Draft rule aims to curb sexual harassment at work, campus

To effectively stop and prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and campus, a newly released draft section of the civil code has listed government departments, enterprises and schools as the responsible departments that should take measures against the misconduct.

The draft was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, for the fourth review on Monday.

The new move of listing or clarifying the departments responsible for taking the measures in the latest draft is taken because some lawmakers said the unclear rule in the previous version could not better prevent people from making use of their work positions or unbalanced relationships, including bosses and subordinates or teachers and students, to sexually harass others, according to the NPC Constitution and Law Committee.

The draft is among six sections of the civil code. The five others, including those on marriage and family, inheritance and contracts, were also submitted to the country's top legislative body for reading on Monday.

The package of the sections is the country's second step in formulating the civil code. The General Provisions of the code as the first step was adopted in March 2017.