China’s national legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will meet for its twenty-first session, its second meeting this month, from February 25 to 26, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, February 10.
A key task of this two-day meeting is to prepare for the NPC’s 2026 plenary session, scheduled to open to March 5. Among other documents, the NPCSC will discuss its annual work report and propose an itemized agenda for the NPC session.
According to the readout of the Council’s meeting, the NPCSC will submit to the NPC a report on its recent “cleanup” of national legislation and its recommended dispositions for the certain “laws and decisions” enacted by the NPC. The legislation “cleanup” refers to the effort spearheaded by the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Commission in 2025 to systematically review existing national legislation to identify obsolete or inconsistent provisions. In December, the Commission reported its findings and recommendations to the NPCSC. While the Commission’s report remains unavailable to the public, and the cleanup’s full implications unclear, the NPCSC took an initial step to implement those recommendations on December 27 by confirming that 104 instruments enacted between 1955 and 2021 had lapsed. It also disclosed that it would request the NPC to address 35 of the latter’s enactments that would warrant similar treatment. We expect the NPC to act on the NPCSC’s forthcoming report during its annual session next month.
In addition, the NPCSC will review three legislative bills at its upcoming session.
The draft Social Assistance Law [社会救助法] returns for a second review. Although it could pass later this month, we believe it more likely that it will undergo a third and final review.
The State Council submitted two new bills for review:
- Draft amendment to the Certified Public Accountants Law [注册会计师法]. This Law was originally enacted in 1993 and has not been meaningfully updated since. The State Council has twice sought public comment on proposed changes over the past 15 years. The more recent draft from 2021, styled as a comprehensive revision, would tighten routine supervision; create a special regulatory regime for the audits of “specified entities,” including publicly traded companies; simplify market entry for accounting firms; increase penalties for violations; and clarify the rules governing cross-border audits. The latest draft greenlit by the State Council in November 2025 is styled as an amendment, however, indicating it would make less extensive changes than the 2021 draft. We expect the draft amendment to pass after two or three reviews.
- Draft National Fire and Rescue Personnel Law [国家消防救援人员法]. The China Fire and Rescue Force is China’s primary firefighting and emergency rescue force and is overseen by the National Fire and Rescue Administration under the Ministry of Emergency Management. It resulted from the 2018 transfer to civilian control of the Ministry of Public Security’s paramilitary China Fire Services and the People’s Armed Police Forestry Corps and the subsequent consolidation of the two forces. The Law is expected to specify the Force’s duties, disciplinary rules, personnel management, and the benefits and protections for its members. We expect it to pass after two reviews.