NPCSC Session Watch: Fiscal Stimulus(?), People’s Congress Reforms, Energy, Arbitration, Maritime Law & Sci-Tech Popularization

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UPDATE (Nov. 11, 2024): On November 8, the NPCSC adopted the Preschool Education Law (effective June 1, 2025) and the Energy Law (effective Jan. 1, 2025); revised the Cultural Relics Protection Law (effective Mar. 1, 2025), Mineral Resources Law (effective July 1, 2025), and Anti–Money Laundering Law (effective Jan. 1, 2025); and amended the Oversight Law (effective immediately). It also extended the pilot program to suspend two provisions of the Metrology Law in six cities for three years, and approved an increase in local government debt limits to repay hidden debt.

UPDATE (Nov. 4, 2024): According to the readout of the session’s opening meeting, the NPCSC is also reviewing a bill submitted by the State Council to “increase the local government debt limit to swap existing hidden debt,” which it is expected to approve on November 8. The NPCSC may be reviewing additional, as-yet undisclosed fiscal measures. In addition, the readout shows that the NPCSC is expected to approve the draft Oversight Law amendment at this session.

China’s top legislature, the 14^th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its twelfth session from November 4 to 8, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Friday, October 25. This session should have been held in late October, but has been postponed for reasons unknown. Two bills that the NPCSC recently discussed at its previous session—which was itself postponed—will return for further review, so the legislature might have needed additional time to prepare new drafts. Or the delay might have been necessary to place a highly anticipated stimulus package on the agenda, though the readout of the Council’s meeting disclosed no such bill. But that is not the end of the story, as we will explain shortly. According to the Council’s proposed agenda, the session will consider 11 legislative bills, which we also preview below.

Fiscal Stimulus?

At a press conference on October 12, officials from the Ministry of Finance previewed several fiscal measures aimed at stimulating China’s economy, without providing specific figures. Some measures, including the issuance of new special-purpose sovereign bonds and a one-time increase in the debt ceiling for local governments, would constitute adjustments to the central budget and therefore require legislative approval. The finance minister also hinted as much, explaining that the government would offer more details once it has “complied with the legally prescribed procedures.” The NPCSC’s upcoming meeting is thus one of the most closely watched in years.

True, Friday’s meeting readout did not mention any fiscal stimulus package. But that does not necessarily mean one is not forthcoming. Chinese law allows the NPCSC to delay the disclosure of selected agenda items until after they have been approved. Last October, for example, it approved, without prior notice, the issuance of special treasury bonds (and a corresponding budgetary amendment) to fund disaster relief efforts.

So, what to expect this time? Assuming a fiscal stimulus package has indeed been submitted for approval, its existence might be revealed in the official readout of the upcoming session’s opening meeting on November 4, when all bills will be explained to lawmakers. But the likelier scenario, in our view, would resemble what happened with last October’s fiscal move: the package won’t be revealed until after the NPCSC approves it on November 8, probably first on CCTV’s 7 p.m. Xinwen Lianbo program. And its details might not be released until later that evening.

Returning Bills

Six bills will return for further review.

The following five bills will undergo their third—and most likely final—review:

• draft Preschool Education Law [学前教育法];
• draft revision to the Cultural Relics Protection Law [文物保护法];
• draft revision to the Mineral Resources Law [矿产资源法];
• draft Energy Law [能源法]; and
• draft revision to the Anti–Money Laundering Law [反洗钱法].

The draft amendment to the Law on Oversight by the Standing Committees of People’s Congresses [各级人民代表大会常务委员会监督法] returns for its second review. We anticipate a third and final review in the near future.

New Bills

Four new bills have been submitted for review.

The Council of Chairpersons submitted a draft amendment to the Law on the Delegates to the National People’s Congress and Local People’s Congresses [全国人民代表大会和地方各级人民代表大会代表法]. This Law governs delegates’ rights and obligations, safeguards for the discharge of their duties, and accountability measures. It was last substantially amended in 2010. Since then and especially during Chairman Li Zhanshu’s tenure (2018–2023), the NPCSC has implemented a series of measures to improve support for the delegates. We expect the amendment to elevate some of those reforms into law. We also expect the NPCSC to conduct another review of the draft amendment in late December (or whenever it meets again) and submit it to the 2025 NPC session for a final review.

The State Council submitted the other four new bills:

• Draft revision to the Arbitration Law [仲裁法]. This Law, enacted in 1994, has not been meaningfully updated since. When releasing a prior draft for public comment in 2021, the Ministry of Justice identified various reasons for revising the Law: the Law does not apply to “new” types of disputes such as international investment; fails to reflect the latest developments in arbitration and judicial practice; includes inconsistent rules on judicial review; and does not align with international standards, to name a few. We expect the revision to undergo three reviews.
• Draft revision to the Maritime Law [海商法]. This Law, in short, provides a legal framework for maritime contracts (cargo or passenger transport, ship chartering, etc.) and maritime torts (collision of ships, pollution, etc.). It was enacted in 1994 and has never been amended. As the Ministry of Transport explained in 2018, the Law has lagged far behind developments not only in the shipping industry, but also in international maritime law and in China’s domestic civil and commercial law. We expect the revision to pass after three views.
• Draft revision to the Science and Technology Popularization Law [科学技术普及法]. Enacted in 2002, this Law governs governmental and societal efforts to “popularize sci-tech knowledge, advocate the scientific method, spread scientific thinking, and promote the scientific spirit.” A 2022 report by the NPCSC identified various issues with the Law’s enforcement, including poor coordination among responsible agencies, limited effectiveness and use of sci-tech popularization public services, and inadequate funding and talent support. The revision, based on a draft released by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2023, sought to address those issues. We expect the revision to pass after two or three reviews.
• Draft decision to extend the pilot program to suspend two provisions of the Metrology Law [计量法] in six cities. The NPCSC greenlit this program (zh | en) in October 2021. As we explained then, “[the two provisions at issue] require that a company’s internal ‘highest standard instruments of measurement’ [最高计量标准器具]—essentially the company’s most precise measurement standards that are used as references for calibration—be assessed by the weights and measures department and undergo compulsory calibration. Under the pilot, the companies in the six cities are allowed to manage such standards on their own, subject to other forms of regulatory oversight.” Perhaps because the upcoming NPCSC session has been delayed, the pilot was allowed to lapse on October 23, but it looks like it will resume soon enough. We expect the NPCSC to approve the renewal request on November 8.

The NPCSC will also hear several reports next month, including three reports by the State Council on, respectively, its financial work, management of state-owned assets, and efforts to develop “world-class universities and strong disciplines with Chinese features”; as well as reports by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on, respectively, the courts’ hearing of administrative cases and the procuratorates’ oversight of administrative litigation. For the full list of reports, please see this post.