The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 22nd session on Saturday, October 17, 2020 and adopted seven bills. We will summarize five of them in some detail below, while briefly noting the other two. The texts of the bills and relevant legislative documents can be found on the individual bill pages linked below.
Continue reading “NPCSC Passes Export Control Law & Biosecurity Law, Updates Patent Law, National Flag/Emblem Laws, Election Law & Minors Protection Law”Tag: Patent Law
NPCSC Session Watch: Patent, Export Control, Personal Information Protection, Wildlife Protection & National Defense
On Tuesday, September 29, the Council of Chairpersons decided to convene the 22nd session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) from October 13 to 17. The NPCSC’s regular sessions ordinarily take place during the last ten days of a month. This upcoming session is likely moved forward to make way for the Communist Party’s Fifth Plenum, scheduled from October 26 to 29. The NPCSC will review at least fifteen bills at its five-day session next month. A quick rundown follows.
Continue reading “NPCSC Session Watch: Patent, Export Control, Personal Information Protection, Wildlife Protection & National Defense”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Patent Law Amendment, Export Control Law, Criminal Law Amendment, Data Security Law & Two Other Bills (Updated)
UPDATE (July 3, 2020): The deadline for comments has been extended to August 16, 2020, from the original July 31.
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is soliciting public comments on the following six bills through August 16, 2020:
- second draft amendment to the Patent Law 专利法修正案草案二次审议稿 (English)
- second draft revision to the Minors Protection Law 未成年人保护法修订草案二次审议稿 (English)
- second draft of the Export Control Law 出口管制法草案二次审议稿 (English)
- draft of the Criminal Law Amendment (XI) 刑法修正案（十一）草案 (English)
- draft revision to the Administrative Penalties Law 行政处罚法修订草案
- draft of the Data Security Law 数据安全法草案 (English)
All linked files are PDF documents in Chinese. English translations will be provided if and when available. The accompanying explanations of these drafts can be read here (PDF).
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Patent Law Amendment, Export Control Law, Criminal Law Amendment, Data Security Law & Two Other Bills (Updated)”NPCSC Concludes First June Session Before Immediately Scheduling Another, Likely to Adopt Hong Kong National Security Law (Updated)
UPDATE (July 5, 2020): The NPCSC has unanimously approved the Hong Kong National Security Law and added it to Annex III of the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Law took effect in Hong Kong at 11 p.m. on June 30. Our partial summary of it is here.
UPDATE (June 28, 2020): The draft Hong Kong National Security Law has been added to the agenda of the ongoing NPCSC session. We expect the NPCSC to approve the bill and add it to Annex III to the Hong Kong Basic Law by Tuesday.
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its 19th session on Saturday, June 20. It adopted three bills and approved China’s accession to the Arms Trade Treaty. On that same day, the Council of Chairpersons decided to convene the NPCSC again later this month, from June 28 to 30, merely one week after the 19th session. According to the readout of the Council’s meeting, it has placed six bills on the 20th session’s tentative agenda—not including the draft Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region [香港特别行政区维护国家安全法] (Hong Kong National Security Law). But once again the readout concludes the list of bills with the character “等” (or “et cetera”), so the Hong Kong National Security Law could be included in the final agenda at the last minute—again. The NPCSC ordinarily meets once every two months; it has not held two sessions in such close proximity in over at least two decades. It seems to us, then, that the 20th session is scheduled to expedite—and pass—the Hong Kong National Security Law, while ensuring that the NPCSC complies with the Legislation Law’s requirement that new laws be adopted after at least two reviews.
Below, we will briefly review the bills adopted on Saturday and preview the upcoming 20th session, before concluding with the possible next steps for the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Continue reading “NPCSC Concludes First June Session Before Immediately Scheduling Another, Likely to Adopt Hong Kong National Security Law (Updated)”NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Patent Law Amendment, Two Civil Code Parts, Vaccine Administration Law & Four Other Bills (UPDATED)
UPDATE (Jan. 27, 2019): For a summary of and comments on the key provisions of the draft Judges Law revision, please refer to this post on the Supreme People’s Court Monitor.
The NPC Standing Committee is soliciting public comments on the following eight bills through February 3, 2019:
- second draft revision to the Procurators Law 检察官法修订草案二次审议稿
- second draft revision to the Judges Law 法官法修订草案二次审议稿
- second draft of the Contracts Part of the Civil Code 民法典合同编草案二次审议稿
- second draft of the Tort Liability Part of the Civil Code 民法典侵权责任编草案二次审议稿
- draft Vaccine Administration Law 疫苗管理法草案
- draft Resource Tax Law 资源税法草案
- draft amendment to the Patent Law 专利法修正案草案
- draft amendment to the Land Management Law and the Urban Real Estate Administration Law 土地管理法、城市房地产管理法修正案草案
All linked files are PDF documents in Chinese. English translations will be linked to if and when available. The accompanying explanations of these drafts can be read here (PDF).
Continue reading “NPCSC Seeks Public Comments on Draft Patent Law Amendment, Two Civil Code Parts, Vaccine Administration Law & Four Other Bills (UPDATED)”NPCSC Session Watch: Foreign Investment, Patent, Resource Tax, Local Government Debt & More
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its last session in 2018 from December 23 to 29, the Council of Chairmen decided on Friday. This session is another of those end-of-year, week-long NPCSC sessions that we have come to love (and definitely not hate). We counted 14 legislative bills plus several more decisions and reports on the agenda. And there is absolutely no festivity-related reason why we would rather not work around that period. Because we expect six of those bills to pass on December 29, we will publish summaries of them after the session concludes rather than in this session preview. Here is our rundown on the agenda.
NPC Calendar: June 2018
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is expected to convene for its third session later this month. The Council of Chairmen is expected to meet in mid-June to decide on the dates and agenda of the session.
The following draft laws (links to our law wiki pages) have been tentatively scheduled for this upcoming session according to the NPCSC’s 2018 legislative plan:
- draft revision to the People’s Courts Organic Law (人民法院组织法);
- draft revision to the People’s Procuratorates Organic Law (人民检察院组织法);
- draft E-Commerce Law (电子商务法);
- draft revision to the Patent Law (专利法).
It is possible that the draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law (刑事诉讼法) would be submitted for another round of deliberation as well. We also expect the State Council to submit one or more amendments to existing laws to implement its 2018 reorganization plan.
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NPC Standing Committee Releases 2018 Legislative Plan
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) on Friday released its annual legislative plan for 2018. As usual, the plan is divided into two sections—the first listing specific legislative projects slated for discussion at the NPCSC’s remaining five sessions in 2018, and second setting forth general guiding principles for its legislative work this year. We will discuss only the first part in this post.
Continue reading “NPC Standing Committee Releases 2018 Legislative Plan”