New agency to see to Constitution application
By Meng Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-21 07:32

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) has established a new agency to review whether legislation or government decisions tally with the Constitution.

It was set up last month as a division under the Legal Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, with roughly 10 staff.

"The central task for the division is to safeguard legislative unity," said an official with the commission who declined to be identified, saying the new agency is low-key at present.

The official said the division was established mainly to step up the examination of administrative regulations, regional laws and judicial interpretations.

Under the Law on Legislative Procedures, the NPC and its standing committee are entitled to make national laws. The State Council is empowered to work out administrative laws and regulations.

On the local level, the people's congresses and their standing committees of provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions have the right to make local regulations or regional laws. But this legislation should not contradict national laws and administrative regulations and has to be put on record by the NPC Standing Committee.

All legislation has to be drafted according to the spirit of the Constitution.

The Constitution says that constitutional interpretation and supervision comes under the jurisdiction of the NPC and its standing committee.

However, the NPC convenes only once a year. The brief annual session is filled with numerous items of business including examination of the government's work and the budget review. The NPC Standing Committee meets bi-monthly, mainly focusing on lawmaking issues.

Therefore, the NPC and its Standing Committee seldom have the time to conduct constitutional overviews and investigations of constitutional violations.

"The establishment of this new legislative review body will help consolidate the legislature's constitutional supervision," said Wang Zhenmin, vice-director of the Law School at Tsinghua University.

The anonymous committee official said the new agency will also be responsible for the collection of information on constitutional violations from the public, including individuals' suggestions and comments on the violations of the Constitution.

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