Month: July 2018

NPC Calendar: August 2018

August 1 is the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Anti-Monopoly Law (反垄断法).

The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is expected to convene for its fifth session later this month. The Council of Chairmen is expected to meet in mid-August to decide on the dates and agenda of the session.

The following draft laws have been tentatively scheduled for this upcoming session according to the NPCSC’s 2018 legislative plan:

It is possible that the draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law (刑事诉讼法) would be submitted for another round of deliberation as well.

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Draft Amendment to Individual Income Tax Law Facing Resistance in NPCSC

In his 2018 Government Work Report, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to “raise the [individual] income tax threshold and create expense deductions for items like children’s education and treatment for serious diseases.” Fulfillment of this promise primarily falls on the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), which managed to draft an amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law and submitted it to the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) in under three months. But the bill did not fare particularly well in the NPCSC. According to reports by Caixin and the Legal Daily, legislators questioned certain main provisions of the draft amendment during group deliberations. Before turning to their opinions, we will first introduce the main content of the draft amendment below.

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