Highlights of top legislator's work report

Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo is delivering a work report of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) at a plenary meeting of the NPC's ongoing annual session in the Great Hall of the People of Beijing, March 10. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China's top legislator Wu Bangguo delivered a report on the work of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) Thursday to the parliament's annual session.

Following are the highlights of Wu's report distributed to the media before the opening of the session:

Overall Work in 2010

- The NPC Standing Committee deliberated and passed 16 bills and draft decisions on legal issues; listened to and deliberated 13 work reports by the State Council, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; investigated compliance with six laws; conducted investigations and studies on two special topics and made inquiries on three special topics; handled 506 bills submitted by NPC deputies; approved three treaties and accords China concluded with foreign countries and China's accession to one international convention; made decisions on and approved the appointment or removal of a number of employees in state bodies; and made new contributions to ensuring that a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics was established on schedule, promoting the implementation of major decisions and arrangements of the central leadership, and stimulating comprehensive, balanced and sustainable economic and social development.

Legislative Work in 2010

- The NPC Standing Committee formulated and revised important laws in 2010, including the Social Insurance Law, the Law on Deputies to People's Congresses, the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, the Law on State Compensation, the Criminal Law, the People's Mediation Law, and others.

- The NPC Standing Committee supervised and guided relevant authorities in completing the concentrated review of existing administrative regulations and local statutes. By the end of last year, the State Council and local people's congresses had revised 107 administrative regulations and 1,417 local statutes, repealed 7 administrative regulations and 455 local statutes, and completed the concentrated review of existing administrative regulations and local statutes, thereby ensuring the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics was established on schedule in 2010.

- The NPC Standing Committee worked hard to make legislation more scientific and democratic, such as getting NPC deputies to fully play their role in legislative work, expanding the orderly participation of citizens in the legislative process, and launching a pilot project last year for evaluating enacted legislation.

Oversight Work in 2010

- The NPC Standing Committee strengthened oversight of economic work, focusing on helping transform the pattern of economic development.

- The NPC Standing Committee strengthened oversight of the major work related to the people's well-being that is of great concern to the general public.

- The NPC Standing Committee improved its oversight methods, with the focus on getting better results.

Forming of Socialist System of Laws with Chinese Characteristics

- The legislative goal set forth in 1997 at the Fifteenth National Congress of the CPC of forming a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics by 2010 was attained on schedule.

- A socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics has been formed which is based on the situation and realities in China; complies with the requirements for reform, opening up and socialist modernization; represents the will of the Party and the people; is rooted in the Constitution; has several types of laws including laws related to the Constitution, civil laws and commercial laws, as its backbone; and has different levels of legal force, reflected in laws, administrative regulations, and local statutes.

- By the end of 2010, China had enacted 236 laws, over 690 administrative regulations and more than 8,600 local statutes that are now in force, and fully completed the work of reviewing current laws, administrative regulations and local statutes.

- China now has a complete set of types of laws covering all areas of social relations, with basic and major laws of each type already in place, together with comprehensive corresponding administrative regulations and local statutes. Overall, the system of laws is scientific, harmonious and consistent.

- There are laws to cover every area of economic, political, cultural, social and ecological development in the country.

Legislative Work in 2011

- The legislative work of the NPC Standing Committee this year is to promptly revise laws that are not compatible with economic and social development, and enact in a timely manner laws that are vital for pushing forward scientific development and promoting social harmony in accordance with the overall requirements for improving the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics.

- The NPC Standing Committee will revise the Budget Law, the Law Concerning the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases, the Criminal Procedure Law, the Civil Procedure Law, the Organic Law of Local Governments, and the Military Service Law.

- The NPC Standing Committee will enact the Law on Mental Health, the Law on Administrative Coercion, and the Law on Entry and Exit Administration.

Oversight Work in 2011

- This year, the NPC Standing Committee's oversight work will firmly focus on the implementation of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan expected to be approved at this session, carry out oversight in a variety of ways in accordance with the provisions of the Oversight Law, concentrate oversight more on matters concerning the country's overall interests and the people's well-being, and obtain more tangible results from the NPC's oversight work.

- The NPC Standing Committee will listen to and deliberate the State Council's reports on its work concerning accelerating the transformation of the pattern of economic development, environmental protection, reform of the tenure of collective forests and developing the tourism industry.

- The NPC Standing Committee will listen to and deliberate the State Council's reports on building low-income housing, implementing the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Education Reform and Development, and fire prevention.

- The NPC Standing Committee will address the issue of appropriately adjusting income distribution with its focus on intensifying investigations and studies on raising the proportion of national income that goes to individuals, raising the proportion of workers' wages in the primary distribution, standardizing income distribution, strengthening the role of taxation in adjusting incomes, and reversing the widening income disparity.