Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China (2021 Amendment）

Civil Aviation Law of the People's Republic of China (2021 Amendment）

(Adopted at the 16th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on October 30, 1995; amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Amending Some Laws adopted at the 10th Session of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on August 27, 2009; amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending Five Laws Including the Metrology Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 14th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on April 24, 2015; amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision of Amending Twelve Laws including the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China as adopted at the 24th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on Nov. 7, 2016; amended for the fourth time in accordance with the Decision of the National People's Congress on Amending Eleven Laws including the Accounting Law of the People's Republic of China at the 30th Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on November 4, 2017; amended for the fifth time according to the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to Amend Seven Laws Including the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China as adopted at the Seventh Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on December 29, 2018; and amended for the sixth time according to the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to Amend Eight Laws including the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People's Republic of China as adopted at the 28th Session of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 29, 2021)
Contents
Chapter I General Principles
Chapter II Nationality of Civil Aircraft
Chapter III Rights over Civil Aircraft
Section 1 General Provisions
Section 2 Ownership and Mortgage Rights over Civil Aircraft
Section 3 Right of Preemption over Civil Aircraft
Section 4 Lease of Civil Aircraft
Chapter IV Control over Airworthiness of Civil Aircraft
Chapter V Aviation Personnel
Section 1 General Provisions
Section 2 The Flight Crew
Chapter VI Civil Airports
Chapter VII Aerial Navigation
Section 1 Airspace Control
Section 2 Flight Control
Section 3 Flight Insurance
Section 4 Required Documents for Flights
Chapter VIII Public Air Transport Enterprises
Chapter IX Public Air Transportation
Section 1 General Provisions
Section 2 Transport Certificates
Section 3 Liabilities of the Carriers
Section 4 Special Provisions for Air Transport by Actual Carriers
Chapter X General-Purpose Aviation
Chapter XI Search and Rescue and Accident Investigation
Chapter XII Indemnity Liabilities to the Third Party on the Ground
Chapter XIII Special Provisions for Foreign Civil Aircraft
Chapter XIV Legal Applications in Foreign Relations
Chapter XV Legal Liabilities
Chapter XVI Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I General Principles

Article1 This law has been formulated to safeguard the national sovereign right over the territorial sky and the right of civil aviation, ensure the safe and orderly operation of civil aviation, protect the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved in civil aviation, and
promote the development of civil aviation.

Article 2 The air space above the territorial land and waters of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the territorial sky of PRC, which enjoys complete and exclusive sovereignty over its airspace.

Article 3 The department in charge of civil aviation under the State Council (hereinafter referred to as civil aviation administration, or CAA in short) exercises overall surveillance and administration over civil aviation activities throughout the country. Acting by law and by decisions of the State Council and within the limits of its authority, CAA promulgates
regulations and decisions concerning civil aviation activities.
Regional civil aviation administration offices set up by CAA, acting on the authorization of CAA, exercise surveillance and administration over the civil aviation activities in their own regions.

Article 4 The State supports the development of civil aviation and encourages and supports the scientific research and education in civil aviation to raise its scientific and technical level.
The State supports the development of the civil aircraft manufacturing industry to supply safe, technically advanced, economical and suitable flying apparatus.

Chapter II Nationality of Civil Aircraft

Article 5 Civil aircraft mentioned in this law refers to aircraft other than those used for flying missions of military, customs and police operations.

Article 6 Civil aircraft registered with CAA for nationality according to law attain PRC nationality to acquire nationality registration certificates from CAA.
CAA institutes a PRC civil aircraft nationality register book in which all the items concerning the nationality registration of civil aircraft are being recorded.

Article 7 The following civil aircraft should register for PRC nationality:
(1) Civil aircraft of PRC State organs.
(2) Civil aircraft of corporations set up according to laws of PRC. With regard to corporations whose registered capital contains foreign investment, their institutional arrangement, personnel composition and the ratio of capital input should conform to the stipulations of administrative regulations.
(3) Other civil aircraft to be registered with permission of CAA.
With regard to civil aircraft leased from abroad, should be lessees conform to the stipulations of the above paragraphs and the flight crew of the leased aircraft are provided by the lessees, the lessees can apply for PRC nationality registration for the aircraft with their previous nationality registration to be canceled as the precondition.

Article 8 Having obtained the PRC nationality according to law, the civil aircraft should be marked with the nationality and registration signs.

Article 9 Civil aircraft should not have dual nationality. Civil aircraft shall not apply for PRC nationality before their cancellation of their original nationality of other countries.

Chapter III Rights over Civil Aircraft

Section 1 General Provisions

Article 10 The rights over civil aircraft stipulated in this chapter refer to rights over their airframes, engines, propellers, radio equipment and all other articles to be used on the aircraft whether they are installed on the aircrafts or being dismounted temporarily.

Article 11 Owners of civil aircraft rights should perform rights registration with CAA for the following rights separately:
(1) Ownership of aircraft.
(2) Acquisition of aircraft by purchase.
(3) Possession of aircraft by lease contract for a term of more than six months.
(4) Aircraft on mortgage.

Article 12 CAA institutes civil aircraft rights register books. The same category of registration items should be entered in a same register book.
The civil aircraft rights registration items are open to the public for consultation, duplication or extraction.

Article 13 Except that the civil aircraft are put to auction by force of law, their nationality and rights registrations shall not be transferred abroad before the registered rights are compensated or a special rights owner gives consent.

Section 2 Ownership and Mortgage Rights over Civil Aircraft

Article 14 The acquisition, transference and disappearance of ownership of civil aircraft should be registered with CAA. The unregistered ownership may not counter the third party.
A transference of ownership of civil aircraft should be effected by signing a contract.

Article 15 Provisions of this law concerning the owners of civil aircraft are applicable to the legal person to whom the State consigns State-owned civil aircraft for business management or use.

Article 16 Formally instituted mortgage rights over civil aircraft should be registered together by the pledgee and pledgor concerned with CAA. The unregistered mortgage may not counter the third party.

Article 17 After a mortgage on civil aircraft is established, the mortgaged aircraft must not be transferred to others by the pledgor without the consent of the pledgee.

Section 3 Right of Preemption over Civil Aircraft

Article 18 Preemptive right over civil aircraft refers to the right of a creditor to preempt claims for compensation against the owner or lessee of civil aircraft in accordance with the provisions of Article 19 of this law and preempt the civil aircraft or related parts which cause the raising of the claims for compensation.

Article 19 Preemptive right over civil aircraft applies to claims for the following obligatory payments:
(1) Recompense for the rescue and salvage of the aircraft.
(2) Costs for the preservation and maintenance of aircraft.
The above-mentioned payments are to be made in the reversed order of the incidence of events.

Article 20 The claimant to the preemptive right over civil aircraft stipulated in Article 19 of this law should register the claims concerned with CAA within three months of the day when rescue or preservation work is ended.

Article 21 For the common benefit of creditors, the expenses arising from the realization of court decisions and auction operations should be covered first by the proceeds from the auction sale of the aircraft.

Article 22 Preemptive right takes precedence over mortgage right over civil aircraft in getting compensation.

Article 23 The preemptive right over the civil aircraft is transferred with the transference of the claims for the obligatory payments listed in Article 19.

Article 24 The preemptive right over civil aircraft should be exercised through the detention by the people's court of the aircraft from which the Preemptive right arises.

Article 25 The preemptive right over civil aircraft is valid for a period of three months beginning from the day rescue and preservation work is ended, except that after the claimant registered claims as stipulated in Article 20:
(1) The claimant and obligor have reached agreement on the claims, or
(2) A lawsuit has started over the claims.
Preemptive right over civil aircraft does not vanish with transference of ownership of the aircraft, except that the aircraft are auctioned by force of law.

Section 4 Lease of Civil Aircraft

Article 26 Civil aircraft lease contracts, including financial leasing and other lease contracts, should be concluded in written form.

Article 27 Financial leasing of civil aircraft refers to the purchase by the lessor of the aircraft in kind or from the supplier designated by lessee and the lease of the round aircraft from the lessor to the lessee for use with payment of rentals at regular intervals.

Article 28 During the term of financial lease, the lessor has the ownership over the civil aircraft according to law and the lessee has the right to hold, use and derive income from the aircraft according to law.

Article 29 During the term of financial leasing, the lessor shall not interfere with the lessee's holding and use of the aircraft according to law. The lessee should take due care of the aircraft so as to keep it in the original condition at the time of delivery, excepting reasonable wear and tear and modifications of the aircraft with the lessor's consent.

Article 30 At the expiry of a financial lease, the lessee should return to the lessor the aircraft in the condition specified in Article 29, except that the lessee should exercise the right of purchasing the aircraft according to contract, or intends to continue to lease the same aircraft.

Article 31 In financial leasing the supplier of the civil aircraft will not be liable repeatedly to the lessor and lessee for same damages of the air aircraft supplied.

Article 32 During the term of a financial leasing, with the consent of the lessor, the lessee can transfer to others the right for the holding of the aircraft or other rights as agreed upon in the lease contract on the condition that the transference would not damage the interest of a third party.

Article 33 The lessee of a financial leasing or other leases of civil aircraft for a term of over six months should register the right for holding the aircraft with CAA. Without the registration, the lease may not dispel the right of a third party.

Chapter IV Control over Airworthiness of Civil Aircraft

Article 34 Designers of civil aircraft and installations used on civil aircraft such as engines, propellers should apply to CAA for certificates certifying the quality of the model concerned and the certificates will be issued by CAA after examination and approval.

Article 35 Manufactures and maintenance operators of civil aircraft and the installations on civil aircraft including engines and propellers should apply to CAA for production and maintenance licenses related to the model concerned. Due licenses will be issued after qualification examination and approval.

Article 36 Foreign manufacturers of civil aircraft of any model and installations on such aircraft including engines and propellers which are to be exported to China for the first time should apply to CAA for certificates of model approval, which will be issued after qualification examination and approval.
Holder of the certificates of model approval issued by foreign countries for civil aircraft and aircraft installations including engines, propellers which are to be produced in China for the first time should apply to CAA for certificates of model approval which will be issued after qualification examination and approval.

Article 37 Civil aircraft of PRC nationality should have the certificate of airworthiness issued by CAA before they can be put on flight.
Manufacturers of civil aircraft and aircraft installations including engines, propellers which are to be exported should apply to CAA for the certificate of airworthiness for export which will be issued after qualification examination and approval.
Civil aircraft leased from overseas should have their airworthiness certificates issued by the country of their registration examined and approved by CAA or get a new certificate before they can be put on flight.
Regulations on the control of civil aircraft airworthiness are to be formulated by the State Council.

Article 38 Owners or lessees of civil aircraft should use the aircraft within the scope specified in the airworthiness certificates and make best efforts to maintain the aircraft and ensure their airworthiness.

Chapter V Aviation Personnel

Section 1 General Provisions

Article 39 Aviation personnel mentioned in this law refer to the flight and ground crew in the service of civil aviation as listed below:
(1) Flight crew, including flight mechanics, flight communication operations and flight attendants.
(2) Ground crew, including maintenance personnel, air traffic controllers, flight dispatchers and aviation radio operators.

Article 40 Aviation personnel should pass examinations of special training and obtain licenses issued by CAA before they can do the work specified in their licenses.
The flight crew and air traffic controllers, before being issued their licenses, should have a suitable body check made by the medical unit qualified by CAA to acquire a certificate for physical fitness issued by CAA.

Article 41 Aircrew on flight duty should keep their licenses and certificates for physical fitness in body to be inspected by CAA when required.

Article 42 Aviation personnel should accept regular or irregular checks and examinations by CAA and can continue their work as specified in their licenses only after passing the checks and examination.
Flight crew members should take regular training on emergency operation.
Flight crew members whose intermittent flight time surpasses the time limit prescribed by CAA should be checked and examined. Flight crew members other than flight attendants should go through apprenticeship flying, and can continue their work as specified in their licenses only after
passing the check, examination and apprenticeship flying.

Section 2 The Flight Crew

Article 43 The flight crew of a civil aircraft is composed of its captain and captain's mates. The captain should be a pilot with the skill and experience in independently flying the civil aircraft of the specified model.
Composition and number of member of the flight crew should conform to the regulations of CAA.

Article 44 Duties of operation of the civil aircraft shall be liable to the flight captains who should do their work conscientiously to ensure the safety of the aircraft and the people and property on board.
All people on in-flight aircraft should obey the orders given by the flight captain within the limits of his authority.

Article 45 The flight captain should perform necessary inspection of the aircraft before its taking off. Without such due inspection, the aircraft is not allowed to take off.
The captain has the right to refuse to take off when the aircraft, the airport or meteorological conditions are found not up to standards for flight safety.

Article 46 On the premise of ensuring flight safety, the captain of the aircraft in flight has the right to take necessary and appropriate steps against any acts which would damage the aircraft, disturb the order in the aircraft or endanger the safety of the people and property on board and other conditions detrimental to flight safety.
For the safety of the aircraft and the people on board, the captain has the right to make special arrangements in related to the aircraft in special cases eventualities.

Article 47 The captain has the right to make personnel changes for the sake of flight safety when finds any of them unfit for such a duty.

Article 48 When a civil aircraft is in distress, the captain has the right to take all necessary measures and command the crew members and other people on board to take rescue actions. In the emergency that the aircraft in distress has to be evacuated, the captain must take steps first to organize the safe evacuation of the passengers. Without the captain's permission, crew members shall not leave the aircraft on their own. The captain should be the last to leave.

Article 49 When the aircraft meets with an accident, the captain should directly, or through air traffic control, and promptly report the accident accurately to CAA.

Article 50 On receiving distress signals from ships or other aircraft, or discovering ships and other aircraft and their people in distress, the captain should promptly report the distress to the nearby unit of air traffic control and extend possible and reasonable aid to the distressed.

Article 51 When the captain in the air cannot perform the required duties for some reason, the pilot next to the captain in position should act as the captain. A new captain should be appointed by the owner or lessee of the aircraft as successor before the take-off at the next stopover.

Article 52 The stipulations in this section concerning the flight captain apply to the lone pilot of an aircraft who needs no appointment of other crew members.

Chapter VI Civil Airports

Article 53 A civil airport mentioned in this law refers to a designated area specially used for civil aircraft to take off, land, taxi and park, ached buildings, structures and installations.
Civil airport mentioned in this law does not include opportunity airfields.
The State Council and Central Military Commission will make special control measures for the management of military-civilian common-use airports.

Article 54 The construction and use of civil airports should be arranged under an overall plan with rational geographical disposition to achieve the optimum rate of utilization.
The planning of the distribution and construction of civil airports throughout the country is to be formulated by CAA in cooperation with other departments of the State Council which will organize its implementation after seeking approval in accordance with the State specified procedures.
The people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the State Council should, in line with the national planning for civil airport distribution and construction, formulate the civil airport construction plans in their own administrative areas and,
after seeking approval in accordance with the State specified procedures, incorporate their airport construction plans into their respective local economic and social development plans.

Article 55 Civil airport construction plans should fit in with city construction plans.

Article 56 New construction, reconstruction and expansion projects on civil airports should conform to the civil airport distribution and construction plan adopted according to legal procedure and the standards for civil airports, and should be reported to the department in charge for approval in accordance with State regulations before their implementation.
Civil airport construction projects which do not conform to the civil airport distribution and construction plan adopted according to legal procedure should not be approved.

Article 57 Construction of new airports or airport expansion projects should be announced to the public by the people's government at the county level or higher of the locality where the airport is located.
The public notice mentioned in the above paragraph should be published in the main local newspapers and posted up in the vicinities of the airports to be built or expanded.

Article 58 The following activities are prohibited from taking place within the legally designated confines of the civil airports and airspace protection zones of the airports designated according to State regulations:
(1) Construction of buildings and installations which may discharge large amounts of fumes, dust, flames and exhaust gas into the air which affect flight safety.
(2) Construction of shooting ranges, warehouses for the storage of high explosives and other buildings and installations which affect flight safety.
(3) Construction of buildings and installations inconsistent with the requirements for maintenance of airspace clearance over the airport.
(4) Installation of lights, signs or objects which affect the use of visual air navigation aids.
(5) Plantation of plants which affect flight safety or the use of airport navigation installations.
(6) Breeding or flying of birds and other objects which affect flight safety.
(7) Construction of buildings and installations which affect the electromagnetic environment of the airport.
Animals are not allowed to be put out to pasture within the designated confines of the airport.

Article 59 Buildings, structures, trees, lights and other obstacles which may affect flight safety and are erected before the publication of the notice on airport construction and expansion within the designated airport confines and designated airport airspace protection zone should be eliminated within prescribed time limits. The losses therefrom should be compensated or remedied by other measures according to law.

Article 60 Buildings, structures, trees, lights and other obstacles which affect flight safety and are erected within the designated airport confines and the designated airport airspace protection zones by whoever it maybe after the publication of the notice on airport construction and expansion in contravention of this law and relevant administrative regulations should be eliminated under the order of the local people's government of the county level or higher in the area where the airport is located.

Article 61 Flight obstruction lights and signs should be installed and kept in normal condition on high-rise buildings and structures which are outside the limits of the airport and its airspace but may affect flight safety in accordance with relevant State regulations.

Article 62 A civilian airport open to the public as prescribed by the civil aviation administration of the State Council may open for use only after obtaining the airport use permit. Other civilian airports shall undergo recordation formalities in accordance with the provisions of the civil aviation administration of the State Council.
To apply for an airport use permit, the following conditions shall be met and the airport shall pass the final inspection according to the provisions of the state:
(1) It has the flight zone, air station zone, work zone and service facilities and personnel suitable for its operations.
(2) It has the air traffic control, navigation communication and meteorological installations and personnel that can ensure flight safety.
(3) It meets the security conditions prescribed by the state.
(4) It has the emergency response plans for handling particular circumstances and corresponding facilities and personnel.
(5) It meets the other conditions prescribed by the civil aviation administration of the State Council.
An international airport shall also meet international air traffic conditions and set up customs and other port inspection authorities.

Article 63 The airport administration should apply to CAA for the license for its opening to use and CAA, after examination and approval, issues the license.

Article 64 The establishment of an international airport shall be reported by the provincial people's government at the place where the airport is located to the State Council for examination and approval.
The opening of an international airport should be announced by CAA to the public. Data concerning an international airport are to be supplied to the public solely by CAA.

Article 65 The airport should take measures in accordance with the regulations of CAA to ensure the safety of the personnel and property within its area.

Article 66 A civil airport used by civil aircraft to fly passengers and cargoes should set up the necessary installations according to the standards prescribed by CAA for well serving passengers and cargo consignors and consignees.

Article 67 The airport administration should do conscientious work on environmental protection according to environmental protection law and administrative regulations.

Article 68 The use of airport and its navigational aids is to be charged use fees and service fees. The rate of charges will be decided by CAA.

Article 69 The airport administration should report and obtain authorization for the proposed abandonment of the civil airport or a change of its use to other purposes.

Chapter VII Aerial Navigation

Section 1 Airspace Control

Article 70 The State exercises unified control over the airspace.

Article 71 The division of the airspace should take into consideration the needs of both civil aviation and national defense as well as public interests so as to put the airspace to a reasonable, full and effective use.

Article 72 Procedures for airspace control will be formulated by the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

Section 2 Flight Control

Article 73 An air traffic control unit of a specified airspace control zone is in charge of control of aircraft air traffic in the specified airspace.

Article 74 The flight of civil aircraft within a controlled airspace zone should have the permission of the air traffic control unit.

Article 75 Civil aircraft should fly along the air route and at the altitude designated by the air traffic control unit. Should necessity arise for some reason to deviate from the designated flight route and altitude, permission has to be obtained from the air traffic control unit for the changes.

Article 76 Aircraft flying over PRC territories must follow the unitary flight rules.
Civil aircraft on visual flight should follow the rules for visual flight and keep at a safe distance from other aircraft and ground objects of
obstruction.
Civil aircraft on instrument flight should follow the rules for instrument flight.
The flight rules are to be formulated by the State Council and the Central Military Commission.

Article 77 The flight or working time of the aircrew of civil aircraft should not exceed the limits stipulated by CAA.
Aircrew members under the influence of alcoholic drinks, narcotics or other drugs which would affect their working capabilities shall not perform flight duties.

Article 78 Civil aircraft should not fly into the restricted airspace except with special permission by State regulations, or fly into the controlled airspace except in observation of the restrictive conditions specified in regulations.
The above mentioned restricted and controlled airspaces are to be specified according to State regulations.

Article 79 Civil aircraft should not fly over cities, except in one of the following circumstances:
(1) Necessitated by the taking off and landing of aircraft or by the designated flight route.
(2) The flight altitude is high enough that in case of emergency, the aircraft can leave the city airspace without any threat to the safety of the people and property on the ground.
(3) With permission obtained through State regulated procedures.

Article 80 The aircraft in flight should not throw out things, except in one of the following circumstances:
(1) Necessitated by flight safety.
(2) Necessitated by the occasion in the performance of rescue operations or other flight operations for public interests.

Article 81 Civil aircraft should not fly out of PRC airspace without permission.
The departments concerned have the right to take necessary measures according to circumstances to stop th......