Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Improving and Strengthening the System of Recording and Review

by Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on Improving and Strengthening the System of Recording and Review

(Adopted at the 7th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress on December 29, 2023)

In accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws and based on pragmatic experience, this Decision is hereby made as follows, to enforce the decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on improving the institutional framework for ensuring the full implementation of the Constitution and on improving and strengthening the system of recording and review, to better exercise the power of supervision granted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress by the Constitution and laws, to give full play to the important role of the system of recording and review in guaranteeing the implementation of the Constitution and laws and maintaining the unity of the legal system of the country, to enhance the capability and raise the quality of work concerning recording and review, and to resolutely correct or annul normative documents contravening the Constitution and laws:

1. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall carry out the work of recording and review in accordance with law under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, adhere to the unity of leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people's position as masters of the country, and law-based governance of the country, leave no normative document unrecorded, review every normative document recorded, and correct every error identified. The relevant work is aimed at ensuring the enforcement of decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, guaranteeing the implementation of the Constitution and laws, protecting lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, safeguarding the unity of the legal system of the country, and comprehensively advancing law-based governance of the country.

2. No normative document shall be left unrecorded. In accordance with law, the following documents shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for recording: administrative regulations, supervisory regulations, local regulations, autonomous regulations and separate regulations of autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties, regulations of special economic zones, regulations of Pudong New Area, and regulations of Hainan Free Trade Port (hereinafter referred to as regulations); as well as interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the specific application of laws in adjudicatory and procuratorial work (hereinafter referred to as judicial interpretations).

3. Work concerning recording shall be strengthened. Regulations and judicial interpretations shall, within 30 days from the date of issue, be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for recording. Both the printed and the digital texts shall be submitted.

The General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is responsible for recording regulations and judicial interpretations and reviewing such documents in terms of formalities. Documents that meet the requirements for recording shall be registered and filed, and shall be sent for further review to the relevant special committees of the National People's Congress and the relevant working body of the Standing Committee according to their respective duties. Documents that do not meet the requirements for recording shall be returned, required to be resubmitted after supplementation or rectification, or shall be handled otherwise. The General Office of the Standing Committee shall supervise and inspect the submission by the relevant organs, and shall circulate the cases of delaying submission, intentionally or unintentionally underreporting documents, and the like.

4. Every normative document recorded shall be reviewed. Under such a requirement, work concerning review shall be carried out in accordance with law, and the work mechanism shall be improved by specifying contents to be reviewed, standardizing review procedures, and adopting comprehensive methods including review upon application, proactive review, targeted review, referral review, and joint review.

Special committees of the National People's Congress and the relevant working body of the Standing Committee are responsible for work concerning review. They shall strengthen communication and cooperation, and may engage in joint research and negotiation in the case of significant issues or circumstances. Where a joint review is deemed necessary, a meeting for the joint review may be convened.

5. Constitutionality review shall be promoted. In recording and review, extra attention shall be paid to whether a regulation, judicial interpretation, or any other normative document in question contains texts inconsistent with the provisions, principles, or spirit of the Constitution, and constitutional issues must be thoroughly studied. Normative documents contravening the Constitution or containing constitutionality issues shall be corrected under supervision in a timely manner. Requirements for improving work procedures for interpreting the Constitution shall be met, the relevant provisions and the spirit of the Constitution shall be precisely understood and explained, and public concern over constitutional issues shall be responded to.

6. Review upon application shall be enhanced. Where relevant state organs, in accordance with law, submit review requests in writing to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the relevant special committees of the National People's Congress and the relevant working body of the Standing Committee shall conduct the review and give opinions.

Where other state organs, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, and citizens, in accordance with law, put forward review suggestions in writing to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the relevant working body of the Standing Committee shall conduct the review, and if necessary, the review suggestions shall be sent to the relevant special committees, which shall conduct the review and offer opinions. Where, in the preliminary review, the working body of the Standing Committee finds that the regulations or judicial interpretations in question may contravene the Constitution or laws or contain constitutionality or legality issues, it shall initiate procedures for the review.

Where a local supervisory commission, people's court, or people's procuratorate finds in supervisory, adjudicatory or procuratorial work that a regulation or judicial interpretation contravenes the Constitution or laws or contains constitutionality or legality issues, it may report the matter level by level to the National Commission of Supervision, the Supreme People's Court, or the Supreme People's Procuratorate, which shall then submit review requests in writing to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

7. Proactive review shall be strengthened. Special committees of the National People's Congress and the relevant working body of the Standing Committee shall redouble their efforts in proactive review of regulations and judicial interpretations. Work mechanisms and methods for proactive review shall be improved. Review shall center around work focuses of the Standing Committee, be aimed at negative tendencies and typical problems in light of characteristics of reform and development in the particular stage, and be conducted with clear focuses, so as to raise the efficiency and quality of work concerning proactive review.

8. Targeted review shall be carried out with certain focuses. Special committees of the National People's Congress and the relevant working body of the Standing Committee shall conduct targeted review of regulations and judicial interpretations relating to the decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, significant reforms of the country, implementation of important laws, or interests of the people, in which they solve, in a unitary manner, prevalent problems in normative documents, such as regulations and judicial interpretations, across one field or of the same category. Where common problems in other normative documents, such as regulations and judicial interpretations, are discovered in the course of review upon application, proactive review, or referral review, a targeted review of such documents may be conducted.

9. The mechanism for referral review shall be improved. Where the relevant working body of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress receives review suggestions that ought to be handled by other organs, or discovers problems that ought to be tackled through review by other organs, the working body shall refer the matter to the relevant organs. In the course of referral, the working body may put forward opinions and suggestions on research and handling.

Where other organs find constitutionality or legality issues in regulations or judicial interpretations in the course of recording and review and refer the matter to the relevant working body of the Standing Committee for review and handling or put forward suggestions thereon, the working body of the Standing Committee shall carry out the review.

10. The mechanism for joint review shall be further developed. Where the relevant working body of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress pinpoints common problems in regulations, rules, judicial interpretations or other normative documents that are shared in the documents, the recording and review of which fall within other organs' duties, the working body and the said organs may carry out joint research and investigation or joint review, and may propose review opinions and suggestions through concerted efforts.

11. The focus of review shall be clearly identified. The review of a normative document shall be mainly focused on the following items:

(1) compliance with the provisions, principles and spirit of the Constitution;

(2) conformity with the major decisions and plans of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the directions of significant reforms in the country;

(3) whether there are provisions beyond the limits of authority of the normative document under review, reducing or impairing the rights of citizens, legal persons or other organizations, or increasing their obligations;

(4) whether there is contravention of a superior law;

(5) conformity with statutory procedures; and

(6) adherence to the principle of proportionality in terms of the measures adopted and objectives that they are aimed to attain.

12. Work to overhaul normative documents shall be advanced. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and its working body may, as needed, organize the overhaul of regulations, rules, judicial interpretations, and other normative documents pertaining to the formulation or revision of a significant law or certain public interests, in which they shall supervise the timely revision or repeal of those documents that are inconsistent with, incompatible with, or unadaptable to laws, guiding principles of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, or demands of the time, as well as the timely enactment of supporting documents by the relevant authorities. The scope, main contents, and time limits of such an overhaul shall be specified.

13. Every error identified shall be corrected. Where a special committee of the National People's Congress or the working body of the Standing Committee, in review of a regulation or a judicial interpretation, finds that certain corrections ought to be made, it may communicate with the enacting organ and push forward the revision or repeal thereby. Where the enacting organ agrees to revise or repeal the regulation or judicial interpretation in question and submits in writing specific plans and time limits for handling the matter, the special committee or working body does not have to present the written review opinions, and may suspend the review.

Where, after the communication, the enacting organ disagrees on the revision or repeal or submits no specific plans and time limits for handling the matter in writing, the special committee or working body shall present the written review opinions to the enacting organ in accordance with law, and require the enacting organ to submit opinions about handling the matter in writing within two months. The review terminates after the enacting organ revises or repeals the regulation or judicial interpretation according to the review opinions.

In the case of regulations and judicial interpretations that may lead to confusion or inappropriate implementation, the working body of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress may remind the enacting organ with an official letter of opinions and suggestions.

14. Decisions of correction or annulment shall be made in accordance with law. Where the enacting organ fails to revise or repeal the regulation or judicial interpretation according to the written review opinions or the plans for handling the matter, the special committee of the National People's Congress or the working body of the Standing Committee may set forth the following proposals and suggestions, which, by decision of the Council of Chairpersons, shall be submitted to the Meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for deliberation and decision:

(1) confirming that the regulation or judicial interpretation in question contravenes the Constitution and laws or violates their principles and spirit, and requiring timely revision or repeal thereof by the enacting organ;

(2) demanding that the enacting organ revise or improve the regulation or judicial interpretation in question or initiate an overhaul in this regard;

(3) annulling the regulation or judicial interpretation in question in accordance with law; or

(4) issuing a legal interpretation in accordance with law.

Following the correction or annulment of the regulation or the judicial interpretation, other normative documents with the same problems, if any, shall be revised or repealed by the corresponding enacting organs in a timely manner.

15. Whole-process people's democracy shall be put into practice. Work concerning recording and review shall embody the concept of whole-process people's democracy and guarantee the people's rights to information, participation, expression, and oversight in terms of legislation and oversight in the country, so as to turn the system of recording and review and the relevant work into an important form and institutional vehicle for practicing whole-process people's democracy in China.

Channels for people to express their demands shall be kept open, and the online submission of review suggestions shall be improved. Review suggestions shall be well received, registered, reviewed and handled with proper feedback. Efforts shall be redoubled to strengthen communication with the providers of review suggestions and conduct review research with clear focuses and in a timely manner. After each review, feedback shall be sent to the provider of review suggestions in a timely manner.

The role of democracy shall be fully exerted in work concerning recording and review, and efforts of investigation and research shall be intensified. Explanations of the situation by the enacting organs and opinions fed back thereby shall be heeded, and opinions of state organs, social organizations, enterprises, public institutions, experts, scholars, and stakeholders shall be heard in the form of seminars, feasibility study meetings, hearings, commissioned research, and visits for the purposes of investigation and research. Emphasis shall also be put on the role of the expert committee on recording and review.

Recording and review shall be combined with work concerning deputies. Deputies shall be invited to investigation and research, and proposals and suggestions set forth by the deputies shall be handled conscientiously to respond to the concerns of the deputies. The local legislative outreach offices shall play the role of a direct channel to convey public opinions and facilitate the communication with the communities for a better understanding of the implementation of regulations and judicial interpretations, the problems behind, as well as the opinions and suggestions of the people, so as to enlarge and improve people's engagement in recording and review.

16. The synergistic mechanism for recording and review shall be improved. Communication and coordination with other recording and review organs shall be stepped up with strengthened cooperation through double-record synergy, handling by referral, opinions collection, consultations, information sharing, capability enhancement, etc., to support and promote the supervision of rules and other normative documents by the relevant entities, exert the synergy of the system of recording and review, and raise the overall effectiveness of the system.

17. The system of heeding and deliberating reports on work concerning recording and review shall be improved. The Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall make an annual report to the Standing Committee on the work concerning recording and review for the Meeting of the Standing Committee to deliberate.

The deliberation opinions of the component members of the Standing Committee shall be handed together with the above-mentioned report to the relevant enacting organs for study and handling. The report shall also be published in the Gazette of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China and on the official website of the National People's Congress.

18. Continuous work shall be done to advance informatization in recording and review. A unified national platform for information on recording and review shall be well developed and leveraged, on which features of online submission of review suggestions, electronic record, online review, etc. shall be refined and features of data collection and legislative service shall be extended, so as to realize digital and smart development of the recording and review.

19. Communications and guidance shall be intensified. The working body of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall strengthen the communication with and guidance for standing committees of the local people's congresses in terms of recording and review of normative documents, hold symposiums and training in this respect, improve the system of guiding cases, and promote the sharing of cases of recording and review, in order to raise the capability and quality of such work by standing committees of the local people's congresses.

20. Theory research and publicity shall be enhanced. Greater efforts shall be made to conduct theoretical research and build a discourse system of recording and review centered around the implementation of the Constitution and oversight of constitutional compliance. New means and channels of publicity shall be explored to facilitate the timely release of the report on work concerning recording and review, work dynamics, significant progress, and typical cases to the public.

21. The mechanism for recording and reviewing local laws in special administrative regions shall be improved. According to the Constitution, the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress shall strengthen the recording and review of laws enacted by the legislatures of special administrative regions and maintain the constitutional order in these two special administrative regions as stipulated in the Constitution and their basic laws.

22. Standing committees of local people's congresses at or above the county level shall enhance the system and capacity of recording and review and carry out relevant work in accordance with law.

Standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall, in accordance with the relevant laws and in reference to this Decision, formulate regulations on recording and reviewing the relevant normative documents in their administrative areas.

This Decision shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.