The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 10th session on Tuesday. It adopted comprehensive changes to the two laws governing judges and procurators and approved relatively minor amendments to eight other laws, three of which aim to enhance intellectual property protections. Below we summarize each in turn.
Continue reading “NPCSC Revises Judicial Personnel Laws, Amends Trademark and Unfair Competition Laws”Tag: Anti–Unfair Competition Law
NPCSC Criminalized National Anthem Disrespect, Applied National Anthem Law to SARs & Authorized Nationwide Supervision System and Armed Police Reforms
UPDATE (Nov. 22, 2017): This post has been updated with the explanations of two decisions passed by the 30th Session of the 12th NPCSC. See details below.
The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 30th Session last Saturday with the passage of various laws and decisions. This post is a quick rundown of the actions taken by the the NPCSC at the close of the session. Unfortunately, due to other things requiring much of our attention, this time we aren’t able to include the usual level of details as we did before. Apologies. Also, please let us know if any of the links below directs to the wrong webpage—we wrote this blog post in a hurry.
NPCSC to Consider New Criminal Law Amendment, Apply National Anthem Law to SARs & Hear Judicial Reform Reports
The NPC Observer turns one today! Many thanks to our readers, subscribers, and Twitter followers for the amazing past year. By the way, we are now on Facebook—because. . . why not?
UPDATE (Oct. 30, 2017): The finalized agenda and daily schedule of the session are released. One new item—a draft decision to carry out pilots to reform the state supervision system in an additional 28 provinces*—was added to the agenda just a day after the Communist Party announced that it had made such a decision. We will report on the details of the NPCSC decision either tomorrow when the full NPCSC hears an explanation of it or when the NPCSC passes it on November 4.
*The reform will therefore be carried out in 31 of 32 of China’s provincial-level administrative divisions (excluding Hong Kong and Macau).
Buried in the pre-19th Communist Party Congress propaganda frenzy was a bland official report on the Council of Chairmen’s latest meeting on October 16. The Council decided that the 30th—and third last—session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) would take place from October 30 to November 4, consistent with our earlier predictions. This post is a (fairly detailed) rundown of the items on the Session’s agenda.
NPCSC Solicits Public Comments on Three Draft Laws (with Brief Content Summary): September 7, 2017 (UPDATED)
Update (September 13, 2017): China Law Translate has translated the draft revisions to the Law Against Unfair Competition (linked below).
After releasing the draft revisions to the People’s Court Organic Law and the People’s Procuratorates Organic Law for public comments on Monday, the NPCSC is now soliciting public opinions on three additional laws.
The comments period for the following two laws will end on September 24—i.e., it lasts only 20 days, which signals the NPCSC will almost certainly consider and pass the two bills at its next session in late October.
- Law Against Unfair Competition (Draft Revision) (English translation) 反不正当竞争法修订草案二次审议稿
- Standardization Law (Draft Revision) 标准化法修订草案二次审议稿
The comments period for the third draft law, Tobacco Leaf Tax Law (烟叶税法草案), will run till October 6. The tax rate is 20%.
Only PDF Chinese versions are available at this time. Officials explanations are included in the PDFs.
29th Session Watch Pt. 1: NPCSC to Consider Revisions of Laws Organizing China’s Judicial System
The Council of Chairmen met on August 18 and decided that the 29th—and fourth last—session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will take place from August 28 to September 1. The agenda proposed by the Council of Chairmen is explained below.
NPCSC Solicits Public Comments on Draft Law: Feb. 25, 2017
Update (Feb. 27, 2017): The Draft Revision has now been translated by China Law Translate!
Update (Feb. 26, 2017): The deadline has been extended to March 25, 2017.
Here is a Word version of the draft revision.
The NPCSC is soliciting public comments on a draft revision to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (反不正当竞争法修订草案) until March 24, 2017.
The NPCSC also posted an accompanying explanation of the draft revision prepared by the State Council. See this post for a discussion of several major changes made by the draft revision.
All linked documents are in PDF format and Chinese only.
There is a possibility that the comment period—currently 28 days—would be extended to 30 days, the minimum required by the Legislation Law in normal circumstances.
Click here to submit comments online. 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:
Chinese: 北京市西城区前门西大街1号 邮编：100805
English: No. 1 West Qianmen Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing 100805
Please clearly label the envelope as “反不正当竞争法修订草案征求意见.”
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26th Session Watch Pt. 2: A Closer Look at the Three Bills Under Review (UPDATED)
Update (Feb. 24, 2017): By a vote of 156-0, with one abstention, the NPCSC approved the revised Red Cross Society Law, which will take effect on May 8, 2017, the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.
By a vote of 156–1, the NPCSC also passed an amendment to the Enterprise Income Tax Law (Amendment), effective today. The change made by the Amendment is discussed below. Zhang Tianli, an official with the Ministry of Finance, stated at a press conference today that the Amendment would retroactively apply to charitable donations made before today but after September 1, 2016, when the Charity Law came into force. Zhang also said that the State Council would soon amend relevant regulations to implement the Amendment.
The NPCSC today also approved three cabinet appointments. He Lifeng was promoted from Deputy Director to Director of the National Development and Reform Commission. Zhong Nan was appointed Minister of Commerce; he was a vice commerce minister and the Ministry’s International Trade Representative. Bloomberg profiles the two in this article. Lastly, Zhang Jun was appointed Minister of Justice. Before heading the Justice Ministry—which, among other duties, oversees China’s lawyers, prisons, and legal aid—Zhang was a Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection. He also twice served as a Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court. He has a Doctorate in Criminal Law.
We expect the NPCSC to solicit public comments on the draft revision to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law next week. The NPC’s annual plenary session will open on March 5, and we’ll soon post a preview of our coverage of the session.
Yesterday the 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) opened its 26th session, where the following three bills were submitted for deliberation. The following is a summary of the content of these legislations based on multiple media reports.
Continue reading “26th Session Watch Pt. 2: A Closer Look at the Three Bills Under Review (UPDATED)”
26th Session Watch Pt. 1: NPCSC to Review Draft Revisions to Enterprise Income Tax Law and Anti-Unfair Competition Law
The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene its 26th Session from February 22 to 24, the Council of Chairmen decided today. The following is our customary report on the proposed agenda of the upcoming Session.