Full Text: Work report of NPC Standing Committee (2)

2) Legislation pertaining to people's wellbeing was pushed forward.

Putting the people first in legislation and making legislation for them is an important principle that we must uphold in our legislative work under present circumstances. In response to strong public complaints about serious air pollution such as the frequent occurrence of smog, the Standing Committee worked energetically to revise and improve relevant laws while continuing to strengthen oversight. In particular, we made comprehensive revisions to the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law in an effort to make the law significantly more targeted, practicable, and enforceable. Increasing the number of articles from 66 to 129, we made significant modifications and improvements to the law with a view to strengthening the obligations of the government, enterprises, and individual members of society in the prevention and control of air pollution. By upgrading prevention and control standards, tightening total emissions control, and improving the emissions permit system, the revised law enhanced the prevention and control of pollution from coal burning, industry, vehicle and vessel exhaust emissions, wind-borne dust, and agriculture. It also refined systems for coordinating intra-regional prevention and control efforts in key regions and for responding to heavy air pollution.

The people will not be content until they have confidence in the safety of the food they are eating. In a bid to establish the strictest possible oversight and supervision system for food safety, one that covers the whole process from production to consumption, the Standing Committee took prompt steps to revise the Food Safety Law, taking particular aim at prominent food safety problems. With an emphasis on preventing and reducing safety risks, the revised law has improved basic systems pertaining to safety standards and the monitoring and assessment of safety risks. It brings the whole process from food production and distribution to catering under supervision, and tightens legal penalties for the unlawful production and sale of food and for neglect and dereliction of food safety supervision duties. It also prescribes the establishment of a society-wide co-governance system for food safety that comprises the provision of rewards for reporting food safety problems, the release of food safety information, and the introduction of a food safety liability insurance, so that every member of society is encouraged to lawfully ensure that every bite of food is safe.

Opposition to domestic violence is an important indicator of social progress, and an essential requirement for harmonious families and a stable society. In September 2015, at the Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, President Xi Jinping stated, "We will strive to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including domestic abuse." The Anti-Domestic Violence Law formulated by the Standing Committee emphasizes that the prevention of domestic violence is the shared responsibility of the state, society, and each family. The law has not only stipulated mechanisms and measures for preventing and dealing with domestic abuse, but has also introduced a system of restraining orders to protect the victims of family violence, thereby providing a stronger legal guarantee for preventing domestic violence against women, minors, and other groups and preserving equal, harmonious, and amiable family relations.

We also made timely changes to the Population and Family Planning Law. In order to put into effect the decision made at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee to comprehensively implement a policy of allowing all couples to have two children, the Standing Committee issued a decision on revising the Population and Family Planning Law, implementing a universal two-child policy as of January 1, 2016. The revised law explicitly stipulates that all couples are allowed to have two children. Those couples who had observed the previous one-child policy and are still willing to have only one child in their lifetime shall be eligible for a certificate of honor, which entitles them to benefits and assistance as stipulated. As a response to the major demographic shift that has taken place in China, the revision of the Population and Family Planning Law represents a major change to China's birth policy, and is a move that will have far-reaching effects on our efforts to promote the balanced development of China's population.

3) The criminal law system was improved.

With a view to implementing the guidelines on deepening judicial reform issued by the CPC Central Committee, and in an effort to adapt to new circumstances and requirements pertaining to criminal justice, the Standing Committee deliberated and passed the 52-article Amendment IX to the Criminal Law, making considerable revisions and improvements to the law. The revisions mainly involve abolishing capital punishment for nine crimes that rarely saw the sentence applied; improving legal regulations for punishing embezzlement and bribery, with a paragraph stipulating the applicability of life imprisonment and inapplicability of commutation or parole for a specific circumstance; imposing heavier punishments on cybercrime; strengthening protection of the rights of the person for women, minors, and the elderly; making it a crime to disrupt courtroom order, organize cheating in examinations, organize or fund illegal assemblies, or fabricate or purposefully disseminate false information; and repealing the crime of having paid sex with a girl under the age of 14,instead treating such an act as a case of rape in which stringency should be shown under the relevant stipulations of the Criminal Law.

4) Legislative work in other areas was coordinated.

The legislative power represents one of the most important functions and powers of the NPC. Following its submission of the draft revisions of the Legislation Law to the Third Session of the 12th NPC for deliberation in 2015, this year the Standing Committee has submitted the draft of the Charity Law to this session for deliberation on the basis of thorough preparations. The drafting of the law was overseen by the Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee. The Standing Committee has deliberated the draft twice, solicited comments from the public on two separate occasions, and made careful revisions accordingly before submitting it to this session for deliberation.

In addition, the Standing Committee formulated the Law on the Exploration and Development of Deep Seafloor Resources; revised the Advertising Law, the Seed Law, the Law on Promoting the Application of Scientific and Technological Advances, the Education Law, and the Higher Education Law; and deliberated draft legislation including a law on the management of international NGOs in China, a cyber-security law, a revision of the Securities Law, an asset evaluation law, amendments to the Law on the Promotion of Privately-Run Schools, a revision of the Wildlife Protection Law, a film industry promotion law, and a law on traditional Chinese medicine. (mo