The Yangtze River Protection Law officially went into effect on March 1, with the aim of protecting China's longest river, strengthening the ecological protection and restoration of the Yangtze River Basin, promoting the rational and efficient use of resources, ensuring ecological safety and realizing the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Stretching over 6,300 km, the Yangtze River boasts rich biodiversity, as well as mineral and water resources. But overfishing and pollution have long threatened its aquatic life and depleted its fish stock.

The law features new requirements for the river's biological protection, sewage treatment, flood control and disaster relief, and ecological restoration. It establishes a national coordination mechanism for protection efforts, bans the construction of chemical plants within 1 km of the river and restricts sand mining along the riverbank.

As China's first legislation on a specific river basin, which strengthens oversight as well as the prevention and control of water pollution in the basin, the law is a significant benefit for the contemporary era and future generations, said Liu Huaiping, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) from Jiangsu Province in east China and chairman of Cohen Environmental Protection Ltd., Co.

The law was adopted on December 26, 2020, by the Standing Committee of the NPC. It is an example of how the NPC Standing Committee strengthens legislation and legal oversight for the country's development and people's benefits. On March 8, Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, delivered the Report on the Work of the Standing Committee of the NPC since the Third Session of the 13th NPC held in May 2020, which was approved at the closing meeting of the Fourth Session of the 13th NPC.

Past endeavors

The NPC Standing Committee is the permanent body of the NPC and the current committe has 169 members. The NPC and its Standing Committe jointly exercise the power to enact laws in China. The NPC Standing Committee has the power to oversee the enforcement of the Constitution. It also has the power to decide upon major state issues, and appoint and remove members of state organs.

The committee normally meets once every two months, but it may hold interim meetings when a special need arises.

According to the Report on the Work of the NPC Standing Committee, in the past 10 months since the Third Session of the 13th NPC, the committee formulated 9 new laws, revised 13 existing laws and made 8 decisions on legal issues and major issues last year, while it is currently deliberating on 23 draft laws.

In addition, Li said the standing committee heard and deliberated on 35 reports, inspected the implementation of 1 decision and 6 laws, conducted 2 special inquiries and 6 research projects, and passed 1 resolution. 

"We've reviewed and passed 39 bills covering 259 appointments or removals of state department employees," Li said.

"The most prominent feature of the standing committee's work is our focus on major Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's decisions and plans, the people's expectations for the rule of law in their pursuit of a better life and the legal requisites for modernizing China's system and capacity for governance in an effort to strengthen legislation and legal oversight to ensure that all aspects of our work concentrate more on the central task of economic development and overall national interests and serve our country and people better," Li said.

For example, the committee strengthened the legal framework for wildlife protection and issued a prompt decision to completely ban the illegal trade and consumption of wild animals, followed by inspections on the implementation of this decision and the Wildlife Protection Law, before making revisions to the same law.

In the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, the NPC and its standing committee prioritized legislation on public health and targeted the legal weaknesses exposed in the fight against the epidemic. It also focused on developing a better coordinated and interconnected legal system and sped up the enactment and revision of laws to strengthen the rule of law regarding public health.

To date, the revision of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law, along with 5 other pieces of legislation, has been completed. By the end of 2021, a further 11 objectives, including revising the Wildlife Protection Law, the Practicing Physicians Law, and the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Law, will be completed.

"These prompt series of legislative amendments effectively protect people's lives and health, and provide timely and effective legal support for winning the fight against the epidemic," said Sha Feng, a deputy to the NPC from Qinghai Province in northwest China.

The report also noted that the NPC Standing Committee had ratified 7 treaties with foreign countries, including amendments to the annexes to the Basel Convention, as well as extradition treaties with Cyprus and Belgium.

The NPC Standing Committee addressed all 506 bills that were referred by the presidium of the Third Session of the 13th NPC. Among these, 22 legislative items proposed by 118 bills were deliberated and adopted, or are currently under deliberation, and 58 legislative items proposed by 168 bills have been included in the five-year legislative program or annual legislative plan, Li noted.

"A total of 9,180 suggestions made by NPC deputies were referred to 194 organizations for handling, with feedback given to deputies. Approximately 71.28 percent of the issues raised in these suggestions were either solved or addressed with plans to resolve them over time," the chairman added.

"The handling of the suggestions that I submitted in 2020 is a testimony of the efficient and attentive services of the standing committee and relevant departments," Feng Fan, a deputy from Jiangxi Province in east China and vice president of the Jiangxi Lawyers Association, said, adding that her suggestion on the government's purchasing of public legal services has been promoted by relevant departments into a working system. 

"The deputies are the bridge between the people and the organs of state power. They must not only be able to hear and understand the voices of the people, but also have appropriate channels to convey these voices and opinions. The standing committee provides a solid foundation for this," she said.

Future work

This year, legislative work will proceed in key areas such as national security, scientific and technological innovation, public health and biosafety, according to Chirman Li.

To strengthen the legal safeguards for public health, Li said that a law on responding to public health emergencies will be formulated. Meanwhile, laws like the Wildlife Protection Law, the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Law  will be revised.

The legal system for national security will also be strengthened, Li said, referring to an anti-organized crime law, a land border law, a food security law, among others.

Regarding the development of a modern economic system, more laws will be formulated, such as a Hainan Free Trade Port law, a futures law and a stamp duty law.

In a bid to make the urgently needed improvements to the legal system for people's well-being, Li said that the committee passed the Antifood waste law, and is working on a law to promote the cultural industry and a family education law among others.

During the Fourth Session of the 13th NPC, held from March 5 to 11, deputies also raised their suggestions on the future work of the NPC Standing Committee. Xu Chuanzhi, a deputy from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, said during the deliberation of the work report that further improvements should be made in the timeliness and pertinence of legislation, as well as the timely tracking and evaluation of legislative results to ensure high-quality legislative work.

Miao Xiu, a deputy from Heilongjiang Province in northeast China, suggested organizing more deputy inspection and field studies which will enable deputies to gain firsthand knowledge of what the people need most urgently and to better carry out their duties. 

Li Zhanshu, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, delivers the work report of the NPC Standing Committee at the Fourth Session of the 13th NPC in Beijing on March 8. Liu Bin

(National People's Congress 2021 ISSUE 1)