The Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, September 28 to convene the 31st session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from October 19 to 23. The session’s tentative agenda includes fourteen bills. A quick rundown follows.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Antitrust, Telecom Fraud, Agriculture, Local Governance, Reform Pilots & More”NPC Calendar: September 2021
The following laws take effect on September 1:
- Urban Construction and Maintenance Tax Law [城市建设维护税法] (adopted Aug. 1, 2020);
- Deed Tax Law [契税法] (adopted Aug. 11, 2020);
- revised Maritime Traffic Safety Law [海上交通安全法] (adopted Apr. 29, 2021);
- amendment to the Workplace Safety Law [安全生产法] (adopted June 10, 2021); and
- Data Security Law [数据安全法] (adopted June 10, 2021).
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comments on the following bills through September 18:
- draft Anti–Organized Crime Law [反有组织犯罪法];
- draft Family Education Promotion Law [家庭教育促进法];
- draft Land Borders Law [陆地国界法];
- draft revision to the Scientific and Technological Progress Law [科学技术进步法];
- draft Law on the Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution [噪声污染防治法]; and
- draft amendment to the Seed Law [种子法].
The NPCSC will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late October.
NPCSC Codifies Three-Child Policy, Expands Legal Aid & Updates Military Service Law and Physicians Law
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 30th session on Friday, August 20, with the adoption of seven bills. The headline item was, of course, the new Personal Information Protection Law [个人信息保护法], China’s first comprehensive national data privacy legislation. We decided not to add to the already extensive global coverage of that Law—see, for instance, the excellent analysis by the Stanford DigiChina Project—but will focus on the other bills that are no less important.
Continue reading “NPCSC Codifies Three-Child Policy, Expands Legal Aid & Updates Military Service Law and Physicians Law”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Bills on Organized Crime, Family Education, Land Borders, Innovation Policy, Noise Pollution & Plant Variety Protection
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following six bills through September 18, 2021:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Anti–Organized Crime Law (2nd Draft) 反有组织犯罪法二次审议稿 | PDF (English) | |
| Family Education Promotion Law (2nd Draft) 家庭教育促进法二次审议稿 | ||
| Land Borders Law (2nd Draft) 陆地国界法二次审议稿 | ||
| Scientific and Technological Progress Law (Draft Revision) 科学技术进步法修订草案 | ||
| Law on the Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution (Draft) (i.e., revision to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Noise Pollution) 噪音污染防治法草案 | ||
| Seed Law (Draft Amendment) 种子法修正草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese.
To submit comments online, please refer to this guide. Comments can also be mailed to the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission [全国人大常委会法制工作委员会] at the following address:
北京市西城区前门西大街1号 邮编: 100805
No. 1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805
Please clearly write “<Draft Name in Chinese>征求意见” on the envelope.
NPC Calendar: August 2021
The revised Military Facilities Protection Law [军事设施保护法] and the Law on the Protection of the Status, Rights, and Interests of Military Personnel [军人地位和权益保障法] take effect on August 1.
The 13th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its 30th session from August 17 to 20. It will review the following bills:
- draft Personal Information Protection Law [个人信息保护法];
- draft Supervision Officials Law [监察官法];
- draft Legal Aid Law [法律援助法];
- draft Physicians Law [医师法];
- draft revision to the Military Service Law [兵役法];
- draft Anti–Organized Crime Law [反有组织犯罪法];
- draft Family Education Law [家庭教育法];
- draft Land Borders Law [陆地国界法];
- draft amendment to the Population and Family Planning Law [人口与计划生育法];
- draft revision to the Scientific and Technological Progress Law [科学技术进步法];
- draft revision to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Noise Pollution [环境噪声污染防治法];
- draft amendment to the Seed Law [种子法];
- draft decisions to add one or more national laws to Annexes III to the Hong Kong and Macau Basic Laws; and
- draft decision authorizing pilot projects to reform the tier-based adjudicatory functions of China’s four tiers of courts.
For more information, please see this post.
NPCSC Session Watch: Three-Child Policy, Data Privacy, Innovation Policy, Court Reform & New National Law in Hong Kong & Macau
The Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, July 27 to convene the 30th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from August 17 to 20. The session’s tentative agenda includes fifteen bills. A quick rundown follows.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Three-Child Policy, Data Privacy, Innovation Policy, Court Reform & New National Law in Hong Kong & Macau”NPC Calendar: July 2021
A decision of the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) suspending certain statutory provisions in China’s free trade zones as part of a regulatory reform pilot (briefly discussed here) takes effect on July 1. The revised Administrative Penalties Law [行政处罚法] takes effect on July 15.
The NPCSC is soliciting public comments on the following bills through July 9:
- draft Physicians Law [医师法];
- draft Legal Aid Law [法律援助法];
- draft revision to the Vocational Education Law [职业教育法]; and
- draft amendment to the Audit Law [审计法].
The NPCSC will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late August.
NPCSC Grants Broader Legislative Powers to Shanghai & Hainan, Widens Scope of Public Interest Litigation by Procuratorates
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded another busy session on Thursday, June 10 with the adoption of eight bills. Two of them—the Anti–Foreign Sanctions Law [反外国制裁法] and the Data Security Law [数据安全法]—have already received worldwide attention and are sure to generate additional commentary in the days and weeks to come. Rather than adding duplicative coverage (beyond our Twitter thread on the sanctions law), we will try something new in this post-session recap. We will steer clear of the two blockbuster bills and will instead focus on two themes found in last week’s other legislation that may have escaped your attention.
Continue reading “NPCSC Grants Broader Legislative Powers to Shanghai & Hainan, Widens Scope of Public Interest Litigation by Procuratorates”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Legal Aid Law, Physicians Law, Vocational Education Law Revision & Audit Law Amendment
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following four bills through July 9, 2021:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Aid Law (2nd Draft) 法律援助法草案二次审议稿 | PDF (English) | |
| Physicians Law (2nd Draft) (i.e., revision to the Licensed Physicians Law) 医师法草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Vocational Education Law (Draft Revision) 职业教育法修订草案 | ||
| Audit Law (Draft Amendment) 审计法修正草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese.
To submit comments online, please refer to this guide. Comments can also be mailed to the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission [全国人大常委会法制工作委员会] at the following address:
北京市西城区前门西大街1号 邮编: 100805
No. 1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805
Please clearly write “<Draft Name in Chinese>征求意见” on the envelope.
Recording & Review: Removing the Vestiges of the One-Child Policy
China’s former one-child policy was “one of the most draconian examples of government social engineering ever seen.”[1] The policy was formally launched nationwide in 1980. In just a few years, however, central authorities decided to “open small holes” by allowing more couples to have a second child, after encountering difficulties in enforcing a uniform birth-control policy nationwide and a backlash against abusive enforcement measures, such as forced sterilizations.[2]
The provinces were tasked with implementing that partial relaxation of the one-child policy. All provincial legislatures (except those of Xinjiang and Tibet) had adopted provincial birth-control legislation by the early 1990s.[3] (Xinjiang eventually did so in 2002; Tibet still has not acted.) Such legislation translates the policy into concrete terms, specifying, among other things, exceptions to the one-child-per-couple rule[4] and the penalties for above-quota births. Couples who exceed birth limits would face not only hefty fines called “social upbringing fees” [社会抚养费], but also discipline at work—including mandatory termination in a number of provinces.
Continue reading “Recording & Review: Removing the Vestiges of the One-Child Policy”