How to Sign an Electronic Labor Contract in China: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Due to the travel bans and social distancing measures implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across the world are exploring electronic contracts and electronic signatures.

To help employers conclude legally compliant electronic labor contracts with their employees in China, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (HRMSS) published the Guideline for the Conclusion of Electronic Labor Contracts (“the Guideline”) on July 1, 2021.

Based on the Guideline and combining with PRC Labor Contract Law, Electronic Signature Law, and Civil Code, this article expounds five of the key steps and considerations for employers when executing their labor contracts online in China.

Legitimacy of electronic labor contracts in China

China previously had no laws clarifying the legitimacy of electronic labor contracts. The PRC Labor Contract Law stipulated: “A written labor contract shall be concluded for the establishment of a labor relationship” (Article 10). However, the law itself did not explain what forms can be considered “written” forms.

To rectify this regulatory gap, on March 4, 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, the MHRSS released the Letter on the Formation of Electronic Contracts Related Issues (“the Letter”). For the first time, the electronic labor contract was formally addressed by a central authority. It said: “Upon negotiation and consensus between an employer and a worker, a written labor contract may be concluded in electronic form.”

Starting January 1, 2021, the PRC Civil Code took effect and endorsed the legitimacy of electronic contracts in China. Article 469 of the Civil Code states that electronic data exchange or email can be deemed as a contract in written form: “Any electronic data that can show, in material form, the contents that it specifies through electronic data exchange or email and can be accessed for reference and used at any time shall be regarded as a written form.” (Article 469).

Most recently, on July 1, 2021, the Guideline from the MHRSS further affirmed the legal effect of a “lawfully concluded” electronic labor contract.

The Guideline specified that a “lawfully concluded” electronic labor contract must comply with the PRC Labor Contract Law, Civil Code, Electronic Signature Law, and other laws and regulations. “The employer and the employee shall perform their respective obligations fully as agreed in the electronic employment contract.” (Article 2).

Key legal and security considerations

Taking these points together, there are five main considerations for businesses when forming and executing a contract.

1) Choose an appropriate contract management platform

The employer should choose an appropriate contract management platform – either through building their own or purchasing a third-party electronic signing platform.

According to Article 4 of the MHRSS Guideline, the electronic labor contract formation system should have the following functions:

• Can enable users to sign, access, store, and use the electronic labor contract by providing effective means of modern information technology.
• Can verify the identity of the parties to the contract, apply the electronic signature, confirm the willingness of the parties, and ensure the security of contract data.
• Can ensure the conclusion, generation, transfer, and storage of the electronic labor contract comply with relevant laws and regulations.
• Can ensure that the electronic labor contract is authentic, complete, accurate, tamper-proof, and traceable.

Olivia Wang, Business Advisory Services Associate, Dezan Shira & Associates Shenzhen Office, further breaks down what type of platform should be used to establish electronic contracts. Wang notes that the chosen platform should be able to support features, such as electronic signatures, trusted timestamps, encryption and hash value verifications, tamper-proof technology, and appropriate evidence collection methods.

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What’s more, the fourth chapter of the Guideline – about “data security and protection” – puts forward higher requirements for the information protection system of the platform. As the information stored on the platform is related to the right of privacy stipulated in China’s Civil Code, the platform must abide by the rules and not allow outside parties to illegally access the contract data.

Considering all of the above requirements, it is well recommended that employers first consider a platform provided by the local government or a platform that meets the requirements of the Guideline and is recognized by the local judicial authorities.

2) Determine the identity and willingness of the parties

Before moving on to the terms of the agreement, it is important to identify and verify the identity of the parties to the contract. This is a critical step when signing an electronic labor contract, as the usual checks and verifications that exist with contracts signed in person are not available with digital contracts.

Therefore, when choosing a contract management platform, a critical feature that is needed is one that has an inbuilt identity registration and verification system.

It is important for both parties to be able to manually upload or verify their information, including names, domicile, legal representative, or main person in charge of the employer, address, resident ID or other valid ID number, and contact information as well as other information relevant to the nature of the contract.

When the information is uploaded, it is important that the chosen system uses appropriate methods of identity verification methods on the respective parties. The most common types of verification include biometric identification verification like facial recognition or fingerprint recognition, mobile short message verification, bank card verification, security questions, etc.

At the same time, the chosen platform should also record and retain the verification and confirmation process.

3) Negotiate the terms

After the basic content of the contract has been agreed upon, both parties may begin negotiating the terms of the contract in accordance with the provisions of the PRC Labor Contract Law.

Article 3 of the PRC Labor Contract Law is a particularly critical provision that should underpin the nature of the contract negotiation process. Article 3 states that “the labor contract shall follow the principles of legality, fairness, equality and voluntariness, consensus through consultation and good faith.”

In short, this means that the two parties should both reach a fair agreement on the main terms of the labor contract.

Under Article 17 of the PRC Labor Contract Law, every contract should have the follow clauses:

• Basic information as described above;
• The terms of the labor contract;
• Work content and work location;
• Working hours, rest and vacation;
• Labor remuneration;
• Social insurance;
• Labor protection, working conditions and protection against occupational hazards; and
• Other matters that should be included in the labor contract as required by laws and regulations.

4) Sign the contract

The labor contract will become effective once the employer and employee have signed or sealed the text of the labor contract. For electronic contracts, this can be done through an electronic signature or an electronic chop.

According to the Electronic Signature Law, employers and workers should use “reliable electronic signatures” when signing electronic labor contracts, which is comprised of the following characteristics:

• The electronic chop creation data must be exclusively owned and controlled by the signatory at the time of signing;
• Subsequent alterations to the electronic chop and any relevant data made must be detectable; and
• Signatory must properly keep and retain all electronic chop creation data.

In practice, it is a good idea to select a third-party organization to provide independent electronic authentication services of the signatures.

According to the Guideline, the parties to the contract should use the “digital certificate” and “key” issued by the legally established electronic authentication service agency in compliance with the E-Signature Law.

The contract should also be affixed with a credible timestamp to pinpoint the exact effective date of the contract.

5) Verify, encrypt, and secure the contract

After completing the electronic contract, an auxiliary verification of the full text of the electronic contract should be conducted to ensure that the contract has not been tampered with when it was signed.

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Employers can choose a variety of different methods, including auxiliary encryption or confidential technical facilities like QR codes, time stamps, watermarks, and SMS notifications.

This point is emphasized by Article 11 of the Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Trial of Cases in Internet Courts, issued by the Supreme People’s Court.

In practice, the more widely used and recognized encryption technology are blockchain or trusted timestamps.

Finally, once everything is signed and verified, the final version of the electronic contract should be securely backed up in the employer’s system, or on the third-party storage system.

Under Clause 3, Article 4 of the “Regulations on the Online Formation Process of Electronic Contracts (Draft for Soliciting Comments),” if the electronic contracts are signed through the employer’s own system, then this contract shall be stored on the third party’s storage system.

Wang explains that in this way, both parties are able to check the signed contract at any time during the contract term – via online or offline methods. The full content of the electronic contract should be backed up, including the contract terms, signing time, subject information of both parties, signature information, and any modifications made to the contract content. The storage period of the electronic contract shall not be later than five years from the date of conclusion of the contract.

Other obligations of the employer

To protect employees’ right to know and other interests, the Guideline sets out the employer’s obligations before and after signing an electronic labor contract. Employers are suggested to comply with their obligations, which include:

• Inform the employee of the procedures, operating methods, precautions, and channels to view and download the complete text of the labor contract before concluding the electronic labor contract and should not charge any fee from the employee.
• Notify the employee that the contract has been concluded by mobile text message notification, WeChat, e-mail, or APP message prompt, or other means after the conclusion of the contract.
• Remind and assist the employee to timely download and safely keep the text of the electronic employment contract and should not charge any fee from the employee. (The employee should be reassured that they can view, download, and print out the complete contents of the electronic employment contract at any time).
• If an employee requires a hard copy of the electronic labor contract, the employer should at least provide one copy free of charge and prove the consistency between the hard copy with the original of the data message through affixation of seal.

For further advice on how to prepare an electronic labor contract in accordance with Chinese laws, please feel free to contact our business advisory professionals at china@dezshira.com.

This article was originally published in July 2020. It was last updated on February 14, 2022.

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