As we bid farewell to 2022, we look back at the National People’s Congress’s and our work in the past year.
Continue reading “Year in Review: The NPC and the Observer in 2022”Taige Hu
Taige Hu has been the deputy manager of NPC Observer since July 2019. He was a research assistant from August 2018 to June 2019. He holds an LL.M. degree from the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the City University of Hong Kong.
Explainer: NPCSC’s Interpretation of Hong Kong National Security Law over Jimmy Lai’s Foreign Defense Counsel
On December 30, China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), issued its inaugural interpretation (Interpretation) of the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR (HKNSL) [香港特别行政区维护国家安全法]. We have recently explained the events leading up to the Interpretation in detail here. In sum: Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, is facing criminal charges under Hong Kong’s local sedition law and the HKNSL. He decided to retain Timothy Owen, a renowned British barrister, for his defense. Owen is not admitted to the Hong Kong bar, but the trial court allowed him to represent Lai on an ad hoc basis. After having failed to have the trial court’s decision reversed on appeal, the Hong Kong government turned to the NPCSC, which has the ultimate authority to interpret the HKNSL.
John Lee, Hong Kong’s leader, requested the NPCSC to answer this open-ended question: “Based on the legislative intent and objectives of the [HKNSL], can an overseas solicitor or barrister who is not qualified to practise generally in Hong Kong participate by any means in the handling of work in cases concerning offence endangering national security?” His request, notably, did not identify any specific HKNSL provision that needs clarification.
Contrary to what many had expected, the NPCSC exercised restraint in responding to Lee’s request. It did not directly ban foreign lawyers from participating in national security cases; in fact, it altogether punted on the question presented. The Interpretation instead clarifies that the HKNSL has already given the Hong Kong government adequate tools to resolve the issue. The ball is now back in the latter’s court.
Below, we explain Friday’s Interpretation and offer some preliminary thoughts on its implications in Q&A format.
Continue reading “Explainer: NPCSC’s Interpretation of Hong Kong National Security Law over Jimmy Lai’s Foreign Defense Counsel”NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 13 Bills: Foreign Sovereign Immunity, Foreign Relations, Counterespionage, Lawmaking Reform, Charity Regulation, Financial Stability, Foreign-Related Litigation & More
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following 13 bills through January 28, 2023:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Legislation Law (2nd Draft Amendment) 立法法修正草案二次审议稿 | PDF · Δ (English Δ) | |
| Company Law (2nd Draft Revision) 公司法修订草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Counterespionage Law (2nd Draft Revision) 反间谍法修订草案二次审议稿 | PDF · Δ ($ English) | |
| Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law (2nd Draft) 青藏高原生态保护法草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Marine Environmental Protection Law (Draft Revision) 海洋环境保护法修订草案 | ||
| Rural Collective Economic Organizations Law (Draft) 农村集体经济组织法草案 | ||
| Charity Law (Draft Revision) 慈善法修订草案 | PDF · Δ ($ English) | |
| Value-Added Tax Law (Draft) 增值税法草案 | PDF Δ | |
| Financial Stability Law (Draft) 金融稳定法草案 | ||
| Foreign Sovereign Immunity Law (Draft) 外国国家豁免法草案 | PDF ($ English) | |
| Civil Procedure Law (Draft Amendment) 民事诉讼法修正草案 | PDF · Δ | |
| Administrative Litigation Law (Draft Amendment) 行政诉讼法修正草案 | PDF · Δ | |
| Foreign Relations Law (Draft) 对外关系法草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese and compiled in a single PDF; the links above will take you to the corresponding pages in the PDF only if you are using a desktop browser (this does not work on a phone or a tablet).
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on 13 Bills: Foreign Sovereign Immunity, Foreign Relations, Counterespionage, Lawmaking Reform, Charity Regulation, Financial Stability, Foreign-Related Litigation & More”“Sweep Away Darkness, Eliminate Evil”: A Belated Overview of China’s First Organized Crime Law
In December 2021, the NPC Standing Committee adopted the Anti–Organized Crime Law (AOCL or Law) [反有组织犯罪法], China’s first statute dedicated to combatting organized crime. The Law has taken effect on May 1, 2022. It came at a time when the Communist Party’s three-year campaign to “clear out the underworld” (or saohei, short for “扫黑除恶,” literally “sweep away darkness and eliminate evil”) that began in 2018 was wrapping up and when central authorities were calling for the “normalization” of the saohei campaign.
China previously launched two similarly named special actions in the 2000s to “crack down on the underworld,” or dahei (short for “打黑除恶”). The difference in one character, however, gave the latest saohei campaign a broader scope. Rather than fight organize crime in a whack-a-mole fashion primarily to ensure public safety, saohei is “inherently political”: it is expressly aimed at solidifying the Party’s rule down to the lowest levels of governance. To that end, China’s national criminal justice authorities issued a series of guidance documents to broadly define “organized crime” and related concepts, call for whole-of-society efforts to prevent organized crime, set forth special criminal procedures and powers, and penalize corrupt officials who enable such criminal activities.
The AOCL is a key tool to “normalize” the saohei campaign. It was enacted in part to “safeguard national security, social order, and economic order,” and incorporated many of the measures contained in the guidance documents. As saohei will remain part of the Party’s social governance program for at least the next five years, below we take a belated look at the AOCL.
Continue reading ““Sweep Away Darkness, Eliminate Evil”: A Belated Overview of China’s First Organized Crime Law”Explainer: Hong Kong Government’s Request for NPCSC Interpretation of National Security Law in Jimmy Lai Case
Editor’s Note (Dec. 30, 2022): The NPCSC on Friday, December 30 issued an interpretation of articles 14 and 47 of the Hong Kong National Security Law. Our explainer is available here.
Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and media tycoon, has been indicted on four national security charges and was scheduled to stand trial on Thursday. (The government has asked the court to postpone the trial in light of the development discussed below.) He is being accused of violating Hong Kong’s seditious publications law and of conspiring to “collude with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security” under the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong SAR (NSL) [香港特别行政区维护国家安全法].
Recently, Lai retained Timothy Owen, an experienced British barrister, to lead his defense team. Owen, as one Hong Kong court recognized, is a “renowned specialist in criminal, public and human rights law, with substantial experience in cases concerning national security and freedom of speech.” He has appeared before Hong Kong courts in the past but is not admitted to the Hong Kong bar. Over the Hong Kong government’s objection, the Court of First Instance allowed Owen to represent Lai on an ad hoc basis. After having suffered a streak of losses on appeal, the government on Monday decided to seek help from the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), which has the ultimate authority to interpret the NSL. Below, we will discuss the legal battle fought in Hong Kong courts, the government’s request for NPCSC intervention, and what to expect next.
Continue reading “Explainer: Hong Kong Government’s Request for NPCSC Interpretation of National Security Law in Jimmy Lai Case”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Bills on Lawmaking Reforms, Accessibility, Administrative Reconsideration & Military Reservists
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following four bills through November 29, 2022:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Legislation Law (Draft Amendment) 立法法修正草案 | PDF Δ (English) | |
| Barrier-Free Environments Development Law (Draft) 无障碍环境建设法草案 | ||
| Administrative Reconsideration Law (Draft Revision) 行政复议法修订草案 | PDF Δ | |
| Reservists Law (Draft) 预备役人员法草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese.
To submit comments 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
No. 1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805
Please clearly write “<Draft Name in Chinese>征求意见” on the envelope.
Update (Oct. 31, 2022): A prior version of this post noted that the NPCSC’s online public consultation system was requiring users to provide a name. That requirement no longer exists.
NPCSC Session Watch: Women’s Rights, Accessibility, Administrative & Lawmaking Reforms, Military Reservists & More
The Council of Chairpersons decided on Thursday, October 13 to convene the 37th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from October 26 to 30, shortly after the Communist Party’s upcoming 20th National Congress (to open on October 16) closes. Seven bills are on the tentative agenda, which we preview below.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Women’s Rights, Accessibility, Administrative & Lawmaking Reforms, Military Reservists & More”Recording & Review: Ensuring Single Women’s Equal Access to Maternity Insurance (Updated)
UPDATE (Nov. 8, 2022): We have posted a full English translation of Prof. Liang’s request for review.
Maternity insurance [生育保险] is one of the five programs that make up China’s social insurance system. Funded by employer contributions, maternity insurance reimburses women for pregnancy- and childbirth-related medical expenses and offers them a source of income during maternity leave. In all provinces except Guangdong, however, single women have been ineligible for maternity insurance benefits. Local legislation requires claimants to provide their marriage license or some other government-issued document available only to married couples, in effect barring single women from obtaining the benefits. In a legal battle that spanned four years, Zou Xiaoqi, a single mother from Shanghai, repeatedly challenged the city’s discriminatory policy in court but ultimately to no avail. (In late 2020, Shanghai suddenly dropped the marriage requirement, but reversed course just a few months later.)
Continue reading “Recording & Review: Ensuring Single Women’s Equal Access to Maternity Insurance (Updated)”Legislation Summary: China’s New Law to Fight Telecom and Internet Fraud
Telecom and online fraud has grown rampant in China in the past decade. According to the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), scammers have defrauded victims of more than 35 billion RMB (~5 billion USD) in 2020 alone. In 2021, public security organs nationwide cracked over 394,000 cases of telecom and online fraud and arrested over 630,000 suspects. Meanwhile, the crime of aiding criminal activities on information networks (including telecom and online fraud) has become the third most-prosecuted crime in China, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) recently disclosed.
At the same time, fraudsters continue to upgrade their tactics and operations. They take advantage of new technologies to reach more potential victims and to evade prosecution. Relying on leaked or stolen sensitive personal information, they also target susceptible victims with precision by impersonating police officers and other government officials or by exploiting the victim’s personal circumstances. As domestic crackdown intensifies, many scammers have moved their operations overseas to regions such as northern Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. According to the SPC, as of mid-2021, more than 60% of telecom- and online-fraud cases now originate from overseas “hotspots.”
Since 2020, national criminal justice authorities, telecom regulator, and the central bank have launched multiple joint operations to crack down on the illegal trade in SIM cards as well as bank cards and other payment accounts. The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has also worked with immigration authorities to break up rings that smuggle people overseas to become scammers. In addition, the SPC, SPP, and MPS have released two joint opinions to clarify the application of related crimes and criminal procedural rules in telecom- and online-fraud cases.
The new Law Against Telecom and Online Fraud [反电信网络诈骗法], adopted by the NPC Standing Committee on September 2, is the latest official action to tackle such crimes. It supplements criminal statutes by prescribing administrative punishments for those who organize or otherwise directly participate in less serious cases of telecom and online fraud (art. 38, para. 2). The bulk of its provisions, however, focus on preventing such fraud from occurring in the first place. Below we take a close look at this new law.
Continue reading “Legislation Summary: China’s New Law to Fight Telecom and Internet Fraud”NPCSC Amends Anti-Monopoly Law, Revises Sports Law & Adopts New Law to Protect Black Soil
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 35th session on Friday, June 24, with the approval of four bills: amendments to the Anti-Monopoly Law [反垄断法] and the NPCSC Rules of Procedure [全国人民代表大会常务委员会议事规则], a revised Sports Law [体育法], and a new Black Soil Protection Law [黑土地保护法]. Below, we will first briefly discuss the Anti-Monopoly Law amendment before focusing on the new Sports Law and Black Soil Protection Law. We will leave the NPCSC’s updated procedural rules for a separate post.
Continue reading “NPCSC Amends Anti-Monopoly Law, Revises Sports Law & Adopts New Law to Protect Black Soil”