“Sweep Away Darkness, Eliminate Evil”: A Belated Overview of China’s First Organized Crime Law

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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.

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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.

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NPC Calendar: December 2022

The Law Against Telecom and Online Fraud [反电信网络诈骗法] (adopted on Sept. 2, 2022) takes effect on December 1.

December 4 is the 40th anniversary of China’s current Constitution. General Secretary Xi Jinping is expected to give a speech to mark the occasion at a high-profile commemorative event to be held in Beijing.

The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is expected to convene for its 38th session in late December. The Council of Chairpersons is expected to meet in mid-December to decide on the agenda and dates of the session. The session is expected to review the draft Reservists Law [预备役人员法] and the draft revision to the Wild Animals Protection Law [野生动物保护法]. It is also likely to review the following bills:

In addition, the NPCSC is expected to adopt a legislative interpretation on the issue of whether overseas counsel not admitted to the Hong Kong bar may participate in cases involving offenses endangering national security, at the request of the city’s Chief Executive.

The NPCSC’s October 26, 2019 decision authorizing the State Council to pilot certain administrative reforms in China’s free trade zones will expire on December 1 (all reforms, except those concerning the Foreign Trade Law [对外贸易法], have been codified). The NPCSC’s December 29, 2018 decision authorizing the State Council to approve a certain amount of new local government debts in advance of annual budget approval will expire on December 31.

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.

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Constitutional Review in Lawmaking and Emergency Legislation: A First Look at Draft Amendments to China’s Legislation Law

Editor’s Note (Mar. 16, 2023): We have updated this post in accordance with the final text of the amendments adopted on March 13 (which are summarized here). The provisions discussed below have not been changed.

Cover of a hard copy of the Legislation Law

Last month, China’s national legislature, the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC), reviewed draft amendments to the Legislation Law [立法法] (Draft), an important statute with semi-constitutional status. The Law, in sum, has three functions: it demarcates the authority of various law/rule-making bodies; regulates (to varying extent) their legislative procedures (in particular those of the national legislature); and prescribes a hierarchy of legal norms, along with attendant rules on how to apply conflicting norms and mechanisms for resolving such conflicts (the so-called “recording and review” [备案审查] process). Today, to engage with China’s legal developments—whether as part of research, commentary, reporting, advocacy, or doing business—it is increasingly crucial to understand the type of legislative power a governmental body has and the process whereby it issues binding rules.

The Draft would bring about changes in all three areas: authority, procedure, and hierarchy. Some of the changes are technical, some are substantive but not ground-breaking, others are confusing and require clarification, while a few do deserve attention now, especially from those interested in submitting comments (the comments period closes on November 29). Below we highlight two that fall in the last category. As the Draft may undergo moderate to substantial revisions, we will publish a more thorough summary after its second review, expected in December. A final review by the full NPC is expected next March.

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NPC Calendar: November 2022

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following bills through November 29:

The NPCSC will convene for its next regularly scheduled session in late December.

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 NameChinese TextExplanatory Document
Legislation Law (Draft Amendment)
立法法修正草案		PDF Δ
(English)		PDF
Barrier-Free Environments Development Law (Draft)
无障碍环境建设法草案		PDFPDF
Administrative Reconsideration Law (Draft Revision)
行政复议法修订草案		PDF ΔPDF
Reservists Law (Draft)
预备役人员法草案		PDFPDF

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

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.

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NPC Calendar: October 2022

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on a draft revision to the Wild Animals Protection Law [野生动物保护法] and on a draft Qinghai–Tibet Plateau Ecological Conservation Law [青藏高原生态保护法] through October 1.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China opens on October 16; it will elect the 20th Central Committee. The day after the Party Congress closes, the new Central Committee will meet for its First Plenum to select members of the next Politburo (among other positions). The second- or third-ranking member of the new Politburo Standing Committee is expected to become the Chairperson of the 14th NPCSC next spring.

The 13th NPCSC is expected to convene for its 37th session shortly after October 23, when the First Plenum is expected to close. The Council of Chairpersons will likely meet immediately after the National Day holiday (ending on October 7) or after the final plenum of the outgoing 19th Central Committee (expected to end on October 12) to decide on the agenda and dates of the session.

The session is expected to review the following bills:

It is also likely to review a draft revision to the Administrative Reconsideration Law [行政复议法]. The draft revision to the Company Law [公司法] and the draft Emergency Response and Management Law [突发事件应对管理法] may return for further review as well.

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.

Image by xiongwu from freepick

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.)

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