The Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, January 12 to convene the 25th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from January 20 to 22. The NPCSC used to hold regular bimonthly sessions in even-numbered months, but it seems to have abandoned that routine, after the Communist Party’s recent Five-Year Plan on Building the Rule of Law in China directed the standing committees of people’s congresses to meet more frequently. Ten legislative bills are on the upcoming NPCSC session’s tentative agenda. A quick rundown follows.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Public Health, Coast Guard, Legal Aid, Wetlands Protection, Education & Workplace Safety”Taige Hu
Communist Party Releases New Set of NPC-Related Reform Goals in First Five-Year Plan on Building Rule of Law in China
On Sunday, January 10, 2021, the Communist Party releases China’s first Plan on Building the Rule of Law in China [法治中国建设规划], for the years 2020 to 2025. According to an unnamed Party official interviewed by Xinhua, the Plan was approved by two top Party institutions: the Central Commission for Overall Law-Based Governance and the Politburo Standing Committee. The Plan is a comprehensive document addressing all aspects of China’s legal reform. Not only does it restate and refine reform objectives laid down since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, it also includes new reform goals. Below, we will focus on four subsections of the Plan that set forth new reform goals relating to the NPC. We will translate the relevant parts of those subsections and supplement with our comments.
Continue reading “Communist Party Releases New Set of NPC-Related Reform Goals in First Five-Year Plan on Building Rule of Law in China”2020 in Review: A Norm-Breaking Year at the NPC
How best to describe 2020? Challenging. Surreal. Exhausting. And for China’s national legislature, norm-breaking. On this last day of the year, we look back, as usual, at the National People’s Congress’s and our work in 2020. To start, we recount those NPC institutional norms that were burned by the dumpster fire that was 2020.
Continue reading “2020 in Review: A Norm-Breaking Year at the NPC”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Amendments to NPC Organic & Procedural Rules, Maritime Traffic Law Revision, Anti–Organized Crime Law, Anti–Food Waste Law, Two Military Bills & Two Other Bills
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following nine bills through January 29, 2021:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| NPC Organic Law (2nd Draft Amendment) 全国人民代表大会组织法修正案草案二次审议稿 | ||
| NPC Rules of Procedure (2nd Draft Amendment) 全国人民代表大会议事规则修正案草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Rural Revitalization Promotion Law (2nd Draft) 乡村振兴促进法草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Hainan Free Trade Port Law (Draft) 海南自由贸易港法草案 | ||
| Anti–Organized Crime Law (Draft) 反有组织犯罪法草案 | PDF (English) | |
| Anti–Food Waste Law (Draft) 反食品浪费法草案 | ||
| Law on the Protection of the Status, Rights, and Interests of Military Personnel (Draft) 军人地位和权益保障法草案 | ||
| Maritime Traffic Safety Law (Draft Revision) 海上交通安全法修订草案 | ||
| Military Facilities Protection Law (Draft Revision) 军事设施保护法修订草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese. The NPCSC also reviewed a second draft of the Coast Guard Law [海警法], a draft Supervisors Law [监察官法], and a draft revision to the Military Service Law [兵役法] at last week’s session, but did not also release them for public comments today.
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Amendments to NPC Organic & Procedural Rules, Maritime Traffic Law Revision, Anti–Organized Crime Law, Anti–Food Waste Law, Two Military Bills & Two Other Bills”NPCSC Passes New Criminal Law Amendment, Revises National Defense Law & Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law & Establishes Hainan IP Court
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 24th session on Saturday, December 26, 2020 and adopted six bills. Below, we will summarize them in varying levels of detail. Contrary to previous Hong Kong media reports, the NPCSC did not take any Hong Kong-related action at its session last week.
Continue reading “NPCSC Passes New Criminal Law Amendment, Revises National Defense Law & Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law & Establishes Hainan IP Court”NPCSC Amends Copyright Law & Adopts Veterans Support Law
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 23rd session on Wednesday, November 11, 2020 and adopted three bills. We already wrote about the new decision on the qualifications for members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Here, we will focus on the other two bills: an amendment to the Copyright Law [著作权法] and a new Veterans Support Law [退役军人保障法].
Continue reading “NPCSC Amends Copyright Law & Adopts Veterans Support Law”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Personal Information Protection Law, Criminal Law Amendment, Wildlife Protection Law Revision, National Defense Law Revision & Two Other Bills
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following six bills through November 19, 2020:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Yangtze River Protection Law (2nd Draft) 长江保护法草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Criminal Law Amendment (XI) (2nd Draft) 刑法修正案（十一）草案二次审议稿 | PDF (English) | |
| Administrative Penalties Law (2nd Draft Revision) 行政处罚法修订草案 | ||
| Personal Information Protection Law (Draft) 个人信息保护法草案 | PDF (English) | |
| National Defense Law (Draft Revision) 国防法修订草案 | ||
| Wild Animals Protection Law (Draft Revision) 野生动物保护法修订草案 | PDF (English) |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese. The NPCSC also reviewed a second draft of the Veterans Support Law [退役军人保障法] and a draft Coast Guard Law [海警法] at last week’s session, but did not also release them for public comments today.
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Personal Information Protection Law, Criminal Law Amendment, Wildlife Protection Law Revision, National Defense Law Revision & Two Other Bills”NPCSC Session Watch: Patent, Export Control, Personal Information Protection, Wildlife Protection & National Defense
On Tuesday, September 29, the Council of Chairpersons decided to convene the 22nd session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from October 13 to 17. The NPCSC’s regular sessions ordinarily take place during the last ten days of a month. This upcoming session is likely moved forward to make way for the Communist Party’s Fifth Plenum, scheduled from October 26 to 29. The NPCSC will review at least fifteen bills at its five-day session next month. A quick rundown follows.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Patent, Export Control, Personal Information Protection, Wildlife Protection & National Defense”Analysis of 13th NPCSC Legislative Plan Pt. 2: Statistics
Two years ago this month, the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) released its five-year legislative plan (Plan or 5YLP), a blueprint for its legislative agenda through 2023. This Plan, like its previous iterations, includes three categories of legislative projects. Category I projects are relatively ripe and should “in principle” be completed within the 13th NPCSC’s term (ending in March 2023), whereas Category II projects are less so and require additional work. Both Category I and Category II projects are numbered. By contrast, Category III includes a series of unnumbered topics for potential legislation, which was deemed not entirely feasible at the time.
Soon after this Plan was released, we published a mostly qualitative analysis, comparing it with previous Plans and distilling a few themes from it. In this long delayed second (and final) part of our analysis, we will take a primarily quantitative approach, examining the Plan and its five predecessors (the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th NPCSCs’ 5YLPs) from a few different angles.
Continue reading “Analysis of 13th NPCSC Legislative Plan Pt. 2: Statistics”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Copyright Law Amendment, National Flag & Emblem Laws Amendments, NPC Organizational & Procedural Rules Amendments & Two Other Bills
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following seven bills through September 30, 2020:
| Draft Name | Chinese Text | Explanatory Document |
|---|---|---|
| Copyright Law (2nd Draft Amendment) 著作权法修正案草案二次审议稿 | ||
| Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Law (2nd Draft Revision) 预防未成年人犯罪法修订草案二次审议稿 | PDF (English) | |
| Animal Epidemic Prevention Law (2nd Draft Revision) 动物防疫法修订草案二次审议稿 | ||
| National Flag Law (Draft Amendment) 国歌法修正草案 | ||
| National Emblem Law (Draft Amendment) 国徽法修正草案 | ||
| NPC Organic Law (Draft Amendment) 全国人民代表大会组织法修正草案 | ||
| NPC Rules of Procedure (Draft Amendment) 全国人民代表大会议事规则修正草案 |
English translations will be provided if and when available. All explanatory documents are in Chinese.
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Copyright Law Amendment, National Flag & Emblem Laws Amendments, NPC Organizational & Procedural Rules Amendments & Two Other Bills”