Highlights of NPC Standing Committee work report
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E-mail Xinhua, March 9, 2010
China's top legislator Wu Bangguo delivered a report on the work of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) Tuesday afternoon to the parliament's annual session.
Following are the highlights of Wu's report:
OVERALL WORK OF 2009
Over the past year, the NPC Standing Committee deliberated 22 draft laws and draft decisions on relevant legal issues, passed 14 of them, heard and deliberated 14 work reports from the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, adopted two resolutions, investigated compliance with three laws, approved seven treaties and accords China concluded with foreign countries and its accession to international conventions, and made decisions on and approved the appointment and removal of a number of employees in state organs, thus making further contributions to building socialism with Chinese characteristics.
ESTABLISHING SOCIALIST LEGAL SYSTEM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
Last year was a key year for reaching the goal of creating a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics by 2010.
-- The NPC Standing Committee revised the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses, which proposes electing deputies to people's congresses based on the same population ratio in urban and rural areas and assures an appropriate number of deputies from every locality, ethnic group, and sector.
-- The NPC Standing Committee enacted the Law on Tort Liability, the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Rural Land Contract Management Disputes, the National Defense Mobilization Law, the Law on the People's Armed Police Force, the Law on Diplomatic Personnel Stationed Abroad, and the Law on the Protection of Offshore Islands. It revised the procedural rules for the Standing Committee, the Postal Law, the Statistics Law, and the Copyright Law, and passed a decision granting jurisdiction over Hengqin Island, where the new campus of the University of Macao is located, to the Macao Special Administrative Region.
-- The NPC Standing Committee repealed eight laws and decisions on related legal issues, revised 141 clauses of 59 laws, and identified a number of other laws that clearly need to be revised.
-- This year, the Standing Committee will finish deliberating and revising the draft Social Security Law, continue to deliberate the draft Law on Administrative Enforcement, submit for deliberation the draft VAT Law and the draft Law on Vehicle and Vessel Tax, research and formulate a People's Mediation Law, Law on Education and Correction of Illegal Acts, Law on the Application of Laws to Civil Relationships Involving Foreign Interests, and Law on the Protection of Our Natural Heritage, and urge relevant authorities to promptly draw up drafts for laws, including the Law on Basic Medical and Health Care and the Social Assistance Law.
-- The Standing Committee will revise the Law on Deputies to the People's Congress and the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, the Administrative Supervision Law and the Budget Law, continue to deliberate the draft amendment to the Law on State Compensation, research revisions to the Land Administration Law, Forest Law, Water and Soil Conservation Law, Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Occupational Diseases, and Law on Officers in the Reserve Forces.
-- The Standing Committee will supervise and guide the State Council and local people's congresses in thoroughly amending their existing administrative regulations and local statutes and completing the work by the end of the year, ensure NPC deputies fully play their role in legislative work, expand the orderly participation of our citizens in the legislative process, and continue to improve the filing and examination of normative documents.
OVERSEEING ECONOMIC WORK
-- The Standing Committee focused on maintaining steady and rapid economic development in the past year. It heard and deliberated reports of the State Council, carried out investigations and studies closely related to the economic difficulties, and made special arrangements to hear and deliberate reports of the State Council on transforming the pattern of economic development and restructuring the economy and on promoting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.
-- This year, the Standing Committee will focus on transforming the pattern of economic development, and strengthen oversight of economic work.
OVERSEEING WORK AFFECTING PEOPLE'S WELLBEING
-- The Standing Committee strengthened follow-up oversight to promote development of employment and social security programs. It made special arrangements to hear and deliberate the State Council's report on recovery and reconstruction following the devastating earthquake that hit Wenchuan of Sichuan Province in May 2008.
-- Shortly after the Law on Food Safety was passed in February 2009, the Standing Committee began to check compliance with it and urged relevant departments to promptly formulate, sort out or improve supporting regulations.
-- In response to such problems as the difficulty of ensuring compliance with court decisions and dereliction of duty, infringements of rights, and criminal acts by employees of state organs, last year the Standing Committee heard and deliberated the report of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate's report on strengthening procuratorial work.
-- The Standing Committee will, in this year, focus on promoting social harmony and stability, and strengthen oversight of the work to solve problems affecting people's wellbeing.
PROMOTING CLIMATE CHANGE WORK
-- The Standing Committee added two items to the agenda of its August meeting. One was to hear and deliberate the State Council's report on addressing climate change, and the other was for the NPC Standing Committee to pass a resolution on addressing climate change.
-- The Standing Committee also intensified its legislative work for a green economy and a low-carbon economy. It revised the Law on Renewable Energy, improved systems for drawing up, examining, approving, and filing such plans, created a national system based on law to guarantee the purchase of all electricity generated from renewable energy, a mechanism to compensate power grid operators who purchase such electricity, and a national fund for developing renewable energy.
MAKING BETTER USE OF DEPUTIES' ROLES
-- The special committees dealt with 518 bills assigned by the Presidium of the Second Session of the 11th NPC. Of these bills, 13 involved six laws, all of which have been deliberated by the Standing Committee; 34 involved six laws that are now being deliberated by the Standing Committee; and 249 involved 42 legislative items that have been included in the legislative plan. Deputies made 7,426 proposals, and we have either resolved or made plans to resolve problems raised in 5,523 of them, 74.4% of the total.
-- The Standing Committee further expanded deputies' participation in the work of the Standing Committee and special committees, and continued to improve services to deputies.
FOREIGN CONTACTS
-- The Standing Committee successfully hosted the third meeting of the cooperation council consisting of the NPC, the Russian Federation Council, and the State Duma of Russia. It invited the leader of the new US Congress to visit China, and successfully organized the first official visit to the United States by a chairman of the NPC Standing Committee in the past two decades.
-- The Standing Committee deepened exchanges with the national parliaments and congresses of Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Egypt, and Chile as well as with the European Parliament through the mechanism of regular exchanges, and at the same time successfully began exchanges with the French National Assembly and the Italian Senate under the same mechanism.
STRENGTHENING SELF-DEVELOPMENT
-- The Standing Committee continued to give top priority to ideological and political development, adhered to the correct political orientation throughout the performance of the NPC's functions in accordance with the law, reached a thorough understanding of the essential differences between our country's system of people's congresses and Western capitalist countries' systems of political power.
