NPC Calendar: December 2023

December 4 is China’s 10th National Constitution Day [国家宪法日].

The 14th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its 7th session in late December. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-December to decide on the agenda and dates of the session. The session is expected to review the draft revision to the State Council Organic Law [国务院组织法] and is scheduled to review the following bills according to the NPCSC’s 2023 legislative work plan:

The session is also likely to review one or more of the following bills:

Finally, the session will hear the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission’s annual report on “recording and review” [备案审查] and is expected to adopt a decision on “improving and strengthening the system of recording and review.”

Update (Dec. 1, 2023): This post was updated to include the draft Mineral Resources Law revision as a possible bill for review after it was approved “in principle” by the executive meeting of the State Council on December 1.

NPC Calendar: November 2023

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comment on the following bills through November 23:

The NPCSC will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late December.

NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 6 Bills: State Secrets, State Council Operation, Food Security, Charity Regulation, Infectious Disease Control & Cultural Relics Protection

For an overview of key proposed changes to the Charity Law and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, please see this issue of our newsletter.

China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), is soliciting public comment on the following six bills through November 23, 2023. The NPCSC also reviewed a draft Tariff Law [关税法] at its latest session, but did not release it for public comment today.

Draft NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Law on Ensuring Food Security (2nd Draft)
粮食安全保障法草案二次审议稿
PDFPDF
Charity Law (Draft Amendment)
慈善法修正草案
PDF Δ
(English)
PDF
 State Council Organic Law (Draft Revision)
国务院组织法修订草案
PDF Δ
(English)
PDF
Law on Guarding State Secrets (Draft Revision)
保守国家秘密法修订草案
PDF Δ
(English)
PDF
Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Draft Revision)
传染病防治法修订草案
PDF ΔPDF
Cultural Relics Protection Law (Draft Revision)
文物保护法修订草案
PDF ΔPDF

English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese and compiled in a single PDF; the links above will take you to the corresponding pages in the PDF only if you use a desktop browser—this does not work on a phone or a tablet.

Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 6 Bills: State Secrets, State Council Operation, Food Security, Charity Regulation, Infectious Disease Control & Cultural Relics Protection”

NPCSC Session Watch: Patriotic Education, State Council’s Governing Statute, State Secrets, Defense Minister Replacement & Legislative Aftermath of Covid-19

UPDATE (Oct. 24, 2023): On October 24, the NPCSC approved a revision to the Marine Environmental Protection Law and passed the Patriotic Education Law. Both will take effect on January 1, 2024.

In addition, the NPCSC adopted a decision authorizing the State Council to allow local governments to issue bonds within 60% of their annual new bond quotas before the NPC approves their annual debt ceilings for the next five years. It also approved an adjustment to the 2023 central government budget, authorizing the issuance of RMB 1 trillion of special treasury bonds for post-disaster reconstruction and related projects.

Finally, the NPCSC decided to remove Li Shangfu as defense minister, state councilor, and member of the Central Military Commission. It also removed Qin Gang from his state councilor position, after having removed him as foreign minister in July.

Before getting to the news, a note on our new link-archiving policy: After the NPC website’s recent URL change had created an acute link-rot problem for us, we announced a plan to deal with this particular incident and to prevent link rot going forward. One big change you will likely notice is that, with some exceptions, online sources subject to mainland China’s censorship regime (including all government websites) will be archived using perma.cc. Those visiting from mainland China should be aware, however, that perma.cc is blocked by the Great Fire Wall.

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its sixth session from October 20 to 24, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Friday, October 13. The session will tentatively discuss ten legislative bills, in addition to a potential motion to replace China’s current defense minister. We preview these agenda items below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Patriotic Education, State Council’s Governing Statute, State Secrets, Defense Minister Replacement & Legislative Aftermath of Covid-19”

NPC Calendar: October 2023

The 14th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its 6th session in late October. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-October to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

The session may review one or more following bills:

It is also expected to consider one or more bills scheduled for an initial review this year by the NPCSC’s 2023 legislative work plan.

Understanding Chinese Legislature’s New Five-Year Legislative Plan: Part I

On September 7, China’s national legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), released its five-year legislative plan (Plan or New Plan), setting the contours of its legislation through 2028. As a refresher, the Plan includes 79 top-priority projects in Category I, 51 lower-priority projects in Category II, and about a dozen topics for potential legislation in Category III. Starting with this post, we will take a close look at the Plan in a two-part analysis. Below, we will first discuss the principles of agenda-setting embodied in the Plan (and the relevant legislative tasks), then examine the fate of the uncompleted projects in the 13th NPCSC’s five-year legislative plan (Old Plan), and finally look at the areas of law that are featured prominently in the New Plan. The second part will take a primarily quantitative approach and evaluate the same metrics we used to analyze the Old Plan several years ago.

Continue reading “Understanding Chinese Legislature’s New Five-Year Legislative Plan: Part I”

China to Allow Some Suits Against Foreign States: A Summary of the Foreign State Immunity Law

Photo by UN Climate Change under CC BY 2.0.

On September 1, 2023, China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), adopted the Foreign State Immunity Law (Law) [外国国家豁免法], which will take effect on January 1, 2024. The Law marks a historic change in China’s stance on foreign state immunity—a doctrine that shields states and their property from the jurisdiction of foreign courts—and brings China’s practice in line with international norms. In short, starting next year, foreign states will be subject to suit in China in certain circumstances as provided in the Law in which they currently enjoy immunity. Below, we for the most part offer only a straightforward summary of the Law, without attempting any critical or comparative analysis. For that, we recommend instead Prof. William Dodge’s twopart analysis of the Law’s December 2022 draft at Transnational Litigation Blog, which we drew on for our summary. Our English translation of the Law is available here and a chart comparing the Law’s two public versions here.

Continue reading “China to Allow Some Suits Against Foreign States: A Summary of the Foreign State Immunity Law”

Translation: Five-Year Legislative Plan of China’s National People’s Congress for 2023–2028

On Thursday, September 7, 2023, China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), released the five-year legislative plan for its current term ending in 2028. Since 1993, each NPCSC has adopted such a plan to outline and prioritize the legislative tasks during its five-year term. Those plans are important documents that require the approval of the Communist Party’s central leadership.

Continue reading “Translation: Five-Year Legislative Plan of China’s National People’s Congress for 2023–2028”

NPC Calendar: September 2023

Here is our twopart recap of NPC-related events in September 2023 at our monthly newsletter.

The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law [青藏高原生态保护法] (adopted on Apr. 26, 2023) and Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法] (adopted on June 28, 2023) take effect on September 1.

On September 1, the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC)—

The NPCSC is soliciting public comment on the following bills through September 30:

The 14th NPCSC may convene a quinquennial legislative work conference and release its five-year legislative plan some time this month.

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

NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 5 Bills: Public Security Violations, Company Regulation, VAT, Preschool Education & Academic Degrees

China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), is soliciting public comment on the following five bills through September 30, 2023:

Draft NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Company Law (3rd Draft Revision)
公司法修订草案三次审议稿
PDFPDF
Value-Added Tax Law (2nd Draft)
增值税法草案二次审议稿
PDFPDF
Preschool Education Law (Draft)
学前教育法草案
PDFPDF
Academic Degrees Law (Draft)
学位法草案
PDFPDF
Public Security Administrative Punishments Law (Draft Revision)
治安管理处罚法修订草案
PDF
(English)
PDF

English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese and compiled in a single PDF; the links above will take you to the corresponding pages in the PDF only if you use a desktop browser—this does not work on a phone or a tablet.

Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 5 Bills: Public Security Violations, Company Regulation, VAT, Preschool Education & Academic Degrees”