NPCSC Session Watch: Patriotic Education, Food Security, Accessible Environments & New Delegate Affairs Commission

UPDATE (June 26, 2023): The NPCSC is expected to approve the Barrier-Free Environments Development Law and the Foreign Relations Law on Wednesday, June 28.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay (cropped)

The 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its third session from June 26 to 28, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Friday, June 16. Eight bills, including six draft laws, are on the session’s tentative agenda, which we preview below.

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Introducing NPC Observer Monthly

Earlier today, we formally launched our new Substack newsletter, NPC Observer Monthly, a monthly recap of goings-on at the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee (NPCSC)—and sometimes more.

This newsletter drops at the start of each month, starting today. Each issue will, at a minimum, recap all major NPC-related events in the previous month, including any new law that took effect, any new documents released by the legislature, and, of course, any legislative meetings as well as their agendas and outcomes. In the course of recounting the events, we will link to and excerpt from any relevant coverage we have published here. And we will briefly discuss any development that we haven’t yet had the time to analyze in-depth here.

If, during the previous month, we have also published contents not tied to any current event, the newsletter will include a round-up of such publications. Finally, depending on the month and our schedule, we may also end an issue with musings on an NPC-related topic that is in some way connected to the previous month—as we did today (see excerpt below).

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NPC Calendar: June 2023

Here is our recap of NPC-related events in June 2023 at our monthly newsletter.

The 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its 3rd session in late June. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-June to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

According to the NPCSC’s 2023 legislative work plan, the following bills will return for further review:

The NPCSC is expected to review one or more additional bills at its upcoming session.

China’s National Legislature Releases 2023 Legislative Plan

On Monday, May 29, China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), released its legislative work plan for 2023 (Plan). The Plan was preliminarily approved by the Council of Chairpersons in December 2022 and finalized on April 14. It sets forth priorities for all aspects of the NPCSC’s legislative work in 2023, which include a list of legislative projects scheduled for review or research this year. Other aspects of the NPCSC’s legislative work include upholding the Communist Party’s leadership of lawmaking, implementing the Constitution, dealing with expiring reform authorizations, and improving legislative procedure. We, as usual, will focus on the list of legislative projects in this post, but will also note a few other notable tasks included in the Plan.

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The Content and Context of Chinese Military’s New Authority to Change “Wartime” Court-Martial Rules

On February 24, 2023, China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), adopted a decision authorizing the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s highest military authority, to “adjust” the way in which the Chinese military applies the Criminal Procedure Law [刑事诉讼法] during “wartime” (the Decision). That is admittedly (three-month-)old “news.” We did not write about it then because the Decision’s timing was not self-evident and the scope of its authorization unclear. Its accompanying explanation, we had hoped, would shed light on those questions, but it was not immediately released.

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Term Review: How Long Did It Take the 13th NPC to Pass a Law?

The five-year term of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) recently ended. At the risk of overpromising, we plan to write a few end-of-term reviews on different aspects of the 13th NPC’s lawmaking over the next several months. In this first installment, we will try to answer the question “how long does it take the (last) NPC to pass a bill?”—as well as subsidiary questions like “when is [insert bill of your choice] up for its next reading?” and “how many reviews will the bill go through?”

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NPC Calendar: May 2023

Here is our recap of NPC-related events in May 2023 at our monthly newsletter.

The revised Wild Animals Protection Law [野生动物保护法] (adopted on Dec. 30, 2022) takes effect on May 1.

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comment on a draft Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法] through May 25.

The NPCSC is expected to release its annual plans on legislative, oversight, and delegates work for 2023 soon after the Labor Day holiday (ending on May 3).

It will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late June.

NPCSC Seeks Public Comment on Draft Barrier-Free Environments Law

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comments on the second deliberation draft of the Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法] through May 25, 2023. The draft is available in PDF here and an explanatory document (in Chinese) here. An English translation will be provided if and when available.

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 “无障碍环境建设法草案二次审议稿征求意见” on the envelope.

NPCSC Session Watch: Counterespionage, Accessible Environments & Tibetan Plateau Conservation

A man in suit holding a yellow folder marked with "top secret" in red.

The 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its second session from April 24 to 26, the Council of Chairpersons decided on Friday. Before providing our customary rundown of the session’s legislative agenda, we’d like to first discuss our approach to covering the NPCSC’s sessions during its new five-year term—what will change and what won’t.

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NPC Calendar: April 2023

This post was updated on May 2, 2023. The original version is archived here.

The Yellow River Protection Law [黄河保护法] (adopted on Oct. 30, 2022) took effect on April 1.

On April 14, the Council of Chairpersons held a meeting where it—

  • decided to convene the second session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC);
  • approved the NPCSC’s 2023 plans on legislative, oversight, and delegates work, which so far have not been released; and
  • revised the Council’s rules of procedure, rules of procedure for the NPCSC Secretary-General’s meetings, measures for personnel appointments and removals by the NPCSC, working procedures for NPCSC sessions, and measures for Council members’ implementation of the Communist Party’s austerity rules—which are unlikely to be made public.

The 14th NPCSC held its second session from April 24 to April 26. On April 26, it adopted—

The session also reviewed a draft Barrier-Free Environments Development Law [无障碍环境建设法], on which the NPCSC began seeking public comment on April 26.

Finally, the session reviewed the State Council’s reports on the environmental conditions and fulfillment of environmental protection targets in 2022 and on work relating to overseas Chinese in the New Era; and appointed the constituent members of the 14th NPCSC Delegate Credentials Committee.

On April 26, the 14th NPCSC held four educational lectures for its constituent members on the following topics: