Month: February 2021

NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Stamp Tax Law

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comments on a draft Stamp Tax Law [印花税法] through March 29, 2021. The draft is available in PDF here and an explanatory document (in Chinese) here. An English translation will be provided if and when available.

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 “印花税法草案征求意见” on the envelope.

NPC Calendar: March 2021 (Updated)

The Criminal Law Amendment (XI) [刑法修正案（十一）] and the Yangtze River Protection Law [长江保护法] take effect on March 1.

The 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene for its fourth annual session on Friday, March 5. The session’s agenda has not yet been finalized, but we expect it to include following items:

  • Deliberate the Government Work Report;
  • Deliberate work reports by the NPC Standing Committee, the Supreme People’s Court, and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate;
  • Review the draft Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through 2035 [国民经济和社会发展第十四个五年规划和2035年远景目标纲要];
  • Review a report on the execution of the 2020 National Economic and Social Development Plan and on the draft 2021 National Economic and Social Development Plan; and review the draft 2021 National Economic and Social Development Plan;
  • Review a report on the execution of the 2020 Central and Local Budgets and on the draft 2021 Central and Local Budgets; and review the draft 2021 Central and Local Budgets;
  • Deliberate a draft amendment to the NPC Organic Law [全国人民代表大会组织法]; and
  • Deliberate a draft amendment to the NPC Rules of Procedure [全国人民代表大会议事规则].

On March 4, the NPC session will convene for a preparatory meeting to select members of the Presidium (an ad hoc body of around 170 members that will preside over the session) and to finalize the session’s agenda. The Presidium will then immediately meet to decide on the session’s daily schedule and designate a spokesperson, among other matters. Shortly thereafter the session is expected to hold its first press conference.

As reported by various media outlets (SCMP; WSJ; NYT; Reuters), the NPC is also expected to review a bill that would overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system. We expect the bill to be first announced at the press conference on March 4.

The NPC’s 2021 session is expected to last seven days, to close on March 11. All reports and bills submitted for review are expected to be approved that day.

Update (Feb. 28, 2021): The NPC Standing Committee is seeking public comments on a draft Stamp Tax Law [印花税法] through March 29, 2021.

NPC Launches Official Chinese Law Database: A Guide & Review

The National People’s Congress (NPC) on Wednesday, February 24 formally launched a database of Chinese legal authorities: the National Database of Laws and Regulations [国家法律法规数据库]. The Database has been years in the making. According to the Legal Daily, work on it started in November 2017 and was scheduled to complete by end of 2018. Yet it ended up taking a lot longer—and as we will discuss below, the Database still has had a bumpy start. In this post, we will introduce the types of legal authorities currently available in the Database. We will then discuss its three main functions: browsing, search, and download. And we will end with some concluding thoughts on the Database and look ahead to its future versions. The bottom line: the Database in its current form will not be our go-to platform for looking up Chinese legal documents.

Continue reading “NPC Launches Official Chinese Law Database: A Guide & Review” →

Demystifying the NPC’s Quasi-Legislative Decisions

As China’s supreme legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee (NPCSC) make “laws” [法律]—or “statutes,” as we will refer to them below. Statutes in the constitutional sense are legal authorities (1) approved by a majority vote in either legislative body and (2) then promulgated by the PRC President in a presidential order. They are most commonly titled “P.R.C. ××× Law” [中华人民共和国×××法]. Besides statutes, the legislature also routinely passes legal instruments styled as “decisions” [决定] (or occasionally “resolutions” [决议]).1 Earlier in the spotlight, for instance, was an NPCSC decision that disqualified four pro-democracy Hong Kong legislators. Or the NPC’s May 28, 2020 decision that led to the enactment of the Hong Kong National Security Law. What is the nature of these “decisions”? Are they any different from the statutes? If so, to what extent? As the legislature (the NPCSC, in particular) makes increasing use of decisions, we explore these questions below.

Continue reading “Demystifying the NPC’s Quasi-Legislative Decisions” →

NPCSC Session Watch: NPC Preparations, Stamp Duty & Mid-Term Report on Civil Litigation Reform Pilots (Updated)

UPDATE (Feb. 26, 2021): Various media outlets have recently reported that the NPC would deliberate a bill to overhaul Hong Kong’s electoral system at its upcoming March plenary session. We expect the NPCSC to conduct an initial review of this bill during its meeting on February 26–27, although it is likely that such activity would not be publicly disclosed.

The Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, February 9 convene the 26th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from February 27 to 28. The main purpose of this two-day meeting is to prepare for the upcoming NPC session, which is scheduled to open on March 5. The meeting will, for instance, propose an agenda for the NPC session and discuss the NPCSC’s annual work report to the NPC. The meeting will therefore review only one legislative bill and a few reports. We will briefly discuss the bill and highlight one report below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: NPC Preparations, Stamp Duty & Mid-Term Report on Civil Litigation Reform Pilots (Updated)” →