NPC 2023: Documents and Votes

The first session of China’s 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) concluded on Monday, March 13. Below we have compiled a list of all official documents from this session. Unless otherwise noted, all documents are available in Chinese only.

Where available, the vote results for each bill, resolution, and personnel matter are also listed below in brackets, in the order of yea – nay – abstention, followed by the number of delegates not voting (NV), if any. Some results are presented in a spreadsheet embedded at the bottom of this page. Thank you to Twitter user @MelanievonBraun for recording the votes received by each candidate for NPC Standing Committee member based on a livestream of the proceedings and for sharing the dataset with us.

Continue reading “NPC 2023: Documents and Votes”

NPC 2023: Agenda and Daily Schedule

China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) has released its 2023 session’s agenda and daily schedule of meetings. This year’s session will open on the morning of March 5 and close on the morning of March 13. Lasting only eight and a half days, it is the shortest inaugural session of an NPC in at least forty years. NPC sessions in the last three years were each shortened to seven days (from typically ten) due to Covid-control measures. This year’s session is the first one held since the zero-Covid policy ended last December, but it appears the compressed meeting schedule is here to stay. 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 2023: Agenda and Daily Schedule”

NPCSC Session Watch: Lawmaking Reforms, Corporate Bankruptcy, Charity, Financial Stability, Foreign Sovereign Immunity, Cross-Border Litigation & More

UPDATE (Jan. 3, 2023): On December 30, 2022, the NPCSC adopted the revision to the Wild Animals Protection Law, effective May 1, 2023, and the Reservists Law, effective March 1, 2023.

UPDATE (Dec. 27, 2022): The official readout of the session’s first meeting reveals that the NPCSC is also reviewing a draft amendment to the Foreign Trade Law [对外贸易法] to codify a pilot administrative reform that recently expired on December 1. The readout also shows that the State Council has requested an interpretation of “relevant articles” of the Hong Kong National Security Law, without elaborating. We expect both to pass on Friday. Finally, it appears that the draft revision to the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law [企业破产法] has been removed from this session’s agenda.

Last Friday, the Council of Chairpersons decided to convene the 38th and second-to-last session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from December 27 to 30. The session’s tentative agenda includes fifteen bills. The Hong Kong government’s requested interpretation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, however, is not among them. But as we have explained, the NPCSC may hide the existence of a bill until after its adoption, so it could still consider an interpretation at the upcoming session. Below we briefly preview the bills slated for review.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Lawmaking Reforms, Corporate Bankruptcy, Charity, Financial Stability, Foreign Sovereign Immunity, Cross-Border Litigation & More”

NPCSC Session Watch: Women’s Rights, Accessibility, Administrative & Lawmaking Reforms, Military Reservists & More

Photo by Jakub Pabis on Unsplash

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”

NPCSC Session Watch: Telecom Fraud, Wildlife Protection, Ecological Conservation of the Tibetan Plateau & Counterespionage

The Council of Chairpersons decided on Friday, July 29 to convene the 36th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) over a month later, from August 30 to September 2. With only five bills, the legislative agenda is comparatively light for a session held in August and in the last year of an NPCSC’s term. Perhaps the pace of legislation will pick up later in the year. Below we briefly preview the upcoming session.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Telecom Fraud, Wildlife Protection, Ecological Conservation of the Tibetan Plateau & Counterespionage”

NPCSC Amends Anti-Monopoly Law, Revises Sports Law & Adopts New Law to Protect Black Soil

A student performing a long jump at a Beijing school. Source: Unsplash.

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”

NPCSC Session Watch: Antitrust, Telecom Fraud, Enforcement of Court Judgments & More

The Council of Chairpersons decided on May 30 to convene the 35th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from June 21 to 24. Eight bills are on the tentative agenda, which we briefly preview below.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Antitrust, Telecom Fraud, Enforcement of Court Judgments & More”

NPCSC Makes First Adjustments to Provinces’ NPC Seats in a Decade

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its session this month on April 20, 2022. It adopted the Futures and Derivatives Law [期货和衍生品法], which will introduce “a comprehensive legal framework for the operation of futures and over-the-counter derivatives markets in China.” The NPCSC also comprehensively revised the Vocational Education Law [职业教育法], the statute’s first update since its enactment in 1996, with the policy goal of cultivating “high-quality technical and skilled personnel” and “providing powerful talent and skill support” for socialist modernization. Due to our lack of expertise on these subjects, however, we are unable to offer more in-depth summaries or analyses of these two laws.

Continue reading “NPCSC Makes First Adjustments to Provinces’ NPC Seats in a Decade”

NPCSC Session Watch: Women’s Rights, NPC Seats Allocation, Forced Labor Conventions & More

The Council of Chairpersons decided on Monday, April 11 to convene the 34th session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from April 18 to 20. Five legislative bills are on the tentative agenda, along with three documents relating to the elections of delegates to the next NPC. As usual, a quick rundown on the agenda follows.

Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Women’s Rights, NPC Seats Allocation, Forced Labor Conventions & More”

2022 NPC Session: Documents List

The 5th Session of the 13th NPC concluded on Friday, March 11, after having approved all reports and bills submitted to it for consideration. As usual, below we have compiled a list of all official documents from this Session. Unless otherwise noted, all documents are available in Chinese only. The NPC’s votes on bills and resolutions are also listed below in brackets, in the order of yea – nay – abstention, followed by the number of delegates not voting (NV).

Continue reading “2022 NPC Session: Documents List”