On The Regulations Of Standard Form Clauses

Standard form clauses have a couple of names. In our Contract Act, the employment of standard form clauses instead of the standard form contract is of great significance both theoretically and practically. Considering from the point of view of efficiency, high efficiency is the lifeblood of standard form clauses and the fundamental reason of its wide application. Its efficiency manifests mainly in two aspects: 1) directly manifested in reducing the contracting cost; 2) indirectly manifested in reducing the cost caused by courts' misjudgments. It is its efficiency that makes its existence reasonable. Viewing from the perspective of justice, standard form clauses demonstrate justice only through its form and its high efficiency, which cannot count as substantial justice. Standard form clauses in it manifest little justice. Therefore it should be regulated. There are mainly four approaches to this goal: legislative regulated, judicial regulation, administrative regulation, and socio-organizational regulation. These approaches have merits and demerits of their own. One approach should be applied as a supplementary means to others, making up for each other's defects so as to obtain an ideal effect. The legislative regulation on standard form clauses in our country has so many defects such as the over-abstraction of the legislation, the contradiction in expressing the provisions, its inoperationality, and the loopholes in it that it needs to be perfected. To achieve this goal, three alternatives are available: the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress interprets the restricting rules; when the conditions are favorable, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress revises the Contract Act; lay down special provisions for clause de style. The last solution is the most complete and favorable, the indispensable approach to the perfectioncomplete and favorable, the indispensable approach to the perfection of the legislation of standard form clauses in China.