2017 NPC Session: Legislations, Reports, Resolutions & More (UPDATED)

This post serves as a portal to all the documents relating to the recently concluded plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Currently, only Chinese documents are available. English versions of some of the documents should be available in a few days; this post will then be updated accordingly.

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2017 NPC Session: Schoolchildren, Heroes, Good Samaritans & Draft Civil Law (UPDATED)

The annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) is currently underway. Apart from the routine budget, development plan, and four central State organs’ work reports, this year a major piece of legislation is also being reviewed by the NPC: General Provisions of Civil Law (GPCL). As the name suggests, it is a set of guiding principles for a future civil code—codified laws that modulate personal and property relationships between civil entities. After the delegates spent last Friday deliberating the bill, several important changes were made to the draft. This post reviews these changes as reported by the press, starting with some background information.

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NPCSC Solicits Public Comments on Draft Laws: Dec. 26, 2016 (UPDATED)

Dec. 27, 2016 Update: The deadline has been extended.

The NPCSC has released the following draft laws for public comments until January 26, 2017.

  1. General Provisions of the Civil Code (Third Deliberation Draft) (民法总则草案三次审议稿)
  2. Amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft) (水污染防治法修正案草案)
  3. E-Commerce Law (Draft) (电子商务法草案)

All links are to PDF files, and all files are in Chinese only. Links to other formats will be added if and when they become available.

Please refer to this post for ways to comment on these legislations. Click here to submit comments online.

The NPCSC also reviewed a draft National Intelligence Law at its last session, but we are not optimistic about the prospect of its being released for public comments.


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25th Session Watch Pt. 1: NPCSC to Consider E-Commerce Law and Several Reform Authorizations

The 12th NPCSC will convene for its next session, which will be the last one in 2016, from December 19 to 25, the Council of Chairmen decided on Monday. The Council also proposed a preliminary agenda for the 25th Session, which features six legislative bills, three authorizations of reforms, and several items pertaining to next year’s NPC plenary session and the upcoming 13th NPC. As usual, in the first part of this installment of Session Watch, we’ll take a look at the agenda of the upcoming session.

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NPCSC Solicits Public Opinion on Draft Laws: Nov. 14, 2016 (UPDATED)

Nov. 29 Update: The NPCSC has finally released the PDF versions of these draft laws. All are in Chinese only.

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Session Watch: The 24th Session of the 12th NPCSC

To the (nonexistent) readers of this Blog: Welcome to the first installment of Session Watch, a future regular series featured on this Blog. Or at least as regular as the NPCSC sessions will be. Starting with the 24th Session of the 12th NPCSC, this Blog will cover each session in one or more posts, mostly on the agenda of each session and any related legislative activities.


Yesterday (October 18, 2016), the Chairmen’s Council of the 12th NPCSC convened to set the date for the upcoming Standing Committee Session, and proposed a preliminary agenda subject to the approval of the plenary session.

Basic Takeaways from the Press Release

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