Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Health Emergency Response

Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Health Emergency Response

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China
(No. 52)

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Health Emergency Response, as adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on September 12, 2025, is hereby issued with effect from November 1, 2025.

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China
September 12, 2025

Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Health Emergency Response
(Adopted at the 17th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on September 12, 2025)

Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Management and Command System
Chapter III Prevention and Emergency Preparedness
Chapter IV Monitoring and Early Warning
Chapter V Emergency Response
Chapter VI Guarantee Measures
Chapter VII Legal Liability
Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of preventing and reducing the occurrence of public health emergencies, controlling, mitigating, and eliminating their harm, improving the ability to respond to public health emergencies, regulating the activities in response to public health emergencies, protecting the life and health of the public, and maintaining national security, public security and social order.
Article 2 For the purposes of this Law, the term "public health emergency" means a major infectious disease outbreak, mass illness of unknown cause, mass poisoning, or any other event that seriously affects the life and health of the public, which occurs suddenly, causes or may cause serious harm to the life and health of the public, and requires the application of emergency response measures.
This Law applies to public health emergency response; if the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases specifically provides for response to major infectious disease outbreaks, such provisions shall prevail. If the above laws are silent, the Emergency Response Law of the People's Republic of China shall apply.
The classification standards for public health emergencies shall be formulated by the health department of the State Council in conjunction with the disease prevention and control department and other departments of the State Council.
Article 3 Public health emergency response shall be under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, implement a holistic approach to national security, coordinate development and security, and put the people and their lives above all else.
Public health emergency response shall follow the principles of prioritizing prevention and combining prevention with emergency response and remain lawful and sound.
Article 4 People's governments at or above the county level shall incorporate public health emergency response into their national economic and social development plans, strengthen public health risk prevention, control and governance systems, and improve their ability to respond to public health emergencies.
Article 5 The state establishes a social mobilization mechanism for responding to public health emergencies, arranging for and mobilizing entities and individuals to lawfully participate in public health emergency response in an orderly manner.
The state carries out publicity and education on the knowledge of public health emergency response and relevant laws and regulations to enhance the public awareness of public health risk prevention and their prevention capabilities.
Article 6 The state gives equal importance to traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, strengthens their integration, and maximizes the role of traditional Chinese medicine in public health emergency response.
Article 7 The state supports and encourages scientific research and technological innovation in the field of public health emergency response, strengthens the scientific breakthroughs system and capacity for public health emergency response, and promotes the application of relevant scientific research results and advanced technologies.
The state supports and encourages the use of advanced technologies such as modern information technology for public health emergency response.
Article 8 In public health emergency response, the collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, and deletion of personal information shall comply with the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and administrative regulations, and follow the principles of legality, legitimacy, necessity, and good faith, with necessary measures taken to ensure the security of personal information. It is prohibited to illegally collect, use, process, transmit, trade in, provide or disclose the personal information of another person. If sensitive personal information is involved, strict protection measures shall be taken. After the completion of public health emergency response, the personal information processed in response to the public health emergency shall be deleted in a timely manner.
Article 9 Measures for public health emergency response shall be taken in accordance with statutory authority and procedures and be commensurate with the nature of the public health emergency and the degree and scope of the possible harm, among others; where multiple measures are available, measures conducive to protecting the lawful rights and interests of entities and individuals to the greatest extent and with less impact on the rights, interests, work, and life of others shall be selected, and adjustments shall be made in a timely manner according to changes in circumstances.
Article 10 The state supports and encourages international exchanges and cooperation in public health emergency response.
Article 11 Entities and individuals that have made outstanding contributions to public health emergency response shall be commended and rewarded according to the relevant provisions issued by the state.
Chapter II Management and Command System
Article 12 In public health emergency response, a management system featuring the leadership of Party committees, government responsibility, departmental coordination, social participation, and combination of territorial management and classification management shall be implemented; responsibilities of localities, departments, entities, and individuals shall be defined; the capacity for public health emergency response command shall be strengthened.
Article 13 The people's government at the county level shall be responsible for public health emergency response within its administrative area. If two or more administrative areas are involved, the people's government at the next higher level, to which the people's governments of the said administrative areas are subordinate, shall be responsible, or the people's governments at the next higher level of the respective people's governments of the said administrative areas shall be jointly responsible.
After a public health emergency occurs, the people's government at the county level in the place of occurrence shall immediately initiate response and report to the people's government at the next higher level and, when necessary, it may report by bypassing the people's government at the next higher level. If the people's government at the county level in the place of occurrence cannot eliminate or effectively control the harm of the public health emergency, the people's government at the higher level shall take timely support measures and, when necessary, provide unified leadership in response efforts.
Local people's governments at or above the county level in adjacent administrative areas shall establish a coordination mechanism for responding to public health emergencies to strengthen information sharing, conduct risk consultations, and coordinate response measures.
Article 14 A local people's government at or above the county level shall establish a public health emergency response command institution, composed of the principal person in charge of the people's government, the persons in charge of relevant departments, and the persons in charge of relevant units of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force that participate in public health emergency response, to organize, coordinate, and direct the public health emergency response work of its relevant departments and people's governments at lower levels.
As needed for responding to public health emergencies, the State Council shall establish a national public health emergency response command institution to lead public health emergency response; when necessary, the State Council may send a working group to guide related work.
In responding to a public health emergency, a public health emergency response command institution may, within the purview of the people's government at the same level, issue decisions, orders and measures related to public health emergency response.
A public health emergency response command institution shall establish an expert group as needed in work to advise on the analysis on and response to public health emergencies.
Article 15 The health department of the State Council shall take the lead in organizing and coordinating national response to major infectious disease outbreaks and be responsible for national response to other public health emergencies. The disease prevention and control department of the State Council shall be responsible for the work related to national response to major infectious disease outbreaks. Other relevant departments of the State Council shall be responsible for the work related to public health emergency response within their respective duties.
The health departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall take the lead in organizing and coordinating the response to major infectious disease outbreaks within their respective administrative areas and be responsible for the response to other public health emergencies within their respective administrative areas. The disease prevention and control departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the work related to response to major infectious disease outbreaks within their respective administrative areas. Other relevant departments of local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the work related to public health emergency response within their respective duties.
Article 16 A sub-district office or township people's government shall guide residents' committees and villagers' committees in assisting in the work related to public health emergency response, and promote the coordination between residents' committees and villagers' committees on one side and primary-level medical and healthcare institutions.
Residents' committees and villagers' committees shall assist in giving publicity to, education on and health tips for public health emergency response and organize urban and rural residents' lawful and orderly participation in public health emergency response activities in urban and rural communities.
People's governments at or above the county level and their relevant departments shall provide necessary support and guarantees for urban and rural communities to carry out relevant work to respond to public health emergencies and strengthen the construction of primary-level public health emergency response capabilities.
Article 17 Entities and individuals shall support public health emergency response and comply with measures taken in accordance with the law to respond to public health emergencies.
People's governments at all levels shall take facilitating measures to guide entities and individuals' lawful and orderly participation in publicity and education, information reporting, volunteer services, and other activities in response to public health emergencies.
Volunteer service organizations, among others, shall carry out relief, volunteer service and other activities in response to public health emergencies in accordance with the law under the overall coordination and orderly guidance of local people's governments at or above the county level.
Chapter III Prevention and Emergency Preparedness
Article 18 The state strengthens the management of public health emergency risk sources to reduce the occurrence of public health emergencies and mitigate their harm.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall arrange for health departments, disease prevention and control departments, and other relevant departments to investigate and register risk sources that may cause public health emergencies in their administrative areas and assess risk, and conduct supervisory inspection of the management and use of risk sources.
An entity managing and using risk sources that may cause public health emergencies shall strengthen risk management in accordance with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and take preventive measures to eliminate risks that may cause public health emergencies.
Article 19 The state establishes a sound system of public health emergency response plans.
The State Council shall organize the formulation of a national public health emergency response plan. The local people's governments at or above the county level shall organize the formulation of public health emergency response plans of their administrative areas based on the public health emergency response plans of the people's governments at the higher level and the actual conditions of their administrative areas, and submit them for recordation in accordance with relevant provisions issued by the state. The health, disease prevention and control and other departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall formulate their public health emergency response plans in accordance with their respective duties and submit them for recordation in accordance with relevant provisions issued by the state.
A public health emergency response plan shall, in accordance with this Law and other relevant laws and regulations, based on the nature and possible harm of public health emergencies, specify the organizational command system, monitoring and early warning, information reporting and notification, emergency response, personnel mobilization, material reserves and use, information release, and other contents for responding to public health emergencies. The emergency response plan formulating department shall listen extensively to the opinions of relevant departments, entities, experts and all sectors of soc......