NPC Calendar: October 2022

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on a draft revision to the Wild Animals Protection Law [野生动物保护法] and on a draft Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law [青藏高原生态保护法] through October 1.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China opens on October 16; it will elect the 20th Central Committee. The day after the Party Congress closes, the new Central Committee will meet for its First Plenum to select members of the next Politburo (among other positions). The second- or third-ranking member of the new Politburo Standing Committee is expected to become the Chairperson of the 14th NPCSC next spring.

The 13th NPCSC is expected to convene for its 37th session shortly after October 23, when the First Plenum is expected to close. The Council of Chairpersons will likely meet immediately after the National Day holiday (ending on October 7) or after the final plenum of the outgoing 19th Central Committee (expected to end on October 12) to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

The session is expected to review the following bills:

It is also likely to review a draft revision to the Administrative Reconsideration Law [行政复议法]. The draft revision to the Company Law [公司法] and the draft Emergency Response and Management Law [突发事件应对管理法] may return for further review as well.

Recording & Review: Ensuring Single Women’s Equal Access to Maternity Insurance

Image by xiongwu from freepick

Maternity insurance [生育保险] is one of the five programs that make up China’s social insurance system. Funded by employer contributions, maternity insurance reimburses women for pregnancy- and childbirth-related medical expenses and offers them a source of income during maternity leave. In all provinces except Guangdong, however, single women have been ineligible for maternity insurance benefits. Local legislation requires claimants to provide their marriage license or some other government-issued document available only to married couples, in effect barring single women from obtaining the benefits. In a legal battle that spanned four years, Zou Xiaoqi, a single mother from Shanghai, repeatedly challenged the city’s discriminatory policy in court but ultimately to no avail. (In late 2020, Shanghai suddenly dropped the marriage requirement, but reversed course just a few months later.)

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Legislation Summary: China’s New Law to Fight Telecom and Internet Fraud

Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels

Telecom and online fraud has grown rampant in China in the past decade. According to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), scammers have defrauded victims of more than 35 billion RMB (~5 billion USD) in 2020 alone. In 2021, public security organs nationwide cracked over 394,000 cases of telecom and online fraud and arrested over 630,000 suspects. Meanwhile, the crime of aiding criminal activities on information networks (including telecom and online fraud) has become the third most-prosecuted crime in China, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) recently disclosed.

At the same time, fraudsters continue to upgrade their tactics and operations. They take advantage of new technologies to reach more potential victims and to evade prosecution. Relying on leaked or stolen sensitive personal information, they also target susceptible victims with precision by impersonating police officers and other government officials or by exploiting the victim’s personal circumstances. As domestic crackdown intensifies, many scammers have moved their operations overseas to regions such as northern Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. According to the SPC, as of mid-2021, more than 60% of telecom- and online-fraud cases now originate from overseas “hotspots.”

Since 2020, national criminal justice authorities, telecom regulator, and the central bank have launched multiple joint operations to crack down on the illegal trade in SIM cards as well as bank cards and other payment accounts. The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has also worked with immigration authorities to break up rings that smuggle people overseas to become scammers. In addition, the SPC, SPP, and MPS have released two joint opinions to clarify the application of related crimes and criminal procedural rules in telecom- and online-fraud cases.

The new Law Against Telecom and Online Fraud [反电信网络诈骗法], adopted by the NPC Standing Committee on September 2, is the latest official action to tackle such crimes. It supplements criminal statutes by prescribing administrative punishments for those who organize or otherwise directly participate in less serious cases of telecom and online fraud (art. 38, para. 2). The bulk of its provisions, however, focus on preventing such fraud from occurring in the first place. Below we take a close look at this new law.

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NPCSC Releases Wildlife and Tibetan Plateau Legislation for Public Comments, But Withholds Draft Counterespionage Law

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following bills through October 1, 2022:

Draft NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Wild Animals Protection Law (2nd Draft Revision)
野生动物保护法修订草案二次审议稿		PDF
(English)		PDF
Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law (Draft)
青藏高原生态保护法草案		PDFPDF

English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese. The NPCSC also reviewed a draft revision to the Counterespionage Law [反间谍法] at this week’s session, but did not release it for public comments today.

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NPC Calendar: September 2022

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is in session through September 2. It is reviewing the following bills:

The NPCSC is expected to solicit public comments on any of these bills that remains pending after the session closes.

It will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late October.