UPDATE (Mar. 12, 2026): We updated this post in accordance with the Law’s final text. The original version is archived here.
On March 12, 2026, China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), approved the 15th Five-Year Plan (FYP), a roadmap for the nation’s socioeconomic development through 2030. Alongside it, the NPC also adopted the Law on National Development Plans (Law) [国家发展规划法]—the first statute to formalize the procedures for drafting, approving, and implementing FYPs.
Developed over seven decades, the planning process now operates under a mix of written authorities and long-standing customs. In 2018, the Communist Party and the State Council issued a joint opinion imposing a range of procedural and substantive requirements for drafting and implementing FYPs. In 2021, the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) overhauled its Decision on Strengthening the Oversight of Economic Work (Oversight Decision) [关于加强经济工作监督的决定]—which governs, among other things, legislative oversight of the planning process. Meanwhile, other features of the process, such as the Party’s quinquennial recommendations for formulating the next FYP, continue as a matter of practice.
The Law codifies that existing regime and regulates the entire lifecycle of an FYP: from drafting (Ch. II) to legislative review and approval (Ch. III), to implementation (Ch. IV) and related oversight activities (Ch. V). Most notably, the Law spells out the Party’s role throughout the planning process. While, unsurprisingly, it contains the now-standard language that national development planning must uphold the Party’s leadership (arts. 3, 5), the Law is the first Chinese statute to assign detailed roles to Party documents and institutions.
UPDATE (Mar. 3, 2026): In a new essay for the Brookings Institution’s John L. Thornton China Center, we further elaborated and commented on the Law’s Party provisions.
Below, we summarize the Law and the relevant provisions of the Oversight Decision that were not incorporated into it.
FYPs & China’s Planning System
What is colloquially known as the FYP—and what the Law defines as the “national development plan”—is formally titled the Outline of the Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the PRC [中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展五年规划纲要], including any long-range objectives it contains (art. 2, para. 2). (The 14th FYP, for example, includes such objectives through 2035.) For simplicity, we will continue referring to those documents as FYPs.
The document is an “outline” in the sense that it sets forth only “fairly broad” guidelines, which are then detailed and implemented by an evolving “web” of subplans over the five-year period. As the Law explains (art. 4, para. 1):
A national development plan is a stage-specific deployment and arrangement of the socialist modernization strategy during the planning period. It primarily articulates the nation’s strategic intentions, clarifies the government’s work priorities, and guides and regulates the conduct of social actors. It serves as the blueprint and program of action for economic and social development within the planning period; as an important basis for the government to perform functions such as economic regulation, market supervision, social governance, public services, and ecological and environmental protection; and as the overarching guideline for all other plans at various levels and of different types.
国家发展规划是社会主义现代化战略在规划期内的阶段性部署和安排，主要阐明国家战略意图、明确政府工作重点、引导规范社会主体行为，是规划期内经济社会发展的蓝图和行动纲领，是政府履行经济调节、市场监管、社会管理、公共服务、生态环境保护等职能的重要依据，是其他各级各类规划的总遵循。
The 2018 joint opinion mentioned earlier established a multi-level system of functionally differentiated plans. It consists of comprehensive “development plans” [发展规划], issue- or sector-specific “special plans” [专项规划], “regional plans” [区域规划] for cross-jurisdictional development, and “territorial spatial plans” [国土空间规划] focused on sustainable land use—each formulated at national and local levels.
Adopting the joint opinion’s language, the Law emphasizes that national FYPs sit at the top of the hierarchy and “command” [统领] all other plans, while reaffirming the goal of building a system in which the plans play clearly defined roles, serve complementary functions, and coordinate with one another (art. 4, para. 2). In particular, the Law requires that provincial draft five-year plans be submitted to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) for coordination with national FYPs before approval by provincial people’s congresses (art. 36, para. 1). Similarly, lower-level local five-year plans must be aligned with higher-level ones, while “highlighting local characteristics” (id. para. 2).
Drafting
The NDRC and other relevant agencies are responsible for drafting FYPs under the State Council’s overall leadership (art. 7).
Each FYP must be based on the corresponding Party recommendations and must include, among other things, an analysis of the development environment, main objectives and targets, as well as “major strategic tasks, policy measures, and construction projects” (arts. 7–8).
The Law requires drafters to follow various substantive principles. For example, they must address both domestic and international priorities, align longer-term goals with short-term ones, and plan comprehensively while prioritizing key areas (art. 9). They must also consider an array of factors, such as resource limits, environmental carrying capacity, fiscal affordability, and potential risks, and must compare alternative proposals for major targets and tasks (art. 11).
The Law, moreover, imposes several procedural obligations. It requires comprehensive, in-depth preliminary studies of the major structural and forward-looking issues in socioeconomic development, as well as of development conditions and trends (art. 10). It requires the government to improve public participation in drafting, in part by seeking comments from interested parties, including the general public (art. 12). Last fall, the NDRC conducted a two-week online public consultation and directly sought the views of key stakeholders and demographics, including private companies and foreign businesses. Finally, the Law requires the government to organize expert assessments of key issues and make full use of support from universities, research institutions, think tanks, and industry bodies (arts. 13–14).
Draft FYPs—along with assessment reports and other supporting materials—must be submitted to the Party leadership and the State Council for review (art. 15). The 14th FYP, for example, was successively greenlit by the Politburo Standing Committee, the State Council, and the full Politburo in just over a month in early 2021.
Legislative Review and Approval
The NPC exercises the sole constitutional authority to “review and approve” FYPs (art. 16, para. 1; accord PRC Const. art. 62(10)). That vote is, however, only the culmination of a longer process of legislative oversight over the making of FYPs—a process in which multiple subordinate NPC bodies, especially the NPCSC and the NPC Financial and Economic Affairs Committee (FEAC), are closely involved.
The Law codifies the NPCSC’s long-standing practice of mobilizing the NPC apparatus to conduct preparatory research for a new FYP “at an appropriate time” before NPC review, in parallel with the State Council’s own preliminary studies (art. 17). Such research typically concludes by the July before the start of a new planning period, and the resulting reports are forwarded to the Party leadership and State Council drafters for reference. For the 15th FYP, the NPC apparatus produced 26 reports, a public summary of which was delivered to the NPCSC in September 2025.
Before presenting a new FYP to the full NPC, the NDRC must first submit a draft to the FEAC for preliminary review (art. 18). Under the Oversight Decision, the NDRC must do so at least 45 days before the NPC convenes, provide the necessary explanatory materials, and address the FEAC’s comments following its review (arts. 3, 10–11). The Decision directs the FEAC to focus on, among other issues, whether the draft plan conforms to the Party’s directives and whether its concrete proposals align with China’s development realities and national strategies (art. 12).
While the NPC is in session, the State Council must provide lawmakers with supporting materials, including the final evaluation report for the previous FYP, in addition to the new FYP itself (art. 16, para. 2). The various delegations and NPC committees then discuss the draft, and their comments usually lead to minor revisions (art. 19, para. 1). Lastly, the FEAC issues an invariably favorable report on the draft FYP, recommending its adoption while offering recommendations for its implementation (id. para. 2).
Though China has not formally amended any NPC-approved FYP, the Law outlines the basic procedures for doing so. It authorizes the State Council to propose adjustments and, with the Party leadership’s permission, to submit them to the NPCSC for approval (art. 21, para. 1). The Oversight Decision contemplates adjustments when “major changes in domestic or international economic conditions” or “extraordinary” emergencies prevent completion of the plan as originally written (art. 16).
Implementation & Related Oversight
For every FYP, the NDRC must draw up an implementing plan (art. 22, para. 1). All levels and components of the bureaucracy must then arrange their work in accordance with those two documents (id. para. 2).
The Law emphasizes the FYPs’ role as overarching “blueprints” for economic and social development. Annual plans for economic and social development must set annual targets and priorities consistent with the applicable FYP, ensuring an overall balance across years (art. 23). Other national plans—territorial spatial, sectoral, and regional—must likewise conform to FYPs in terms of “principal objectives, development trajectory, overall layout, major strategic tasks, major policy measures, major construction projects, and risk prevention” (art. 24). The Law further requires macroeconomic policies, sectoral and regional policies, and the allocation of public resources, including central fiscal funding, to align with the FYPs and serve their implementation (arts. 25–27).
The national legislature and its subordinate bodies serve as the primary external overseers of FYP implementation (art. 29). The FEAC handles day-to-day oversight. For instance, the NDRC must “dynamically monitor and evaluate” FYP implementation (art. 28) and, under the Oversight Decision, submit the data it gathers to the FEAC (art. 13, para. 3).
The full NPCSC’s oversight revolves around hearing the State Council’s reports on mid-term evaluations of FYP implementation (art. 30, para. 1). On this issue, the Law incorporates most of the Oversight Decision’s pertinent provisions. It directs the State Council (through the NDRC) to evaluate an FYP’s implementation midway through the planning period—traditionally in the third year. In parallel, the FEAC must conduct its own assessment and report to the NPCSC (id. para. 4). The Law newly requires the State Council to obtain the Party’s approval before submitting its evaluation report to the NPCSC (id. para. 1).
Under the Oversight Decision, legislative review should focus on whether implementation has complied with the Party’s directives; whether progress toward key commitments, especially binding targets, has stayed on track; and whether the State Council’s report thoroughly diagnoses implementation problems, adequately explains any shortfalls, and proposes targeted and feasible policy measures (art. 14, para. 2). After legislative deliberations, the State Council must report back to the NPCSC on how it has addressed lawmakers’ comments and concerns (art. 30, para. 2).
The Law mandates public disclosure of the evaluation report, lawmakers’ views, and the State Council’s written response “in an appropriate manner” to enable public oversight (id. para. 3). Toward the end of a five-year cycle, the Law requires the State Council to organize a final evaluation (art. 31). Once approved by the Party, the resulting report will be submitted to the NPC along with the next draft FYP, initiating a new planning cycle (id.).