
Article 23 Where a party concerned applies to the people's court for personal safety protective order due to suffering domestic violence or facing real danger of domestic violence, the people's court shall accept the application.
Where the party concerned is unable to apply for personal safety protective order because he or she is a person with no or limited capacity for civil conduct, or is coerced or threatened, his or her close relatives, the public security organ, women's federation, residents' committee, villagers' committee or relief management institution may apply on his or her behalf.
Article 24 An application for personal safety protective order shall be filed in writing; and if the applicant does have difficulty in filing a written application, he or she may file a verbal application, which shall be recorded by the people's court in transcripts.
Article 25 A case of personal safety protective order shall fall under the jurisdiction of the basic people's court of the place of residence of the applicant or respondent, or of the place where the domestic violence occurs.
Article 26 A personal safety protective order shall be granted by the people's court in the form of ruling.
Article 27 A personal safety protective order shall be granted based on the following conditions:
(1) There is a specific respondent.
(2) There is a specific request.
(3) There are circumstances of suffering domestic violence or facing the real danger of domestic violence.
Article 28 The people's court shall, upon acceptance of an application, grant a personal safety protective order or dismiss the application within 72 hours; or do so within 24 hours in emergency.
Article 29 A personal safety protective order may include the following measures:
(1) Prohibiting the respondent from committing domestic violence.
(2) Prohibiting the respondent from harassing, stalking, contacting the applicant and the relevant closed relatives thereof.
(3) Ordering the respondent to move out of the applicant's residence.
(4) Other measures to protect the applicant's personal safety.
Article 30 A personal safety protective order shall be valid for not more than six months, commencing from the date when it is granted. Before a personal safety protective order expires, the people's court may, upon application, cancel, modify or extend the order.
Article 31 Where the applicant has any objection to the dismissal of application or the respondent has any objection to the personal safety protective order, the applicant or respondent may, within five days from the date when the ruling takes effect, apply to the people's court rendering the ruling for a reconsideration. Where the people's court grants a personal safety protective order in accordance with the law, the enforcement of the personal safety protective order shall continue during the reconsideration period.
Article 32 The people's court shall, after granting a personal safety protective order, serve it on the applicant, the respondent, the public security organ, residents' committee or villagers' committee, and other relevant organizations. The personal safety protective order shall be enforced by the people's court, with the assistance of the public security organ, and residents' committee or villagers' committee, among others.
Chapter V Legal Liability
Article 33 Where the domestic violence committed by the inflicter constitutes a violation of public security administration, the inflicter shall be subject to public security administration punishment in accordance with the law; and if the domestic violence constitutes a crime, the inflicter shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the law.
Article 34 Where the respondent's violation of the personal safety protective order constitutes a crime, the respondent shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the law; and if the violation is not serious enough to constitute a crime, the people's court shall reprimand the respondent, and may, according to the seriousness of circumstances, fine the respondent not more than 1,000 yuan or detain the respondent for not more than 15 days.
Article 35 Where any school, kindergarten, medical institution, residents' committee, villagers' committee, social work service institution, relief management institution, or welfare institution and the staff members thereof fail to report the case to the public security organ in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 of this Law, which results in serious consequences, the competent authority at the higher level or the aforesaid entity itself shall punish the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly liable persons in accordance with the law.
Article 36 The state functionaries bearing anti-domestic violence duties who neglect duties, abuse power, practice favoritism or make falsification shall be punished in accordance with the law; and if the act constitutes a crime, the offender shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with the law.
Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions
Article 37 This Law shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the violence inflicted between those living together who are not family members.
Article 38 This Law shall come into force on March 1, 2016.