The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) has listed the draft amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Law as one of the preparatory projects to be reviewed on this year's legislative agenda.

Anti-money laundering plays an important role in building the socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics, establishing a modern financial supervision system, and advancing the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance. It also contributes to China's participation in global governance and expanding two-way opening-up in the financial sector.

Despite the progress achieved since the law came into force in 2007, China's fight against money laundering is facing new challenges at home and abroad.

Amid efforts to amend the law, the People's Bank of China has published a draft revision open to public opinions and prepared a pre-submission draft to seek feedback from related parties. This was then followed by a teleconference in March, which decided to speed up the amendment and improve the anti-money laundering system.

In addition, a motion submitted at the fifth session of the 13th NPC offered more suggestions on the law amendment. To clarify the national governance structure for anti-money laundering, the motion called for specifying the responsibilities of relevant committees of the State Council, the central bank, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, public security organs, market supervision and management authorities, customs, courts and other institutions.

Efforts are also needed to establish a national anti-money laundering information sharing platform under the leadership of the central bank, and to further define the legal responsibilities faced by individuals, according to the motion.