Tag: Supervision Law

Translation: Second Draft of the Supervision Law (监察法二次审议稿)

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) conducted a second reading of the draft Supervision Law (监察法) in late December 2017, but has yet to release the second draft for public comments. With the 2018 NPC session only a month away, we think there is now no realistic possibility that the NPCSC will do so. That said, we do have a copy of the second draft that was released by the China Law Review on its WeChat account. For various reasons, including the fact that this document reflects all the changes made to the first draft as reported by statemedia, we are convinced of its authenticity.

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NPCSC to End 2017 with Blockbuster December Session (UPDATED)

UPDATE (Dec. 23, 2017): The NPCSC has released the finalized agenda and daily schedule of the ongoing session. This agenda, unlike the agendas of past December sessions since the early 1990s, does not include a draft decision to convene the NPC session of the following year (which would be the 1st Session of the 13th NPC). This is highly unusual. But the significance (if any) of the absence of that decision is not clear at this point. Elsewhere, in a report on the draft Supervision Law (as reported by state media), the NPC Law Committee seemed to be deliberately avoiding referring explicitly to the 1st Session of the 13th NPC: It recommended that the NPCSC submit the draft Supervision Law to “a session of the NPC” (全国人民代表大会会议) for deliberation, short of identifying the specific NPC session (unlike what it had done before). Through this update we merely wish to point out these irregularities. It is still premature to speculate whether the 2018 NPC session will convene as usual on March 5 because the Council of Chairmen could always add a convening decision to the agenda (though it doesn’t explain why it hasn’t done so already). In any event, we will find out on December 27 when the ongoing NPCSC session closes.

As predicted, the Council of Chairmen met on Thursday (December 14) to set the dates and propose an agenda for the second last session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC). According Xinhua’s report of the Council’s meeting, an astonishing 12 legislative bills (among others) were submitted to the upcoming six-day NPCSC session (December 22–27) for deliberation, the most ever since the start of the 12th NPC. Most of these bills are worth paying close attention to because of their subject matters, as we will discuss below.

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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.

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Next Steps for the Supervision Law & Procedural Possibility of a Constitutional Amendment in 2018

Now that the draft Supervision Law has finally become public, many are probably wondering what the next steps for the Law would be. When will the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) consider the draft Law again, if at all? Will the NPCSC release a revised version of the draft for public comments? And, given the argument that the Law shouldn’t be enacted until after the Constitution is amended to grant supervision commissions constitutional status, is it procedurally possible for the NPC to consider (and pass) a constitutional amendment at next year’s session? To predict such developments, we surveyed the legislative history of the laws passed by the NPC since 2000 (when the Legislation Law was enacted) and of all constitutional amendments to the 1982 P.R.C. Constitution.

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Draft Supervision Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国监察法) Released for Public Comments (UPDATED)

UPDATE (Feb. 23, 2018): The second draft of the Supervision Law is translated here.

UPDATE (Nov. 7, 2017): The comments period has been updated.

The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) just released the draft Supervision Law (监察法, formerly titled 国家监察法, or State Supervision Law) for public comments. The draft was the version that was first considered by the NPCSC back in June. The comments period runs from November 7, 2017 to December 6, 2017.

The draft is available for download as a PDF document, which we made by copying and pasting the original texts from the NPC website. The full text of the Draft is also reproduced below. The NPC website did not also include an explanation of the draft. An English translation of the draft can be found here.

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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:

  1. Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law (Draft) (土壤污染防治法草案)
  2. Public Libraries Law (Draft) (公共图书馆法草案)
  3. National Anthem Law (Draft) (国歌法草案) (PDF/Word)
  4. Specialized Farmers’ Cooperatives Law (Draft Revision) (农民专业合作社法修订草案)
  5. 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.

Continue reading “28th Session Watch Pt. 2: NPCSC Passes New Intelligence Law, Amends Clean Water Law, and Empowers Procuratorates to File Public Interest Lawsuits (UPDATED)” →

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.

Continue reading “28th Session Watch Pt. 1: National Intelligence, Soil Pollution, National Anthem, and Others on Agenda—But No Sign of State Supervision (Yet) (UPDATED)” →

NPC Standing Committee Schedules Major Legislation for 2017

The 12th NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) today finally released its much-anticipated legislative and supervisory plans for 2017. Here we will focus on the legislative plan, leaving the supervisory plan for another blog post. According to the 2017 legislative plan, a total of 23 legislative projects are tentatively scheduled (as the plan is subject to change) for the remaining four NPCSC sessions this year, with dozens more listed as preparatory projects. Among them, there is certainly no lack of blockbuster legislation, whether relating to China’s judicial reform, anti-corruption drive, environmental protection, or economic and social development in general.

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25th Session Watch Pt. 4: More Information on the State Supervision System Reform (UPDATED)

Update (Nov. 6, 2017): This post has been superseded by this one, published on November 5, 2017.

Update (Feb. 13, 2017): This post has been updated to clarify the range of personnel subject to supervision by the supervision commissions.

In the decision to carry out pilots programs of the state supervision system reform, the NPCSC details the composition, duties, and powers of the supervision commissions (see here for our prior discussion of this reform), as well as the legal provisions that will no longer be enforced in the pilot regions. The main content is summarized below, followed by a few comments.

An English translation of the Decision is underway at China Law Translate.

Continue reading “25th Session Watch Pt. 4: More Information on the State Supervision System Reform (UPDATED)” →