International Treaties in the Chinese Domestic Legal System

Abstract

China has made considerable progress in the past thirty years with respect to implementation of international obligations in its domestic legal system. Although China’s Constitution and its basic laws do not set forth a general provision on the status of treaties in the domestic legal system, substantive treaty obligations undertaken by China, to a large extent, have been incorporated into special national laws, exerting a direct impact on the economic and social activities of the country. This article examines various forms and modalities by which China implements its international obligations at domestic level. There have been an increasing number of cases where courts apply treaty provisions to give private parties additional legal protection. In the civil and commercial areas, international treaties apply primarily to cases with foreign elements, while in the criminal law area, China has prescribed almost all of the international crimes as criminal offences under its national criminal law.