China's top legislative body will speed up compiling the nation's first civil code to pave the way for the completion of a basic legal system by the end of its tenure.

The code will form the cornerstone of legislation ruling the market economy.

Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), made the pledge when delivering a report on his committee's work to the ongoing NPC's annual full session on Saturday.

His report outlined major legislative and supervisory tasks for the committee while reviewing its work in the past year.

"Legislative efforts of this year, the last of its five-year term, will strive to meet the needs of reform, development and stability and focus on achieving the goal of building a basic socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics," Li said.

The committee faces a race against time to formulate a tangible property law and compile the civil code, a long-cherished piece of legislation that lawmakers have been working on since the 1950s.

It will also step up efforts in formulating the supervision law and revising the organizational laws on the people's courts and offices of public prosecutors.

The agenda of the committee's work this year also includes the revision of the Agriculture Law, improvement of laws concerning social security and the formulation of laws on administrative licences.

Laws are also to be drafted on administrative coercion, government procurement, the promotion of small and medium-sized enterprises, rural land contracts, the popularization of science and technology and the advancement of non-governmental educational undertakings.

The top legislator vowed to continue making and revising laws in a bid to achieve full compliance with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Senior legislators are expected to review a draft anti-monopoly law and the revision of the laws on insurance, the inspection of imports and exports, foreign trade and the quarantine of incoming and outgoing animals and plants.

Li said his committee will enhance the interpretation of existing laws as well.

He also called for administrative decrees, local legislation and government rules to be sorted out and revised in the light of the new situation resulting from China's WTO membership.