Full Text: Work report of NPC Standing Committee

Since the Fourth Session of the 12th NPC, the Standing Committee has enacted 8 laws, revised 27 laws, passed 7 decisions or resolutions on legal issues, issued 1 legal interpretation, and resolved to present the draft of 1 law and 3 draft decisions on legal issues to this session of the NPC for deliberation. Our legislative work has continued to be characterized by the great number, importance, and pace of activities, and we have further improved the quality of the NPC's legislative work. 

We inspected compliance with 6 laws; heard and deliberated 20 work reports from the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; passed 2 resolutions; and conducted 3 special inquiries and 5 research projects. Through these activities, we have achieved continuous progress in the NPC's oversight work, making it more targeted and effective. 

We deliberated and approved 8 reports from the NPC's special committees regarding their examination of deputies' proposals, as well as 7 reports from the Credentials Committee pertaining to its review of certain deputies' qualifications. We ratified 3 treaties and agreements concluded between China and foreign countries as well as China's accession to 4 international conventions, and made decisions on or gave approval to the appointment or removal of a number of officials of state bodies. New advances and achievements have been made in every area of the NPC's work.

1. We worked hard to advance legislation in key areas and improve the quality of legislation.

Effective legislation is a prerequisite and foundation for China's law-based governance. Continuing to make legislation our top priority, we focused on major legislative items important to China's reform, development, and stability, gave great attention to the key task of raising the quality of our legislation, and enacted a number of important laws. 

1) Major progress was made in developing the system of national security laws.

National security is the foundation of a stable country. Putting into effect the integrative national security concept and giving central consideration to China's conditions and realities, we maintained our political resolve, acted when the time was right for legislation, and worked faster to develop the system of laws related to national security. Following the enactment of the Counter-Espionage Law in 2014 and the National Security Law and the Anti-Terrorism Law in 2015, last year we deliberated and passed the Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China, the Cybersecurity Law, and the Law on National Defense Transportation, and deliberated the drafts of an intelligence law and a nuclear safety law.

The Law on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations in the Mainland of China brings the administration of activities of overseas NGOs in the mainland of China into line with the rule of law. It will help to protect their legitimate rights and interests and promote exchange and cooperation, while also helping to strengthen China's law-based oversight and regulation and safeguard China's national security and public interests.

The Cybersecurity Law is a fundamental law in the field of cyber security. The law establishes basic regulatory systems for all areas of cyber security that ensure the effective utilization, sound development, law-based regulation, and improved security of cyberspace and establish the right balance between freedom and order, security and development, and national governance and international cooperation.

The Law on National Defense Transportation is the first piece of legislation pertaining to national defense deliberated and adopted by this Standing Committee. The purpose of this law is to facilitate closer military-civilian integration in the field of transportation and improve the capabilities of national defense transportation to serve in times of peace, respond to emergencies, and meet challenges in times of war, thus better serving the country's overall strategy for national security and development. 

2) Steady progress was made in developing the General Provisions of Civil Law. 

The development of a civil code was an important legislative task proposed at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Party Central Committee, and is a move of enormous importance for fully advancing China's law-based governance and improving the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the NPC worked on developing civil law in 1954, 1962, 1979, and 2001, but for a number of reasons efforts in 1954 and 1962 failed to produce real results. The work in 1979 and 2001, through careful consideration, led to the adoption of an incremental approach, whereby individual civil laws were to be formulated first and the civil code was to be developed later when the conditions were right to do so. To meet the needs of promoting reform and opening up and developing the socialist market economy, China formulated the General Principles of Civil Law, and introduced a series of civil laws such as the Inheritance Law, the Adoption Law, the Guarantee Law, the Contract Law, the Property Law, and the Tort Law. Now the conditions are all in place for compiling a civil code. The Standing Committee has decided to adopt a two-step approach to develop the civil code: first, developing the general part of the civil code, or the General Provisions of Civil Law; and second, following the enactment of the General Provisions of Civil Law, compiling the individual books of the civil code, striving to form a complete civil code by 2020. 

The General Provisions of Civil Law lays out the basic principles and general rules of civil law, and is the leading part of the civil code. The Standing Committee has worked with a strong sense of responsibility and mission to do its utmost to formulate the General Provisions of Civil Law, carrying out three readings to deliberate the draft legislation, and making three open requests for public comments through the NPC's website (www.npc.gov.cn). After careful deliberation and repeated revisions, we have decided to submit the draft of the General Provisions of Civil Law to this session for deliberation. We believe that with the concerted efforts of all deputies, we will be able to make this a piece of legislation that stands the test of time and meets the expectations of the people, and that is characteristically Chinese, thus laying a solid foundation for the civil code.

Note: (1) This refers to making comprehensive moves to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, deepen reform, advance the law-based governance of China, and strengthen Party self-governance.