The Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) has listed revision of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law on its annual legislative agenda.

During the fifth session of the 13th NPC, a motion on revising the law was submitted in order to set up restructuring rules for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and meet the needs of social development.

The motion noted an urgent need for revision of the law in consideration of increasing business risks for SMEs due to a complex market environment, particularly the uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current mechanism of enterprise restructuring faces challenges such as unclarified coverage of legal subjects, inadequate motivation to apply and a high procedural cost, according to the motion. As a result, there are many failing SMEs that have closed instead of being restructured, the motion added.

It's believed that the amendment can promote the revival of SMEs, protect the interests of society, and expand the coverage of the bankruptcy law in a clear manner, the motion stated.

The NPC Standing Committee launched an enforcement inspection of the law last year. During the inspection, the NPC's Financial and Economic Affairs Committee made it a priority to survey key issues related to the law's revision and collected opinions and suggestions from different sectors. To advance the draft revision, efforts were also made to conduct in-depth research on insolvency regarding financial institutions, listed companies, State-owned enterprises and private firms, as well as examine its consistency with other laws and regulations.