CRI听力:Top Legislature to Streamline China's Law Making Process

Abrupt laws, made by local authorities, without following due process and without having considered the larger repercussions, make frequent headlines in the Chinese media.

One example, of such an abrupt law, was the new restrictions slapped on the southern city of Shenzhen in December.

Shenzhen authorities suddenly and unexpectedly announced that all prospective cars buyers should first buy a license plate through a lottery or an auction. The new law was to come into effect at 6 p.m. the same day, in less than 20 minutes after the authorities made the announcement. This resulted in chaos as hundreds of car buyers rushed to make last minute purchases.

A female buyer said: "I am rushing to buy the car."

Reporter: "Have you bought one?"

The buyer: "Yes, I have!"

Reporter: "What's your feeling?"

The buyer: "I won't have to join the lottery for license. But the announcement is too haste."

A male dealer said: “We have sold out more than 20 cars."

Reporter: "In this whole day?"

The dealer: "No, just now, about half an hour."

Now, the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress, is seeking to amend the Legislation Law to streamline the process at different levels of government when making new laws.

Professor Cao Yisun from China University of Political Science and Law:

"The most important theme of the revision of the Legislation Law is implementing the constitutional principle of limiting the government's power and protecting civil rights. Administrative orders that have swayed on people's daily lives are expected to be regulated by laws following the revision. "

Fu Ying, Deputy to NPC and the spokeswoman for this year's NPC session:

"In order to protect human rights, the revision adds an article that any kind of administrative legislation made by any department must not derogate any civil rights or add any obligations on citizens, unless there is legal delegation from a Higher-level Law...The draft gives legislative power to the local people's congress in all cities and autonomous regions that have districts, or the prefecture-level cities."

Phuntsok, Deputy to the NPC from Ngari from Tibet Autonomous Region:

"Because there are many differences in the level of development among different cities or regions and since different ethnic groups follow different folk customs, under such circumstances, local laws legislated by the local people's congress will fit the local development needs. "

Taxation is a crucial area, where inadequate laws have created many problems.
 
At the beginning of this year, China raised the consumption tax on oil products three times within a 2-month period. All these tax amendments were made by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, and not the NPC, which is the authorized legislative body.

Mo Jihong, a research fellow at the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, points out, before the new Amendment to the Legislation law was brought about, various departments and ministries had bypassed the legislature when making laws.

"Of China's 18 existing items of taxation, only three have proper legislations to back them, while others are based on regulations and provisional rules formulated by the State Council."

He says this practice was only allowed as an interim measure.

As China's reforms navigate unchartered water, legislation has already become a tool to lay the foundation for further reforms.

The Legislation Law, enacted in the year 2000, has been tabled for revisions twice - in August and December 2014.

For CRI, I am Chi Huiguang.