NPC Calendar: March 2025

Here is our recap of NPC-related events in March 2025 at our monthly newsletter.

The revised Cultural Relics Protection Law [文物保护法] (adopted on Nov. 8, 2024) takes effect on March 1.

China’s 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene for its third session on Wednesday, March 5. The session’s tentative agenda includes the 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 a report on the implementation of the 2024 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the draft 2025 Plan for National Economic and Social Development; and review the draft 2025 Plan for National Economic and Social Development;
  • Review a report on the execution of the 2024 Central and Local Budgets and on the draft 2025 Central and Local Budgets; and review the draft 2025 Central and Local Budgets; and
  • Deliberate 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].

On March 4, the NPC session will convene for a preparatory meeting to select members of the Presidium (an ad hoc body of around 180 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. Shortly thereafter the session is expected to hold its first press conference.

The NPC’s 2025 session will likely close on March 11, based on a recent notice from the Beijing police on controlling the use of certain low-flying aircraft during the event. All reports and bills submitted for review are expected to be approved on the last day.

Chinese Legislature Seeks Public Comment on Draft Revision to Civil Aviation Law

China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), is soliciting public comment on a draft revision to the Civil Aviation Law [民用航空法] through March 26, 2025. The draft is available in PDF here and an explanatory document here. An English translation will be provided if and when available.

The NPCSC also reviewed the second draft of the Private Economy Promotion Law [民营经济促进法] at this week’s session, but did not release it for public comment today. The legislature may be revising that draft based on lawmakers’ feedback this week and could release an updated version for public comment later. Or it may have decided to forego another round of public consultation in hopes of passing the law quickly. We will publish a separate post should a new draft become available.

To submit comment 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
1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805

Please clearly write “民用航空法修订草案征求意见” on the envelope.

NPCSC Session Watch: Private Sector Promotion, Civil Aviation & NPC Preparations

UPDATE (Feb. 21, 2025): According to the spokesperson’s office of the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission, the draft Private Economy Promotion Law will not pass at the upcoming session as we expected, but will instead undergo a third and final review “as soon as possible.”

An Air China plane parked in a Chinese airport
Photo by Nicholas Fu from Pexels

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its fourteenth session from February 24 to 25, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Monday, February 17.

As expected, this two-day meeting will primarily make preparations for the NPC’s 2025 session, scheduled to open on March 5. Besides discussing its annual work report to the NPC, the NPCSC will review a proposed itemized agenda for the 2025 NPC session, among other preparatory matters. While the agenda will not be finalized until March 4, the NPCSC already previewed all the agenda items last December: routine work reports, government budgets, China’s annual socioeconomic development plan, and a legislative bill.

The NPCSC will also review two pieces of legislation at its upcoming session.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Private Sector Promotion, Civil Aviation & NPC Preparations”