LEGISLATORS and legal specialists want a draft law on objects that fall or are thrown from high-rise buildings to include more specific rules to make sure investigations can be launched quickly.

Some current civil and criminal laws say people who throw objects from tall buildings should be held accountable. Public concern has been growing after a number of recent cases of passers-by being hit by falling objects.

In June, a 10-year-old girl in Nanjing, Jiangsu, was injured by objects another child threw from a building. Earlier that month, a window from a 20th-floor apartment in Shenzhen fell on the head of a 5-year-old boy on his way to kindergarten with his mother. The girl survived, but the boy died.

Chinese lawmakers are trying to solve the problem through improved legislation. At the latest bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, which ended Aug. 26, the issue was highlighted in a draft civil code law reviewed by the country’s top legislature.

As well as stressing that throwing objects from high-rise buildings is prohibited and clarifying that those who throw objects should be held accountable and pay compensation to victims, the draft also orders “relevant departments” to conduct investigations in a timely manner to figure out who threw the objects.

Zhou Min, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said the draft needs to specify “who the relevant department is.”

“If the department cannot be clarified, the investigation will be hard to start, let alone be able to find out who threw the objects and to protect the safety of passersby,” she said.

Zhou suggested those drafting the law name public security bureaus as the relevant departments as soon as possible.

“The clearer the law, the more effective it will be in solving the problem,” Zhou added.

The NPC Standing Committee’s Legislative Affairs Commission is soliciting opinions on the draft of the civil code, aiming to improve it before implementation.  (China Daily)