Drafts of laws to improve legal system underway

The top legislature has started drafting the law on administrative discipline and the law on supervision officers to improve the country's supervision legal system, a senior legislator said on Sunday.

The amended Constitution and the National Supervision Law, adopted in March last year at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress, give fundamental legal backing to the country's supervision reform. To ensure the efficiency of the National Supervision Law, more supporting laws and regulations are needed, said Xu Xianming, deputy head of the NPC's Supervision and Justice Committee.

He said the committee has started preliminary legislation work for two related laws - one on administrative discipline and the other on supervision officers - and will move the legislative process forward this year.

Xu made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing second session of the 13th NPC.

As the latest amendment to the Constitution defines the constitutional status of the supervisory commission, the National Supervision Commission and its local branches have been set up across the country in the past year to form an upgraded anti-graft task force.

The National Supervision Law also includes a special chapter on supervision of the commission and its staff members, which stipulates that the standing committees of people's Congresses can hear and review work reports of supervision commissions at the same level, and conduct law-enforcement inspections.

Xu said in the past year the NPC has conducted research on the reform of the supervision system and the implementation of the National Supervision Law in six regions - Shanxi, Zhejiang, Hebei and Guangdong provinces, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Beijing.

The NPC's Supervision and Justice Committee also has set up a division to establish a regular communication mechanism with the National Supervision Commission and other relevant authorities, he said.

This year, the committee plans to assist the NPC Standing Committee in conducting a special inspection on the country's supervision reform and look into new situations and problems in the implementation of the National Supervision Law, according to Xu.