AGLC4 Rule 16.3.1: Chinese Legislative Acts

Cite a Chinese legislative act by its title with translation, the jurisdiction, the promulgating body, the instrument number and the full date of promulgation, keeping only the elements shown on the source. Usually only the title appears in Chinese; the body or the instrument number may also be given in Chinese with a translation where there is good reason. The jurisdiction is People's Republic of China, Republic of China or Macau, and an official gazette citation may be added after the date to help the reader find the act.

AGLC4 page 223

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 223
Title of Law (Jurisdiction) Promulgating Body, Order/Decree/Opinion No Number, Full Date of Promulgation, Pinpoint.

A boxed element is filled in with the source's details; everything outside a box is written exactly as shown.

Formatting

  • Chinese characters are never italicised; wherever the ordinary rule would italicise an element, its Chinese characters are placed between guillemets « » in roman type instead.
  • The title in characters is followed by its English translation in square brackets, roman.
  • The jurisdiction is written in full in round brackets after the translation.
  • No comma separates the closing round bracket from the promulgating body.
  • The instrument kind (Order, Decree or Opinion) is followed by No, with no full stop, and the number.
  • Commas separate the promulgating body, the instrument number, the date and the pinpoint.
  • An optional gazette citation sits between the date and the pinpoint: gazette name in characters, its translation in square brackets, then the order number, date and page, separated by commas.
  • Older acts without an order number simply omit that element and its comma.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 223
  1. 8
    «中华人民共和国合同法» [Contract Law of the People’s Republic of China] (People’s Republic of China) National People’s Congress, Order No 15, 15 March 1999.
  2. 9
    «中华人民共和国物权法» [Property Law of the People’s Republic of China] (People’s Republic of China) National People’s Congress, Order No 62, 16 March 2007.
  3. 10
    «劳动部关于企业职工流动若干问题的通知» [Notice of Ministry of Labour on Several Issues Concerning the Movement of Employees of Enterprises] (People’s Republic of China) Ministry of Labour, 31 October 1996.
  4. 11
    «著作權法» [Copyright Act] (Republic of China) Legislative Yuan, 10 February 2010, art 10.
  5. 12
    «第225/2002號行政長官批示» [Order No 225/2002 of the Chief Executive’s Office] (Macau) 9 October 2002, 澳門特別行政區公報— 第一組 [Macau Special Administrative Region Gazette — Part 2], Order No 223/2002, 15 October 2002, 1088.

See also

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Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.