The NPC Standing Committee is now soliciting public comments on the following draft laws until December 1, 2018:
- draft amendment to the Drug Administration Law 药品管理法修正草案
- second draft amendment to the Rural Land Contracting Law 农村土地承包法修正案草案二次审议稿
- second draft of the Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law 基本医疗卫生与健康促进法草案二次审议稿
- draft revision to the Civil Servants Law 公务员法修订草案
All linked files are PDF documents in Chinese. English translations will be linked to if and when available. The accompanying explanations of these drafts can be read here (PDF).
Most notably, the draft revision to the Civil Servants Law seeks to strengthen the Communist Party’s control (or rather codify the Party’s already strengthened control) over China’s civil servants—a broad category that encompasses both those working in governmental bodies and also those working for political parties and other quasi-governmental entities (e.g., the CPPCC). The relevant new language includes:
- Hu Jintao’s Scientific Development Outlook and Xi Jinping’s tongue-twisting political theory are added to the list of guiding principles for the civil servant system (art. 4);
- To be eligible to serve as a civil servant, one must support the Party’s leadership and the socialist system (art. 12, item 3);
- It is a civil servant’s duty to “consciously accept” the Party’s leadership (art. 13, item 1);
- Those who have been expelled from the Party and have not been re-admitted must not be accepted as civil servants (art. 25, item 2);
- Civil servants are prohibited from disseminating messages that undermine the Party’s reputation and from organizing or participating in activities (e.g., protests) that oppose the Party (art. 59, item 1).
To submit comments online, please refer to these instructions. The “Occupations” [职业] dropdown menu for the draft Drug Administration Law amendment includes “personnel of drug developing, manufacturing, operating, and using units” [药品研制、生产、经营单位人员], “staff of drug administration and other relevant departments” [药品监督管理相关部门工作人员], and “other” [其他]; that for the draft Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law includes “staff of health, medical, and other competent departments” [医疗卫生等主管部门工作人员], “medical and health personnel” [医疗卫生人员], “drug developing, manufacturing, and operating personnel” [药品研发生产经营人员], and “other personnel” [其他人员]; and that for the draft Civil Servants Law revision includes “civil servants of central authorities” [中央机关公务员], “civil servants of provincial-level authorities” [省级机关公务员], “civil servants of prefectural-level authorities” [地市级机关公务员], “civil servants of authorities at or below the county level” [县级以下机关公务员], and “not civil servants” [非公务员].
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:
Chinese: 北京市西城区前门西大街1号 邮编：100805
English: No. 1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805
Please clearly write “[BILL NAME IN CHINESE]征求意见” on the envelope.
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