Food waste legislation in the pipeline

A draft law aimed at curbing food waste will be submitted to China's top legislature for a first review in December, a legislative meeting released on Friday.

Encouraging the whole Chinese society to foster a frugal attitude toward food, the draft law is expected to provided a long-term legal system of better rules on daily catering and food consumption.

It will be unveiled at a session of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, which is scheduled to convene from Dec 22 to 26 in Beijing, according to the meeting of the Council of Chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee.

The legislature has been working to advance this legislation, banning food waste, ensuring food safety and promoting frugal life attitudes across the country since President Xi Jinping stressed resolutely putting an end to wasting food and called for promoting thrift in August.

Following that, the legislature formed a special team for drafting the law. Similar overseas legislations are thoroughly referenced during the process, including those in the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee said in October.

In a separate development, a draft law on Hainan Free Trade Port and a draft decision on setting up a court to handle disputes of intellectual property rights in the port will also be submitted to December session of the legislature.

China rolled out a master plan in June for the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, which introduced a long list of opening-up policies aimed at building the island into a globally influential free-trade port by the middle of this century.

The meeting on Friday also added a few draft amendments, including those on criminal delinquency and preventing juvenile delinquency, which will also be on the December session’s agenda for further discussion.