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Chapter 3 Fertility Regulation

Article 13 Citizens of marriageable age are encouraged to practice deferred marriage and childbearing. Deferred marriage refers to first marriage with both parties being at least three years past their legally marriageable ages; deferred childbearing refers to married women giving birth to their first child at the age of 24 or over. One couple is encouraged to have one child only.

Article 14 Married couples who want to have a child shall apply for a birth permit with their marriage certificate.

Article 15 Couples with either or both parties being employees of government agencies, enterprises or institutions or urban residents, if meeting any one of the following conditions, can have a second birth:

1. The first child is diagnosed of having non-genetic defects and unable to grow up to be a normal laborer;

2. Both parties are only child of their family;

3. Couples who have been married for over five years and who have adopted a child legally due to infertility can apply to have a second birth after treatment of the disease;

4. Remarried couples with one party having a child from previous marriage but the other having none.

Article 16 In addition to Article 15, rural couples who meet any one of the following conditions can have a second birth:

1. The first child is female;

2. Either or both parties are members of ethnic groups;

3. The husband marries a woman whose family has no son and lives with them.

Article 17 Rural couples with both parties being members of ethnic groups, and with one of their two children having non-genetic defects and unable to grow up to be a normal laborer, can have another birth.

Article 18 Couples with either or both parties being returned overseas Chinese or residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and international marriages shall be treated in accordance with relevant regulations of the state.

Article 19 Couples who meet the conditions of Articles 15-17, if wanting to have another birth, must get approval from the family planning authorities of county government and have a spacing of over four years. Women aged over 30 who give birth to the first child are not restricted by the spacing regulation.

Article 20 Legally adopted child shall be counted into the number of children people have.

Article 21 Childbirth in defiance of Articles 15-17 of this regulation or with inadequate interval or out of wedlock is defined as out-of-plan birth.

Article 22 Couples who give unplanned birth shall be charged a social compensation fee on both sides. Collection, management and use of the social compensation fee are subject to relevant national regulations, and the specific rules for management of the fee shall be formulated by the provincial government separately.