PROVISIONS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ON EXTERNAL AUDIT AND CERTIFICATE OF EXTERNAL AUDIT ISSUED RECENTLY BY THE GENERAL ADMINISTRATION OF CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

In accordance with the regulations as stipulated in the Pro-visions of the Customs of the People’s Republic of China on Ex-ternal Audit, the Customs officers engaged in external audit shalluse the Certificate of External Audit of the Customs (hereinafterreferred to as Certificate) as of June 5, 1997. The Certificate has ablack leather outer covering and is inlaid inside with a pierced andguilded customs emblem, which consists of the red national em-blem in its upper part, and a key and a truncheon encircled by earsof wheat in its lower part. Put in a leather covering, the Certificateis a card sealed up with plastics, on which there is a bareheadedcolour photo of the holder in the Customs uniform and with a

General Provisions of the Civil Law and Commercial Legislation: Consensus, Problems and Options——Taking Commercial Agency as an Example

In the context of the codification of China's Civil Code, the academic consensus has been to make commercial legislation systematic and establish commercial norms with proper legislative expression. Many direct and indirect commercial norms in General Provisions of the Civil Law provide evidence that civil law has been turned into commercial law. However, a general overview shows that the absence of related norms, including agency in duty, reveals that General Provisions of the Civil Law is lacking commercial law's characteristics. In addition to the Civil Code, using General Rules of Commercial Law is a relatively reasonable choice for commercial legislative arrangements, such as norms in relation to agency in duty. Taking commercial agency as an example, legislators should adopt problem-oriented and limited systematic patterns of "residue law" instead of unified patterns of codification.

From the General Provisions of Civil Law to the General Rules of Civil Law:A Historic Leap

The General Provisions of Civil Law(民法通则),formulated in the early days of reform and opening up,was a special law that set out the basic principles or rules of civil law,defining civil subjects,civil legal acts and the agency system,declaring the civil rights enjoyed by civil subjects,establishing a relatively complete system of civil liability system,and so on.It kindled awareness of civil rights among the mass of the population,ensured China’s rapid economic and social development,and laid down a basic framework and content for the civil code,so holds an important position in contemporary Chinese history.But with the development of the economy and society,civil law has had to change with the times.Civil law jurisprudence injects theoretical support into contemporary civil law legislation,and the blueprint for law based governance provides a powerful impetus to the historic leap forward of contemporary Chinese civil law,providing the necessary conditions for the codification of civil law.The completion of the General Rules of Civil Law(民法总则)answers the requirements of the economic,humanist and legal character of the times,demonstrates the humanist stance and spirit of the civil code,rises to the challenge of modern scientific and technological development,and ensures people’s enjoyment and control of their new-style rights and their objective forms.This signifies that the GPCL has accomplished its historical task and civil law in contemporary China has realized a historic leap forward,laying a foundation for the compilation of the Chinese civil code,including the specific provisions of the framework and the contents of its individual parts.

Exploring the Technical Assessment Standards for “Ordinary Purposes” in the CISG

Standards are the scientific basis and an important factor for the assessment of the quality of goods.In International Sale of Goods Law,they are consistent with and complementary to the“general provision”on“ordinary purposes”used to assess the quality of goods.Based on analyses of theories and legal practices and by reviewing the relationship between standards and“ordinary purposes,”in this article,I attempt to find out what standards affect the ascertaining of“ordinary purposes”and present a summary of the preconditions for the sellers’obligatory observance of such standards to provide guidance for the accurate application of other“general provisions”through the use of standards.