CHINA’S top legislature said yesterday it will prioritize legislation on public health this year in an annual work report.

The report of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) was delivered by Li Zhanshu, chairman of the committee, during the annual session of the NPC in Beijing.

China is planning to complete formulating and implementing special plans for enacting or revising 30 laws on public health this year and next to strengthen legal safeguards for public health, he said.

The NPC Standing Committee plans to revise the Wildlife Protection Law, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, and the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, according to the report.

According to the report, aside from deliberating the draft revisions to the Law on Animal Epidemic Prevention to strengthen early warning and monitoring of epidemics originating from animals, the top legislature also deliberated the draft biosafety law focusing on guarding against biological risks, promoting the sound development of biotechnology and supporting the national biosafety system.

Other legislative work in the report included formulating the Yangtze River Conversation Law, the Vocational Education Law, the Hainan Free Trade Port Law and the Social Assistance Law as well as revisions of the Emergency Response Law, the Law on Protection of Personal Information, the Data Security Law, the Export Control Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the Electoral Law and the National Flag Law.

It will focus its oversight work this year on winning the fight against poverty and building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, Li said.

In addition, the top legislature will strengthen international exchanges on public health legislation this year.

Li said the committee is resolute in its commitment to pass national security legislation for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He said the legislation would bolster the city’s stability and prosperity as well as protect national security.

Remaining committed to upholding law-based governance in Hong Kong and Macao, the top legislature will work to safeguard constitutional order in the two special administrative regions as stipulated in China’s Constitution and the basic laws, refine the system for interpreting the basic laws by the NPC Standing Committee, and establish a sound legal system and effective enforcement mechanisms at the national level for safeguarding national security in the two regions, according to Li.

Li hailed the draft of China’s first Civil Code as an “important milestone” in the country’s advancement of the rule of law.

The draft is composed of 1,260 articles across general provisions and six particular areas and touches upon almost every aspect of people’s lives.

According to Li, the NPC Standing Committee deliberated 48 drafts of laws and decisions and adopted 34 of them last year, including five new laws, 17 revisions of existing laws and 12 decisions on legal matters and major issues.

The top legislature heard and deliberated 39 reports, inspected the enforcement of six laws and approved five bilateral treaties.

Li announced that a unified nationwide digital platform to record and review normative documents has been established.

(Xinhua)

The comittee also carried out reviews based on requests from citizens and organizations, with a total of 138 requests received in 2019.