Chapter I  General Provisions

Article 1   These Regulations are formulated according to the relevant provisions in the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China and Regulations on the Administration of Tourist Agencies.

Article 2  The "travel accident insurance" in the Regulations refers to the act of insurance in which a travel agency pays the premium to an insurance company in the name of its tourists in order to protect the tourists' interests when a group tour is organized, and the insurer will give indemnity to the tourists once accidents occur to them during their tour.

Article 3   Travel agencies within the territory of the People's Republic of China should abide by the Regulations when taking out travel accident insurance.

Chapter II  Coverage of Travel Accident Insurance

Article 5   The coverage of travel accident insurance taken out by travel agencies should include the following compensation cases which are caused by the accidents that occur to tourists during their tour:

i. compensation for casualties or death due to acute diseases;

ii. medical costs related to injuries or treatment of acute diseases;

iii. fare related to the handling of death or the returning of the decedent's body;

iv. compensation for the loss, damage or theft of the traveler's luggage and other belongings;

v. compensation caused by third-party liabilities.

The proportion of the above compensations in travel accident insurance in inbound travel, domestic travel, or outbound travel should be negotiated between travel agencies and insurance companies.

Chapter III  Indemnity Period and Insured Sum

Article 6   In an inbound travel organized by travel agencies, the indemnity period of travel accident insurance starts on the day when tourists join the journey arranged by travel agencies after they enter this country, and ends when they leave the country after the journey is over and the outbound procedures are completed. In domestic travel or outbound travel, the indemnity period of insurance against tourist accidents starts when tourists board the vehicles arranged by travel agencies at the promised time, and ends when tourists leave the vehicles after the journey is over. When a tourist personally ends a journey arranged by the travel agency, his indemnity period ends at the same time.

When tourists carry on their own travels after they finish the promised journey, they are not covered in travel accident insurance.

Article 7   The insured sum of travel accident insurance taken out by travel agencies should not be lower than the following basic standards:

i. inbound travel: 300,000 RMB per tourist;

ii. outbound travel: 300,000 RMB per tourist;

iii. domestic travel: 100,000 RMB per tourist;

iv. daily tour (inbound tour, outbound tour and domestic tour included): 30,000 RMB per tourist.

Article 8   If travel agencies carry out such programs as mountain climbing, hunting, drifting, or auto and motorcycle rallies, they can negotiate the insured sum with insurance companies at above the basic standards of travel accident insurance stated in Article 7 according to the risk of the program.

Chapter IV  Insurance Procedures

Article 9   Travel agencies must purchase travel accident insurance from domestic insurance companies.

Article 10   In the contract signed by travel agencies with tourists when a group tour is organized, the clauses of travel accident insurance should be clearly listed.

The clauses of travel accident insurance should include the following items:

i. insurance premium;

ii. insured sum;

iii. the proportion of compensations negotiated between the travel agency and insurance company for travel accidents.

Article 11   All the procedures of travel accident insurance  should be completed by the organizing travel agency, and the receiving travel agency will not repeat the procedures.

Article 12   Travel agencies which organize group tours should sign the Travel Accident Insurance Contract with insurance companies in accordance with the content of the insurance contract formulated in the Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 13   Travel agencies can take out travel accident insurance with insurance companies in the following ways:

i. take out insurance with insurance companies each time a group tour is organized;

ii. take out one-year insurance with insurance companies on the basis of the number of tourists organized in the previous year.

Article 14   Travel agencies and insurance companies should agree on and state the period of validity of the claim for compensation in the insurance clauses. The general limit is 180 days since the accident occurs.

Article 15   Travel agencies should purchase travel accident insurance for the tour guide or the leader of a tour group providing services for tourists on the behalf of the travel agency.

Article 16   Travel agencies' sale prices should include the premium of travel accident insurance, and this premium can be separately listed.

Article 17   When a covered accident occurs within the period of validity, travel agencies should timely get valid documents from public security department/medical care department/insurance companies or their branch companies where the accident occurs. The organizing travel agency should settle the compensation with the insurance company.

Compensation for tourists' loss of minor luggage or other belongings should be agreed on and stated in the insurance clauses by travel agencies and insurance companies. Compensation for a loss lower than the stated sum can be advanced by travel agencies to tourists, and travel agencies should settle the compensation procedures with insurance companies by the application for compensation and the certification of loss.

Chapter V  Supervision of Tourism

Article 18   In accordance with relevant provisions in the Regulations on the Administration of Tourist Agencies, the tourism administration departments of governments above county level should exercise supervision and inspection of travel agencies' handling of travel accident insurance, and should include the insurance and compensation for tourist accidents in the yearly inspection of travel agencies.

Article 19   Travel agencies should duly keep all the information on insurance applications and claims of tourist accidents, and accept the inspection of tourism administrations. When a case of compensation occurs, the travel agency should timely report about the compensation to local tourism administrations to be kept on record.

Article 20   Travel agencies should purchase insurance from companies with good credit, a broad service network and no records of bad management.

Chapter VI  Penalty Provisions

Article 21   Those that violate the stipulations in Article 4 of the Regulations by not purchasing travel accident insurance  for their tourists, shall be ordered by tourism administrations to make corrections within prescribed periods of time; their unlawful incomes shall be confiscated if there is any. Those that fail to make corrections within the prescribed periods of time shall be ordered to close businesses for rectification for 15 to 30 days, and a fine of between 5,000 to 20,000 RMB may be imposed. The Licence for Operating Business of Travel Agency may also be revoked for those that get involved in serious cases.

Article 22   Those that violate the stipulations in Article 7 of the Regulations by insuring less than the basic standards against travel accidents, or violate the stipulations in Article 15 by not purchasing travel accident insurance for the tour guide or leader of a tour group whom they appoint to provide services for tourists, shall be ordered to make corrections by tourism administrations within the prescribed period of time and given a warning; those that fail to make corrections accordinglyshall be imposed a fine of between 5,000 to 10,000 RMB.

Article 23   Those that violate the stipulations in Article 18 or 19 of the Regulations by refusing to accept the administration, supervision and inspection from the tourism administration department, shall be ordered by tourism administrations to make corrections within the prescribed periods of time and given a warning as punishment; if they fail to make corrections accordingly, they shall be ordered to close businesses for rectification for 3 to 15 days, and a fine of between 3,000 to 10,000 RMB may also be imposed.

Article 24   Those that do not submit to the administrative penalties imposed by the tourism administration department can apply for reconsideration to the government at the same level as the penalty-giving tourism administration department or to a tourism administration department of a higher level within 15 days since the penalty is imposed. They can also directly appeal to the People's Court. If they still refuse to submit to the reconsideration decision of higher tourism administration department, they can appeal to the People's Court within 15 days since the reception of the notice of reconsideration decision. If they do not apply for reconsideration, or appeal, or pay the penalty in the given period, the tourism administration department that makes the penalty decision will impose mandatory enforcement of penalty.

Chapter VII  Additional Provisions

Article 25   The National Tourism Administration shall be responsible for the interpretation of the Regulations.

Article 26   These Regulations shall come into force on September 1st, 1997.