NPC Calendar: April 2023

This post was updated on May 2, 2023. The original version is archived here.

The Yellow River Protection Law [黄河保护法] (adopted on Oct. 30, 2022) took effect on April 1.

On April 14, the Council of Chairpersons held a meeting where it—

decided to convene the second session of the 14^th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC);
approved the NPCSC’s 2023 plans on legislative, oversight, and delegates work, which so far have not been released; and
revised the Council’s rules of procedure, rules of procedure for the NPCSC Secretary-General’s meetings, measures for personnel appointments and removals by the NPCSC, working procedures for NPCSC sessions, and measures for Council members’ implementation of the Communist Party’s austerity rules—which are unlikely to be made public.

The 14^th NPCSC held its second session from April 24 to April 26. On April 26, it adopted—

the revised Counterespionage Law [反间谍法], which takes effect on July 1, 2023;
the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law [青藏高原生态保护法], which takes effect on September 1, 2023; and
the revised Code of Conduct for Constituent Members of the NPCSC [全国人民代表大会常务委员会组成人员守则], which took immediate effect.

The session also reviewed a draft Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法], on which the NPCSC began seeking public comment on April 26.

Finally, the session reviewed the State Council’s reports on the environmental conditions and fulfillment of environmental protection targets in 2022 and on work relating to overseas Chinese in the New Era; and appointed the constituent members of the 14^th NPCSC Delegate Credentials Committee.

On April 26, the 14^th NPCSC held four educational lectures for its constituent members on the following topics: