Article 32 of the Contract Law: "If the parties conclude a contract in the form of a contract, the contract is established when both parties sign or seal it."
Generally speaking, a contract is valid only if it meets the effective conditions stipulated by law, otherwise it will be invalid and may be sanctioned by law.
Legal evaluation of the agreement of the parties, as far as the validity of the contract is concerned, is based on the effective elements of the contract. A contract that meets the valid requirements shall be given legal effect according to the agreement of the parties, and a contract that does not meet the valid requirements shall be invalidated, revoked or the effect of which is to be determined according to different circumstances.
The effective elements of a contract are the evaluation criteria for the parties' agreement by law, so they should be distinguished from the establishment elements of a contract. According to Article 55 of the General Principles of Civil Law, the effective elements of a contract should include: the actor has corresponding capacity for civil conduct; Meaning is truth; Do not violate the law or public interests.
Some special contracts may have some special effective elements, such as contracts for foreign cooperation in oil exploration, which need the approval of relevant state departments before they can take effect.