Editor's Note



For a long time, in academic and judicial practice, debt accession has not been considered a new legal concept, but before the promulgation of the Civil Code, China's laws did not explicitly provide for debt accession. The functional similarities between debt addition and guarantee, as well as the inconsistent criteria for judgment and adjudication of debt addition in academic and judicial practice, can easily lead to confusion between the two. Article 552 of the Civil Code clearly introduces the concept of "joining debt" for the first time, clarifying the connotation of debt joining. Article 36 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation on the Application of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on the Guarantee System (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation of the Civil Code on the Guarantee System") stipulates the guiding principles for identifying guarantees and debt joining in judicial practice. The introduction of the above legal provisions provides a legal basis for the debt accession system and also guides the practice of debt accession trials. So, from the perspective of the Civil Code, how to determine whether the expression of intent of a third party is a guarantee or a debt accession? The following will attempt to analyze and answer the above questions through relevant cases.

"Betting", as we commonly refer to it, actually refers to a series of financial clauses formulated by investors and financiers in financing agreements to ensure their own interests based on uncertainty about the future. The parties agree on a desired outcome (such as achieving a listing or doubling of performance). If the desired outcome is ultimately achieved, it can be considered that the financing party has successfully wagered, and the parties fulfill their obligations and exercise their rights in accordance with the agreement; If the expected result is not achieved, the financing party fails to bet, and the investor has the right to exercise the corresponding rights agreed in the contract.

On June 2, 2021, Beijing Aiqiyi Technology Co., Ltd. sued Hunan Cable Changsha Network Co., Ltd. for infringement of the information network dissemination right of the film and television drama "Flower Thousand Bones". The second trial judgment ((2021) Jing 73 Min Zhong No. 999) came into effect. The court of first instance and second instance both found that the act of Changsha Cable to broadcast the film and television drama "Flower Thousand Bones" to the public in the "playback" zone of Hunan Changsha Cable TV platform infringed on iQiyi's right to information network communication. Some people feel very puzzled that cable TV playback stations have already obtained the right to broadcast movies and TV dramas. How can they still infringe upon the rights? This case involves issues related to the distribution and broadcast authorization of film and television dramas.

Editor's Note: During the fifteen years from 1986 to 2001, after arduous negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization. Wang Lei, a lawyer from Gaopeng Law Firm, participated fully and deeply in the negotiation from the beginning, and was a legal person in the negotiation delegation. This year marks the 20th anniversary of China's accession to the WTO. Gao Pengsuo specially invited Lawyer Wang to write a series of articles to recall the details of those eventful years. We also take this opportunity to pay tribute to those who stood at the forefront of reform and opening up and worked hard in the negotiations for the national interests.

As a "private rights law", the Civil Code is affectionately known as the "Declaration of Rights"; As a "power control law", administrative law supervises and controls public power to prevent its abuse and infringement on private power. In the traditional dualistic conceptual system of "public and private law", the proper separation between the two laws has been the mainstream view for half a century. However, looking at the Civil Code, we find that there are more than 150 articles related to administrative law norms. This means that the exercise of certain administrative rights has a comprehensive impact on the realization of citizens' basic rights. The basic rights of citizens determined by the Civil Code constitute the internal margin of the exercise of administrative rights. At the same time, the Civil Code also puts forward more and higher requirements for administrative organs to strengthen administrative law enforcement and protect citizens' rights. Therefore, in order to further understand the essence of the Civil Code, the author summarizes the following aspects from the perspective of administrative law, combined with relevant provisions.

The global environmental degradation caused by climate and environmental change has become a common problem faced by all mankind. Among them, the environmental impact of the cross-border flow of goods and services, that is, international trade, has also been the focus of the multilateral trading system. As early as 35 years ago, in the Uruguay Round negotiations initiated by the then General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the contracting parties began negotiations on trade and environment issues and made the "Decision on Trade and Environment". The WTO, which was later established to implement this decision, established the Environment and Trade Commission in the WTO, which is specifically responsible for discussing environmental and trade issues. Since the establishment of the WTO, in the absence of multilateral rules, some developed countries have deliberated and prepared to implement measures in their domestic laws to raise tariffs on products imported from countries with low environmental standards. For example, the EU is about to implement a "carbon tariff" on imported products. Another example is the Trump government's assertion that products produced without meeting environmental standards are considered subsidies and can be subject to a countervailing tax. Without a fair and equitable international trade rule, the environmental policies of developed countries are prone to discrimination against the trade activities of other countries, especially developing countries. For decades, WTO members have been seeking a fair and equitable balance between trade and the environment in order to achieve the goal set out in the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Trade Organization, namely, "to seek measures that not only protect and maintain the environment, but also adapt to the needs of their respective economic development levels."

Editor's Note:
Applicants often apply to the court for property preservation before or during litigation, and take property preservation measures such as freezing and sealing up the relevant property of the protected person to ensure smooth implementation after obtaining effective judicial documents in the future. However, in practice, the outcome of the case may not be consistent with the expected outcome of the applicant, and its claims may have only received partial support, or even all claims may have been rejected. So, in this case, can it be directly determined that the applicant's property preservation of the insured is wrong? Should the applicant be liable for compensation to the insured? The following will attempt to analyze and answer the above questions through a Supreme Court case.

"I am not a headline party, nor am I sensationalist. This is a real case I represent, and it is also a criminal case, with a valid judgment.". The presiding judge of this case is the Deputy Chief Justice of the Criminal Tribunal of the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court. Even he himself said that he had worked in criminal trials for half his life, and this is the first time that the sentence has been changed in this way.

"Carbon tariffs refer to tariffs imposed by importing countries on high energy consumption imported products such as cement, steel, aluminum, oil refining, paper making, glass, chemicals, and fertilizers, with the aim of raising the import costs of the aforementioned foreign products, in order to avoid the domestic industry of the importing country losing its price advantage due to the implementation of higher environmental standards.". The rationality and legitimacy of this policy have always been highly controversial. Currently, no country has officially imposed a carbon tariff, but the EU has proposed increasingly specific carbon tariff policy goals and plans, and is expected to start implementing them in 2023. The EU's approach is likely to be emulated by other developed countries, which will have a systematic impact on the global economic and trade situation, especially on China's exports of high energy consumption products such as steel and chemicals.