Category: Session Watch

NPC Calendar: July 2026

The following laws take effect on July 1:

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comment on the following bills through July 25:

The NPCSC will meet for its next regularly scheduled session in late August.

NPCSC Session Watch: Finance Law, Central Bank Reform, Procurement & Trademarks

UPDATE (June 23, 2026): According to the official readout of the session’s opening meeting, the State Council also submitted a draft amendment to the Lawyers Law [律师法]. The amendment appears primarily intended to codify a pilot program authorized by the NPCSC that allows eligible lawyers licensed in Hong Kong or Macao to practice mainland law within the Greater Bay Area (subject to various limitations). The pilot is due to expire on October 5; on Tuesday, the NPCSC also heard the State Council’s report on the pilot.

According to a brief summary published by Xinhua, the amendment would additionally address issues including “Party building within the legal profession, the full coverage of legal defense by lawyers in criminal cases, the encouragement of lawyers’ participation in public-interest legal services, and the regulation of lawyers’ professional conduct.” Yet, because this bill is styled as an “amendment” [修正], it is unlikely to be the comprehensive “revision” [修订] contemplated by the State Council’s 2026 legislative plan. Although the NPCSC could approve the bill on Friday, June 26, we believe a second and final review in late August (before the pilot expires) is more likely. The scope of the amendment will become clear once a draft is released for public comment later this week.

The readout also confirms that the NPCSC will approve the draft revision to the Trademark Law [商标法] and the draft amendment to the Certified Public Accountants Law [注册会计师法] on Friday.

UPDATE (June 26, 2026): The NPCSC approved the revision to the Trademark Law and the amendment to the Certified Public Accountants Law; both will take effect on January 1, 2027. The NPCSC also adopted the decision authorizing Hong Kong to exercise jurisdiction over the Hong Kong side of the redeveloped Huanggang Port.

Former head office of the People’s Bank of China in Beijing. Photo by Eagle (stock.adobe.com).

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its 23rd session from June 23 to 26, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Tuesday, June 16, 2026. According to the agenda proposed by the Council, the session will consider ten legislative bills and four oversight reports, among other business. As usual, we preview the session’s legislative agenda below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Finance Law, Central Bank Reform, Procurement & Trademarks” →

NPCSC Session Watch: Prison Administration, Social Welfare, Defense Mobilization, State-Owned Enterprise Assets, Water Resources & Agriculture

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Photo by sinitar (stock.adobe.com).

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its 22nd session from April 27 to 30, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Monday, April 20. According to the Council’s proposed agenda, the session will consider eight legislative bills, which we preview below. The Council also approved the NPCSC’s 2026 work priorities as well as 2026 plans for legislative, oversight, delegates-related, and foreign-affairs work. We expect all but the foreign-affairs work plan to be released after the upcoming session, likely in early May.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Prison Administration, Social Welfare, Defense Mobilization, State-Owned Enterprise Assets, Water Resources & Agriculture” →

NPC 2026: Documents and Votes

The fourth session of China’s 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) concluded on Thursday, March 12. Below we have compiled a list of all official documents from this session (except for several legislative reports the NPC has so far neglected to release). We have also included the submitted (i.e., draft) versions of key documents for your reference. Documents are available in Chinese only unless otherwise noted. The vote results for each bill and resolution are listed below in brackets, in the order of for–against–abstention, followed by the number of delegates not voting (NV), if any.

Continue reading “NPC 2026: Documents and Votes” →

NPC 2026: Agenda and Daily Schedule

China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) has released its 2026 session’s agenda and daily schedule of meetings, as well as a preliminary schedule of press events during the session. This year’s session will open on the morning of March 5 and close on the afternoon of March 12, lasting eight full days. As the NPC spokesperson announced in 2024, Premier Li Qiang will not hold a press conference after this session (or during the remainder of this NPC term “absent special circumstances”).

All times below are in China Standard Time (UTC +8:00). For a primer on the NPC and its annual sessions, check out this FAQ.

Continue reading “NPC 2026: Agenda and Daily Schedule” →

NPCSC Session Watch: Social Assistance, Fire and Rescue Personnel, CPAs & NPC Preparations

A Beijing China Fire and Rescue vehicle with a special license plate. Photo by tommao wang (Unsplash).

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.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Social Assistance, Fire and Rescue Personnel, CPAs & NPC Preparations” →

NPC Standing Committee to Convene Emergency Session Ostensibly to Confirm NPC Membership Changes

UPDATE (Feb. 4, 2025): After the brief emergency session, the NPCSC announced the removals of three NPC delegates who had all worked in the defense industry: Zhou Xinmin [周新民], former chairman of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China; Luo Qi [罗琦], former chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation; and Liu Cangli [刘仓理], former director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics. Luo and Liu also lost their seats on the NPCSC as a result. No other business was conducted at the emergency session. The Credentials Committee’s report has not been released, so it is not yet clear when and why they were dismissed by their electoral units. For more information about those men and the ongoing anti-corruption campaign against the military and defense sector, see this report by the South China Morning Post. It is still unclear why the emergency session was necessary. The likeliest explanation is that they are facing imminent detention or criminal charges, so must be stripped of their privileges posthaste.

Image by Memed ÖZASLAN (stock.abobe.com)

On Monday, February 2, the leaders of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), China’s national legislature, decided to convene the NPCSC for a one-day emergency session on Wednesday, February 4—weeks before its expected regular session later this month. This will be the second emergency session of the 14th NPCSC, following its July 2023 meeting to replace Qin Gang as China’s foreign minister.

According to the official readout of the legislative leaders’ meeting, the sole (disclosed) agenda item is a report by the NPCSC Delegate Credentials Committee “on the qualifications of certain delegates”—that is, on who has recently been elected to or removed from the National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPCSC is expected to approve the report and issue a corresponding public notice announcing the changes.

Continue reading “NPC Standing Committee to Convene Emergency Session Ostensibly to Confirm NPC Membership Changes” →

NPCSC Session Watch: Environmental Code, Antarctic Policy, Ethnicity & Language, State Assets, Childcare, Banking Regulation & Trademarks

UPDATE (Dec. 22, 2025): The NPCSC has revealed that it will indeed submit the first three bills discussed below to the 2026 NPC session for approval and will pass the draft revisions to the Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language and to the Foreign Trade Law on December 27.

Photo by Asya M (stock.adobe.com)

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its nineteenth session, its final meeting of the year, from December 22 to 27, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Monday, December 15. It will be the longest legislative session—lasting six days—since December 2019, with a suitably packed agenda. The NPCSC will review 14 legislative bills and hear almost two dozen reports, in addition to other business. As usual, we preview the session’s legislative agenda in detail below, while highlighting a few notable reports.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Environmental Code, Antarctic Policy, Ethnicity & Language, State Assets, Childcare, Banking Regulation & Trademarks” →

NPCSC Session Watch: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Community Governance, Cybersecurity, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code

Supreme People’s Procuratorate. Photo by EditQ (Wikimedia Commons). CC BY-SA 4.0.

China’s top legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), will convene for its eighteenth session from October 24 to 28, immediately after the Communist Party’s upcoming Fourth Plenum concludes on October 23, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Wednesday, October 15. According to the Council’s proposed agenda, the session will consider 9 legislative bills and hear 7 oversight reports, among other business. As usual, we preview the session’s legislative agenda in detail below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Community Governance, Cybersecurity, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code” →

NPCSC Session Watch (Extra): Ethnic Unity Law & Foreign Trade Law Overhaul

Mural of China’s ethnic minorities on display at the National Museum of Chinese Writing in Anyang, Henan Province. Photo by Gary Todd. CC 0 1.0.

China’s national legislature, the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is holding its seventeenth session from today to Friday, September 12. As we have previewed, it is considering a whopping 16 draft laws, in addition to other agenda items. Today’s official readout of the session’s opening meeting reveals that the NPCSC is reviewing two other bills as well: a draft Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress [民族团结进步促进法] and a draft revision to the Foreign Trade Law [对外贸易法]. We will take a quick look at these bills below, based on latest state-media reporting. The caveat is that such reports are essentially condensed versions of the bill’s official explanation, which in turn presents a selective summary of the draft itself. Those interested should consult the original texts (of the drafts and their accompanying explanations) when they are released on Friday. Below, we will also provide an update on the other bills under review.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch (Extra): Ethnic Unity Law & Foreign Trade Law Overhaul” →