Viewpoint... The application of contract disputes to force majeure or change of circumstances rules in the context of the "double reduction policy" (above)-education and training contracts.

Published:

2022-07-14

1. issues raised In July 2021, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Reducing the Burden of Students' Homework and Off-campus Training in the Compulsory Education Stage" (hereinafter referred to as the "Double Reduction Policy"). Strict restrictions are imposed on extracurricular training, which makes it difficult to continue to perform the education and training contracts signed between training institutions and trainees. The situation in the contractual relationship should belong to the change of circumstances or force majeure, so the dispute between the parties to the contract should be how to allocate responsibility, the author refers to the specific case, and combined with the provisions of the law, try to do the following analysis. 2. relevant referee views As of the date of the author's completion, the keyword "double reduction policy" was searched on the China Judgment Document Network. The cause of the case chose "education and training contract dispute" and 644 judgments could be found. The author chose the representative regional court's judgment views as follows: 1. Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court (2022) Beijing 02 Minzhong No. 33 Civil Judgment held that xx Company failed to fulfill its obligation to provide training services as agreed. Due to the influence of the "double reduction" policy, it does not have the qualification to provide subject training, which makes Wang xx's contract purpose unable to be realized. Wang xx's request for refund of training fees and teaching materials has factual basis. 2. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court of Guangdong Province (2021) Yue 03 Min Zhong No. 36292 Civil Judgment holds that xx Company is unable to provide normal course teaching due to the influence of national policies in the contract involved, which is difficult to realize the purpose of the contract due to reasons not attributable to both parties. xxx has the right to apply for xx Company to assume the obligation of refund according to the agreement. 3. The People's Court of Weihai Economic and Technological Development Zone, Shandong Province (2022) Lu 1092 Minchu No. 200 Civil Judgment held that xx Education said it was unable to continue to provide course training services due to the "double reduction" policy. Zhu xx asked Bolai Company to refund the remaining training fees, which was actually a request to terminate the contract. The reason was justified and the court allowed. In other court judgments, although the reasoning part is slightly different, the judgment result is basically the same, that is, the contract cannot continue to be performed and should be terminated, and the training institution should refund the corresponding fees. It can be seen that the court basically held that the "double reduction policy" made it difficult to achieve the purpose of the contract between the two parties, the contract should be terminated at the request of the parties, the content of the unperformed is no longer performed, the two parties do not bear any responsibility, in line with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of force majeure. 3. jurisprudence analysis 1. Article 180 of the Civil Code stipulates that force majeure is an objective situation that cannot be foreseen, avoided and overcome, and that the "double reduction policy" meets the above elements in the contractual relationship of education and training. Since the resumption of the college entrance examination in 1977, off-campus training institutions have been born together. As of the promulgation of the "double reduction policy", off-campus training institutions have been developing continuously for more than 40 years. Although the state has issued many documents to regulate, such as the implementation opinions of the Ministry of education on standardizing education fees and further controlling the work of arbitrary education fees in 2008, and the opinions on standardizing the development of off campus training institutions issued by the general office of the State Council in 2018, the above documents are aimed at emphasizing the orderly development of off campus training institutions. However, the promulgation of the "double reduction policy" has no warning at all, and its restrictions on the access rules, training time, training content and other aspects of off-campus training are also extremely strict, making it difficult for the vast majority of off-campus training institutions to continue their business. For the "double reduction policy" of the promulgation of the time and the extent of the impact, the off-campus training institutions themselves, of course, difficult to predict. "Double reduction policy" as a mandatory national policy document, out-of-school training must be fully implemented, can not be avoided or overcome. Therefore, at the objective level, the "double reduction policy" should be force majeure to the operation of off-campus training institutions. 2. The result of the "double reduction policy" in the education and training contract relationship is that the purpose of the contract cannot be realized and both parties cannot continue to perform the content of the contract, which is in line with the provisions of Article 563 of the Civil Code. The main purpose of the trainees signing the education and training contract is to use the rest day to learn subject knowledge from the school teachers hired by the training institution, and the purpose of the educational institution is to obtain benefits through subject training for the trainees. In the "double reduction policy", "existing discipline training institutions are uniformly registered as non-profit institutions", "off campus training institutions are not allowed to take up national legal holidays, rest days and winter and summer holidays to organize discipline training", "training institutions are not allowed to rob school teachers with high salaries; provisions such as" personnel engaged in subject training must have corresponding teacher qualifications "directly prohibit off-campus training institutions from hiring school teachers to conduct subject training for students on rest days. as a result, the purpose of the education and training contract signed by both parties cannot be achieved. Therefore, the "double reduction policy" should be force majeure for the education and training contract between the training institution and the trainees, and the parties have the right to change or terminate the contract. 4. legal consequences After the promulgation of the "double reduction policy", how to terminate the education and training contract signed between the training institution and the trainees, how to allocate the responsibilities between the two parties after the termination of the contract, and whether the training institution must refund all the course fees, the author thinks that it should be handled separately according to the specific situation. 1. If the training institution or the trainee proposes to terminate the contract, the contract shall be terminated when the notice of termination arrives at the other party. Article 563 of the Civil Code stipulates that the parties may terminate the contract under any of the following circumstances: (1) the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved due to force majeure. This right to terminate the contract belongs to the right of formation, which is the right of the right holder to make the civil legal relationship occur, change and eliminate according to the unilateral meaning. In the contractual relationship between education and training, the cost of class hours and the hours used are determined by both parties, and the result that the course cannot continue to be completed is relatively clear. The direct termination of the contract is conducive to the termination of the rights and obligations of both parties as soon as possible, but also conducive to saving judicial costs. After the termination of the contract, the training institution will no longer teach the trainees and shall immediately refund the cost of the unused class hours. If the training institution fails to refund within the specified time, it shall bear the corresponding liability such as paying interest and compensating the loss of the trainees according to the degree of its fault. With regard to the calculation of class hours, the price per class hour shall be calculated according to the total class hours agreed in the contract. If the contract includes a gift of lessons, if the lesson time fee is calculated according to the unit price stipulated in the contract, the lesson time fee exceeds the actual value of the course. Therefore, the donated and purchased courses can be taken as the total class hours, and the unit price per class hour can be obtained by dividing the total training fee paid by the students by the total class hours, and then multiplying the unit price by the actual course time used to obtain the training fee that the students should pay. With regard to other expenses such as teaching materials, it shall be decided whether to return them according to the actual performance. If the training institution has delivered the teaching materials to the trainees or has purchased the teaching materials for delivery to the trainees, it shall be deemed that the contract has been fulfilled. If both parties terminate the contract due to force majeure, there is no fault in the performance of the contract, and the teaching material fee shall not be refunded. If the teaching materials have not been delivered, the training institution shall be required to provide time evidence to prove the purchase of the teaching materials, such as purchase contracts, payment vouchers, etc. If the training institution cannot prove that the teaching materials have been purchased after the trainee proposes to terminate the contract, it shall be deemed that the contract has not been fulfilled and the performance shall not be continued, and the training institution shall refund the teaching material fee. 2. If the training institution or the trainees propose to terminate the contract, they shall not be liable for breach of contract. Force majeure is a statutory exemption, and article 590 of the Civil Code provides that if a party to a contract is unable to perform the contract due to force majeure, it is partially or fully exempted from liability. Even if the contract contains clauses such as "when the trainees terminate the contract in advance, the training institution can deduct the handling fee", it should not take effect, so as to prevent the trainees from being unable to safeguard their legal rights due to lack of time, money and legal knowledge. Similarly, the training institution only needs to refund the unused course fees of the trainees and is not liable for breach of contract due to the inability to provide training services. 3. The reason why the purpose of the contract cannot be realized is not entirely caused by the "double reduction policy", and the corresponding responsibility shall be borne according to the fault of both parties. Article 590 of the Civil Code If force majeure occurs after the party delays in performance, it shall not be exempted from liability for breach of contract. If the training institution is unable to provide training services normally before the promulgation of the "double reduction policy", the training institution shall bear the liability for breach of contract. In addition to refunding the lesson time fee, it shall also refund other expenses such as teaching material fee and pay corresponding liquidated damages. If the trainees fail to use the specified class hours within the time stipulated in the contract due to their own reasons, the contract cannot be performed due to the trainees' own fault, and the refunded expenses shall be calculated according to the class hours stipulated in the original contract by both parties: if the class hours stipulated in the original contract are after the promulgation of the "double reduction policy", the training institution shall refund all the expenses because they cannot be completed completely due to force majeure. Before the promulgation of the "double reduction policy" for the class hours agreed in the original contract, if both parties fail to reach a consensus on adjusting the training time, the trainees shall bear all the responsibilities, and the training institution does not need to refund the part of the class time fee. If both parties reach a consensus on adjusting the training time, the responsibility shall be distributed according to the principle of fairness and part of the class time fee may be refunded. In summary, the "double reduction policy" directly leads to the legal inability to perform the training service contract, and the relevant rules of force majeure should be applied. Under the premise of the principle of equality and fairness, the existing laws should be used flexibly to allocate the responsibilities of both parties. It is necessary to protect the interests of students, and training institutions should not be required to bear too much responsibility, so as to take into account the interests of all parties and promote the development of a harmonious society.

Key words:

Viewpoint, training, contract, organization, policy, student, unable, should, both parties, education