On June 18th and 19th 2021, the bilateral workshop -on site combined with webinar- on “Recent Developments of the Chinese Civil Code – Legal Application to the Book of Personality Rights” was held and organized by the Civil, Commercial and Economic Law School of China University of Politic Science and Law (CUPL) in cooperation with the Sino-German Legal Cooperation Programme. The participants were Chinese legal practitioners and scholars from the Drafting group of LAC (Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee), Renmin University, China University of Politic Science and Law and German scholars from the University of Cologne, the University of Konstanz and the Technical University of Dresden. In addition, about 180 Chinese law students and attorneys registered for the webinar as guest auditors and participated online.
Against the background of the entry into force of the Chinese Civil Code, the Sino-German workshop aimed to conduct a deep dialogue on the interpretation and legal application of the Book of Personality Rights for improving mutual legal understanding. The topics included the terminology of personality rights, possibilities for improving concrete provisions, claims, relationship to the Book of Tort Law, protection of post-mortem personality and relationship to personal data protection.
On June 18th, Prof. Dr. Astrid Stadler from the University of Konstanz delivered a report on “Protection of Personality Rights in Chinese and German Law – Scope of Protection and Illegality”, after gaining an overview of the Book of Personality Rights in the Chinese Civil Code from legislative perspective, which was introduced by the Chinese scholar (who also participated in the legislative process). To strengthen the point of legal application, Prof. Dr. Anne Lauber-Rönsberg from the Technical University of Dresden contributed on the application issues of the Chinese provisions with a focus on legal consequences in violation of personality rights. General commentary combined with possible improvements to the concrete provisions were insighted by Chinese scholars. At the time for commentary, two Chinese scholars also expressed their own opinions and awakened an in-depth discussion regarding types of claims for violation of personality rights.
On June 19th, four treaties based on two leading cases on personality rights in China were explained in detail for the action field of law application. The Leading Cases were subsequently explained in detail by two Chinese scholars. As response to the Chinese leading cases, Prof. Dr. Anne Lauber-Rönsberg from the Technical University of Dresden explained the relationship between personality rights and data protection in German law. In connection with that, Prof. Dr. Karl Nikolaus Peifer from the University of Cologne reported the current topic of “Personality rights for commercial use”. With the questions presented by German scholars as well as online guest participants, the participants from both sides engaged in a lively discussion regarding the scope of protection of privacy and personal data protection, personality rights for commercial use and legal consequences in violation of personality rights.
During the closing session, the participants from both sides agreed that the workshop provided a valuable opportunity for the comprehensive exchange and mutual legal understanding of the legal application on the Book of Personality Rights.