The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its fifth session last Friday and adopted the E-Commerce Law, the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law, and an amendment to the Individual Income Tax Law. All three laws will take effect on January 1, 2019. Due to competing offline commitments, we are able to discuss only two laws in relative detail below.
Tag: Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law
NPCSC Session Watch: Separate Parts of Civil Code, Tax Bills, Criminal Procedure, and More
The Council of Chairmen met on August 17 and decided that the 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will meet for its fifth session from August 27 to 31. The session will consider at least seven legislative bills, including the much-anticipated draft Separate Parts of China’s first Civil Code, draft E-Commerce Law, and three tax bills. As usual, below we take a look at the legislative bills on the session’s agenda.
NPC Calendar: August 2018
August 1 is the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Anti-Monopoly Law (反垄断法).
The 13th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is expected to convene for its fifth session later this month. The Council of Chairmen is expected to meet in mid-August to decide on the dates and agenda of the session.
The following draft laws have been tentatively scheduled for this upcoming session according to the NPCSC’s 2018 legislative plan:
- draft Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law (土壤污染防治法);
- draft International Criminal Justice Assistance Law (国际刑事司法协助法);
- draft Separate Parts of the Civil Code (民法典各分编);
- draft amendment to the Land Management Law (土地管理法);
- draft Farmland Occupancy Tax Law (耕地占用税法);
- draft Vehicle Purchase Tax Law (车辆购置税法).
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.
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”
NPC Calendar: February 2018
The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its 33rd—and last—session in late February. The Council of Chairmen is expected to meet to set the dates and agenda for the session before the week-long Chinese New Year holiday begins on February 15.
This session will certify results of the currently ongoing elections of the delegates to the 13th NPC, which will first convene on March 5. An explanation of the guidelines for these elections can be found here.
We also expect the upcoming session to hear the State Council’s mid-term report on a pilot reform of the social insurance system. Authorized by the NPCSC in late 2016, the reform suspends the enforcement of two provisions of the Social Insurance Law in twelve cities so as to combine the maternity insurance funds and the basic health insurance funds, which would have been run separately under the suspended provisions.
We expect only a few (perhaps one or two) legislative bills to be submitted to the session for deliberation. Possible candidates include the draft E-Commerce Law and the draft Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law.
(Editing by Changhao Wei)
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NPCSC Releases Seven Draft Laws for Public Comments: December 29, 2017 (UPDATED)
UPDATE (Jan. 19, 2018): This post has been updated with links to an English translation of the draft Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law.
UPDATE (Jan. 4, 2018): This post has been updated with links to English translations of the draft revisions to the Procurators Law and Judges Law, and to the draft People’s Assessors Law.
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) on December 29 released the following draft laws for public comments until January 27, 2018:
- Procurators Law (Draft Revision) 检察官法修订草案 (ENGLISH)
- Judges Law (Draft Revision) 法官法修订草案 (ENGLISH)
- People’s Assessors Law (Draft) 人民陪审员法草案 (ENGLISH)
- International Criminal Justice Assistance Law (Draft) 国际刑事司法协助法草案
- Basic Healthcare and Health Promotion Law (Draft) 基本医疗卫生与健康促进法草案
- Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law (Draft) 英雄烈士保护法草案 (ENGLISH)
- Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft for 2nd Deliberation) 土壤污染防治法草案二次审议稿
All linked files are PDF documents in Chinese. English translations will be posted here when they become available. The NPCSC has also released explanations of these draft laws, which can be viewed at this link.
To submit comments online, please refer to these instructions. The “Occupations” dropdown list for the draft revisions to the Judges Law and the Procurators Law includes a new top item: “Judges, procurators, lawyers, or other legal practitioners” (法官检察官律师等法律从业人员).
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 write “[BILL NAME IN CHINESE]征求意见” on the envelope.
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NPC Calendar: December 2017
Starting in December 2017, we will publish the NPC Calendar as monthly blog posts instead of a widget in the Blog’s sidebar and a series of tweets—however short the Calendar for a particular month may be (in other words, we are going to do this SCOTUSblog-style). This change will make it easier for us to (if necessary) provide a lot more details about NPC-related events each month. The NPC Calendar widget in the sidebar will remain, but will contain a lot less information than the blog post versions so as to provide our readers with a quick overview of NPC-related information each month.
The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its 31st—and the second last—session in late December. The Council of Chairmen is expected to meet next week to decide on the date and agenda of the 31st Session.
NPCSC Solicits Public Comments on Five Draft Legislations: June 28, 2017 (UPDATED)
Update (July 18, 2017): The draft Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law was translated by China Law Translate.
Update (June 28, 2017): The comments period has been shortened by one day, to July 27.
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is now seeking public comments on the following five draft laws from June 28 to July 27:
- Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft) (土壤污染防治法草案)
- Public Libraries Law (Draft) (公共图书馆法草案)
- National Anthem Law (Draft) (国歌法草案) (PDF/Word)
- Specialized Farmers’ Cooperatives Law (Draft Revision) (农民专业合作社法修订草案)
- Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Law (Draft Revision for 2nd Deliberation) (中小企业促进法修订草案二次审议稿)
The draft Supervision Law (监察法), however, was not simultaneously released. But we expect the NPCSC to release it for public comments at least once at a future date.
All linked files are in Chinese. All are PDF documents except otherwise indicated.
We will publish an English translation of the National Anthem Law shortly, along with some other relevant information.
To submit comments and find more information on these bills online, please refer to these instructions. The NPCSC has also posted “authoritative explanations” (in Chinese) of the draft Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law and draft revision to the Specialized Farmers’ Cooperatives Law.
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 write “[BILL NAME IN CHINESE]征求意见” on the envelope.
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28th Session Watch Pt. 2: NPCSC Passes New Intelligence Law, Amends Clean Water Law, and Empowers Procuratorates to File Public Interest Lawsuits (UPDATED)
(Update: June 29, 2017): The NPCSC released full texts of the amended Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Administrative Litigation Law, and Civil Procedure Law.
(Update: June 28, 2017): China Law Translate has translated the National Intelligence Law.
The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) concluded its bimonthly session this afternoon with (among other actions taken) the passage of three bills: a new National Intelligence Law, an amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, as well as amendments to two procedural laws to formally grant the procuratorates (or prosecutor’s offices) nationwide authority to initiate public interest litigation.
28th Session Watch Pt. 1: National Intelligence, Soil Pollution, National Anthem, and Others on Agenda—But No Sign of State Supervision (Yet) (UPDATED)
Update (June 22, 2017): According to the agenda and daily schedule of the 28th Session released today, a draft Supervision Law (监察法, formerly known as 国家监察法, or State Supervision Law) has been submitted to the NPCSC, as we predicted below. The NPCSC is scheduled to hear an explanation of the draft on Friday. We therefore will not have more information about the draft until then.
In addition, the NPC Law Committee has recommended that the NPCSC pass the National Intelligence Law and the amendment to the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law. We expect both to be approved on July 27, the last day of the Session. We also expect the ongoing session to adopt draft amendments to the Administrative Litigation Law and the Civil Procedure Law—submitted by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate to empower people’s procuratorates nationwide to initiate public interest litigation. Such a process is currently being piloted in 13 provinces.
The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) will convene for its 28th Session on June 22 through 27, the Council of Chairmen decided this afternoon. This post is a customary summary of the Session’s agenda as announced in this press release.