Auction Law of the People's Republic of China
Auction Law of the People's Republic of China
Auction Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President [1997] No. 70
July 5,1996
The Auction Law of the People's Republic of China which has been adopted at the 20th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on July 5, 1996 is hereby promulgated on July 5, 1996, and shall come into force as of January 1, 1997.
President of the People's Republic of China Jiang Zemin
(Adopted at the 20th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on July 5, 1996)
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law has been formulated with a view to standardizing the auction behavior, safeguarding the auction order, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of various parties involved in auction activity.
Article 2 This Law shall apply to the auction activity carried out by auction enterprises within the territory of the People''s Republic of China.
Article 3 Auction means the buying and selling form through which designated articles or property rights are transferred, in the form of public bidding, to those providing the highest bidding price.
Article 4 Auction activity shall abide by relevant laws and administrative decrees, and follow the principle of openness, fairness, impartiality, honesty and credibility.
Article 5 The State Council is responsible for managing the department in charge of the auctioning industry, which will exercise supervision over and management of the national auctioning industry.
People''s governments of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government and people''s governments of cities with districts are responsible for managing the departments in charge of the auctioning industry, which will exercise supervision over and management of the auctioning industry within their respective administrative regions.
Public security departments shall exercise security control over the auctioning industry as special industry.
Chapter II Auction Targets
Article 6 Auction target shall be articles or the property rights owned by trustees or disposable according to law.
Article 7 Articles or property rights whose purchase and sale are prohibited by laws and administrative decrees shall not be taken as auction targets.
Article 8 Articles or property rights whose transfer is subject to the examination and approval according to law or in accordance with State Council provisions shall, before being auctioned, go through examination and approval procedures according to law. Cultural relics consigned for sale shall, before being auctioned, be assessed and permitted according to law by the cultural administrative department where the auctioneer resides.
Article 9 Should articles confiscated by the state administrative department according to law, articles used to pay taxes or fines and other kinds of articles be auctioned on consignment in accordance with State Council provisions, they shall be auctioned by the auctioneers designated by the people''s governments with districts where such property lies. The auction of articles confiscated by a people''s court according to law, articles used to pay fines and found articles that cannot be returned are subject to the stipulation of the above paragraph.
Chapter III Parties Involved in Auction
Section 1 Auctioneers
Article 10 An auctioneer is an enterprise legal person that has been established to engage in auction activity in accordance with this Law and the Company Law of the People's Republic of China.
Article 11 An auction enterprise may be set up in a city with districts.
The establishment of an auction enterprise is subject to the examination and approval by the department in charge of managing the auctioning industry as authorized by the people government of a province, an autonomous region and a municipality directly under the central government where it is located, and shall apply and register with the administrative department for industry and commerce receive a business license.
Article 12 Whoever establishes an auction enterprise shall meet the following requirements:
1. Having a registered capital of at least CNY1 million;
2. Having his own name, organizational setup, residence and articles of association;
3. Having auctioneers and other staff qualified for the auctioning business;
4. Having formulated rules on the auction business that comply with this Law and the stipulations of other relevant laws;
5.
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