NPC Standing Committee Releases 2021 Legislative Plan

On Wednesday, April 21, the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) released its legislative plan for 2021 (Plan). The Plan was preliminarily approved in November 2020 and finalized by the Council of Chairpersons on April 16. The NPCSC’s annual legislative plans serve two primary purposes: listing bills that are scheduled for review or research each year, and laying down guiding principles for all facets of the NPCSC’s annual legislative work. As usual, we will focus on the NPCSC’s 2021 legislative agenda below.

The Plan schedules 54 legislative projects for review in 2021, the largest batch ever included in a publicly available annual legislative plan. It continues two features first introduced in the 2020 legislative plan. First, it articulates a few policy goals the NPCSC seeks to achieve with this year’s legislation and lists the bills associated with each goal. This year’s main themes include government institutional reforms, economic reforms, rural revitalization, environmental protection, education, public health, national and public security, as well as military and national defense. Second, the Plan again does not assign the bills to be submitted for an initial review to particular NPCSC sessions, presumably to afford the NPCSC more flexibility in scheduling bills that are still being drafted.

As the Plan was first adopted in late 2020, it includes the following bills that have since been enacted:

• the amendment to the NPC Organic Law [全国人民代表大会组织法];
• the amendment to the NPC Rules of Procedure [全国人民代表大会议事规则];
• the revision to the Administrative Penalties Law [行政处罚法];
• the revision to the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law [动物防疫法];
• the Coast Guard Law [海警法];
• the Decision on Improving the Electoral System of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region [关于完善香港特别行政区选举制度的决定];
• the revision to Annex I to the Hong Kong Basic Law [香港特别行政区基本法附件一]; and
• the revision to Annex II to the Hong Kong Basic Law [香港特别行政区基本法附件二].

Seventeen other bills have also been submitted for deliberation as planned and are still pending:

• draft Legal Aid Law [法律援助法]
• draft Physicians Law [医师法];
• draft Wetlands Protection Law [湿地保护法];
• draft Family Education Law [家庭教育法];
• draft amendment to the Workplace Safety Law [安全生产法];
• draft amendment to the Education Law [教育法];
• draft Stamp Tax Law [印花税法];
• draft Rural Revitalization Promotion Law [乡村振兴促进法];
• draft Data Security Law [数据安全法];
• draft Personal Information Protection Law [个人信息保护法]
• draft Hainan Free Trade Port Law [海南自由贸易港法]
• draft Anti–Food Waste Law [反食品浪费法];
• draft Supervisors Law [监察官法];
• draft revision to the Maritime Traffic Safety Law [海上交通安全法];
• draft Law on the Protection of the Status, Rights, and Interests of Military Personnel [军人地位和权益保障法];
• draft Futures Law [期货法]; and
• draft Vocational Education Law [职业教育法].

The remaining four bills that were reviewed in 2020 will return for further review in 2021 according to the following schedule:

• June: draft revision to the Wild Animals Protection Law [野生动物保护法], draft revision to the Military Service Law [兵役法], and draft revision to the Military Facilities Protection Law [军事设施保护法].
• August: draft Anti–Organized Crime Law [反有组织犯罪法].

The NPCSC is scheduled to consider another 25 bills later this year:

• Amendments or revisions
  • State Council Organic Law [国务院组织法]
  • Organic Law of Local People’s Congresses at All Levels and Local People’s Governments at All Levels [地方各级人民代表大会和地方各级人民政府组织法]
  • NPCSC Rules of Procedure [全国人民代表大会常务委员会议事规则]
  • Anti-Monopoly Law [反垄断法]
  • Company Law [公司法]
  • Enterprise Bankruptcy Law [企业破产法]
  • Administrative Reconsideration Law [行政复议法]
  • Emergency Response Law [突发事件应对法]
  • Public Security Administrative Penalties Law [治安管理处罚法]
  • Scientific and Technological Progress Law [科学技术进步法]
  • Sports Law [体育法]
  • Audit Law [审计法]
  • Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases [传染病防治法]
  • Frontier Health and Quarantine Law [国境卫生检疫法]
  • Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Noise Pollution [环境噪声污染防治法]
  • Agricultural Products Quality Safety Law [农产品质量安全法]
  • Animal Husbandry Law [畜牧法]
  • Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law [妇女权益保障法]
• New laws
  • Public Health Emergency Response Law [突发公共卫生事件应对法]
  • Land Borders Law [陆地国界法]
  • Antarctic Activities and Environmental Protection Law [南极活动与环境保护法]
  • Cultural Industry Promotion Law [文化产业促进法]
  • Tariff Law [关税法] and other tax laws
  • Law on Ensuring Food Security [粮食安全保障法]
  • Social Assistance Law [社会救助法]

With two exceptions, all these projects have appeared in the 13^th NPCSC’s five-year legislative plan or its 2020 special public health legislative plan: the Public Health Emergency Response Law and updates to the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law. Xi Jinping first disclosed the plan to enact a Public Health Emergency Response Law in a June 2020 speech at a symposium on strengthening China’s public health system. It would likely supplement the Emergency Response Law, a general statute (planned for revision this year) that deals with natural disasters, accidents, and social unrests, in addition to public health crises. We have no further insights into the possible changes to the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law.

Consistent with a recent Communist Party policy document on legal reform, the Plan calls for “studying and initiating compilations of legal codes such as environmental code, education code, basic administrative code, and codifications of other areas of administrative law for which the conditions are ripe.”

Finally, the Plan concludes the NPCSC’s 2021 agenda with a list of “preparatory projects”: bills that will eventually be enacted, but for now are lower priority, so unlikely to come before the NPCSC in 2021 (bill pages are not always available for these projects):

• Amendments or revisions
  • Commercial Banks Law [商业银行法]
  • Insurance Law [保险法]
  • Law on the People’s Bank of China [中国人民银行法]
  • Anti–Money Laundering Law [反洗钱法]
  • People’s Police Law [人民警察法]
  • Prisons Law [监狱法]
  • Exit-Entry Animals and Plants Quarantine Law [进出境动植物检疫法]
  • Railway Law [铁路法]
  • Law on the Oversight by the Standing Committees of People’s Congresses at All Levels [各级人民代表大会常务委员会监督法]
  • Trade Unions Law [工会法]
• New laws
  • Preschool Education Law [学前教育法]
  • Pharmacists Law [药师法]
  • Telecommunications Law [电信法]
  • Energy Law [能源法]
  • Atomic Energy Law [原子能法]
  • Lotteries Law [彩票法]
  • Healthcare Security Law [医疗保障法]
  • Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law [危险化学品安全法]
  • Civil Compulsory Enforcement Law [民事强制执行法]

Untitled projects on preventing and combatting online crime and protecting the Yellow River are also listed as preparatory projects for 2021. (For the latter, the authorities appear to have settled on the title Yellow River Protection Law [黄河保护法].)