2) We promulgated and submitted for deliberation a succession of important laws. The Law on Tort Liability is an important civil law that has a direct bearing on the vital interests of the people, and the Ninth NPC carried out an initial review of it as a draft civil law. The Standing Committee of this NPC has exerted considerable effort to carry out major revisions to this draft and deliberated it on a number of occasions. The newly formulated Law on Tort Liability takes our country's conditions and realities as its starting point; details, supplements, and improves the basic system established on the general principles of civil law; and clarifies the basic principle for assigning tort liability and the way that liability is borne. It sets forth specific provisions on issues for which there is public concern and widespread agreement, such as medical malpractice, environmental pollution, product defects, traffic accidents, and damage caused by animals. This law is of great importance for protecting the legitimate rights and interests of civil subjects, preventing and punishing infringements of rights, reducing and resolving conflicts in society, and promoting social harmony and stability.

Establishing a sound Social Security Law is a major issue that affects the vital interests of hundreds of millions of people; therefore, all sides are paying great attention. The Standing Committee attaches great importance to the work of formulating the Social Security Law. On the basis of proposals and suggestions made by deputies to the Tenth NPC, we urged the State Council to research and formulate a draft law. On the basis of thorough investigations and studies, widely solicited opinions from society, and a conscientious review of practical experience, the Standing Committee of the current NPC deliberated the State Council's draft a number of times and made major revisions to it. First, we made specific provisions for old-age, medical, workers' compensation, unemployment, and maternity insurance in separate chapters. Second, we set up a system for workers to transfer their basic old-age insurance accounts from one locality to another, and raised the level of unified management of basic old-age insurance funds. Third, we clearly stipulated that the state would gradually set up a new satisfactory old-age insurance system for rural residents, and formulated principles and provisions for the new type of rural cooperative medical care system. Fourth, we improved employers' and insured persons' oversight of social security, strengthened the oversight authority of the standing committees of people's congresses at all levels over the revenue and expenditures, management, and investment operations of social security funds, and insisted that parties in charge of social security funds ensure they are managed and used properly.

The draft Law on Administrative Enforcement, which the Standing Committee is in the process of deliberating, defines the principles that must be adhered to in administrative enforcement; clarifies the set limits of authority, the enforcing bodies, and related procedures for administrative enforcement; and requires that administrative enforcement be assessed before it is adopted, and that its implementation be subject to periodic evaluation to ensure that the exercise of administrative enforcement is standardized, limited, and subject to oversight in order to avoid and prevent abuses of power. It also endows administrative bodies with necessary means of enforcement, and guarantees that administrative bodies carry out their duties in accordance with the law.

The state compensation law directly affects the exercise of public power and the protection of citizens' legitimate rights and interests. On the basis of the serious problems reported by NPC deputies and people from all walks of life, the draft amendment to the Law on State Compensation improves provisions of the law mainly in order to make it easier to seek compensation, improve the procedures for awarding compensation, clarify the scope of compensation and the responsibility for producing evidence, and ensure that compensation is paid.

In the 20 plus years since the promulgation and implementation of the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, villagers' self-governance - consisting principally of democratic elections, decision making, supervision, and oversight - has developed by leaps and bounds and won the heartfelt support of rural residents. At the same time, we need to recognize that as our country's economy and society develop and rural residents' political enthusiasm continually increases, we should constantly press ahead with the self-improvement and self-development of the socialist system of villagers' self-governance with Chinese characteristics. The draft amendment to the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees mainly revises and supplements provisions in order to improve procedures for electing and dismissing members of villagers' committees; perfect democratic procedural systems such as villagers' congresses, villagers' conferences and villagers' meetings; and strengthen the oversight and democratic discussion of village affairs.

The draft laws that we are deliberating have wide-ranging implications, will have a significant impact on society, and have complex legal ramifications; therefore, we must proceed carefully. We need to continue to listen to the suggestions of NPC deputies, all sectors of society, and especially people at the primary level, and devote ourselves to completing the revisions in order to promulgate and implement them as soon as possible.

The Standing Committee also drew up 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 Macao University is located to the Macao Special Administrative Region.