-- With the adoption of the Supervision Law, standing committees of people's congresses at all levels well poised to oversee other state organs

Supervision is an important power of people's congresses and their standing committees endowed by the Constitution.

To exercise the power efficiently calls for a relevant law that helps make the practice standardized and institutionalized. In recent years, the standing committees of people's congresses at various levels have actively explored ways of overseeing other state organs and gained valuable experiences in this regard. However, there has been no uniform legislation to standardize the practice.

On August 27, 2006, the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, adopted the Draft Supervision Law by an overwhelming majority. The Supervision Law, which has drawn attention from all sections of Chinese society, finally came out. The law is expected to further standardize and institutionalize the supervision power of the standing committees of people's congresses at various levels.

A pragmatic legislation

"This law is highly political, as it bears on China's political system and state structure," said Qiao Xiaoyang, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the NPC Legislative Affairs Committee at a press conference held by the General Affairs Office of the NPC Standing Committee on August 27, explaining why it took 20 years to formulate the Supervision Law.

"China's political system is the people's congress system instead of the system of ‘powers and balances." Under the precondition that people's congresses excise state power in a unified manner, there is a clear-cut division of administrative, judicial and procuratorial powers, or of the functions of the state organs exercising these powers. People's congresses supervise and at the same time support the governments, people's courts and people's procuratorates. They are expected to oversee the governments, courts and procuratorates but not take their place to exercise administrative, judicial and procuratorial powers. They are all state organs under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Although they are charged with different responsibilities, they share the same missions and aims -- safeguarding the fundamental interests of the state and the people. This is a compelling feature and an advantage of China's political system. As far as the state structure is concerned, exercising the power of supervision involves the relations between people's congresses on the one hand and the governments, courts and procuratorates on the other hand and between the central state organs and local state organs. When formulating the Supervision Law, these relations should be properly handled so that it can precisely reflect our political system and state structure, correctly grasp the characteristics of the supervision of people's congresses and help make the most of this supervision. It took time to deal with these pressing issues. We had to accumulate experiences in practice before consensus could be reached." For these reasons, Qiao said, the NPC Standing Committee attached great importance to the Supervision Law. It carried out a series of research programs in a most prudent manner, committing tremendous, in-depth and scrupulous efforts. Thanks to these efforts, parties concerned gradually came to a common understanding of the supervisory role of people's congresses and the need to formulate a supervision law. "In addition to the initial deliberation by the Ninth NPC Standing Committee, the law went through another three rounds of deliberation by the current [10th] NPC Standing Committee before it was adopted today," Qiao said. "That's why it took such a long time."

Qiao stressed that being specifically targeted and highly pragmatic, the Supervision Law is expected to enhance the power of the standing committees of people's congresses to oversee the governments, courts and procuratorates. First, the law explicitly provides that the supervision of the standing committees of people's congresses mainly focuses on issues that concern the general goals of China's reform, development and stability and the people's immediate interests and draw wide attention from society. Second, the law stipulates that the main form of supervision is to hear and review reports of the governments, courts and procuratorates on some major issues designated by the standing committees of people's congresses in a planned manner every year. The law sets out six ways of determining the subjects of the reports, which shall cover issues such as those that have aroused the concern of many deputies to people's congresses or members of the standing committees of people's congresses and that are often raised in people's letters and calls. (In China, members of the public are allowed to write letters or make personal calls to government offices to make complaints or offer suggestions.)

Judging from the ways of determining the subjects of the reports, affairs that are subjected to supervision are all widespread concerns of the general public, such as issues concerning agriculture, the countryside and farmers, compulsory education, health care, environmental protection, work safety, social security and compensation for the relocated people in the work of the governments, and difficulties in enforcing court rulings, in gaining access to legal recourse and in claiming damages, extracting confession through torture, illegally prolonged detention, failures to rectify wrong rulings and judicial injustices in the work of the courts and procuratorates. The standing committees of people's congresses identify problems of common concern that have aroused strong public outrage and exercise fundamental, all-inclusive and legally binding supervision over them. At the same time, by putting the performance of the leading officials and problems in their work under scrutiny, they supervise the officials elected and appointed by people's congresses.

According to Qiao, the Supervision Law states that the governments, courts and procuratorates shall submit written work reports to the standing committees of people's congresses, detailing the actions they have taken in response to the latter's reviews of their performance. If necessary, the standing committees of people's congresses can adopt a resolution regarding a specific work report. The governments, courts or procuratorates concerned shall then file another report on the implementation of the resolution to the standing committees of people's congresses within the time frame set in the resolution. This means once they start a supervision process, the standing committees of people's congresses will stick to it until concrete results are achieved.

The Supervision Law provides that the supervision exercised by the standing committees of people's congresses as well as the implementation of their resolutions by the governments, courts and procuratorates shall be made known to the deputies to people's congresses and the general public. The supervision power of the standing committees of people's congresses is thus put under the scrutiny of the deputies to people's congresses and the whole society.

While explaining the provisions of the Supervision Law on the record keeping and authorizing of government regulations, Qiao said certain resolutions, decisions and directives issued by some local governments are unauthorized and illegal. For example, some local governments establish examination and approval procedures, charge fees and impose fines and coercive measures without authorization. As a result, the lawful rights of citizens, corporations and other organizations are limited or deprived of, or their obligations get exaggerated. In the spirit of addressing these problems, the Supervision Law provides that people's congresses and their standing committees at the county-level or above have the right to revoke inappropriate resolutions and decisions adopted by inferior people's congresses and their standing committees, and decisions and directives issued by the governments on par. The revoking procedures shall be specified by the standing committees of people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Legislation Law.

Qiao stressed that the legal interpretations made by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate shall be submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for examination and record衚eeping. Despite the crucial role the legal interpretations of the two agencies have played in guiding the application of laws in the legal practice, it should be admitted that some of the interpretations conflict with existing laws. By drawing on the provisions of the Legislation Law on the record keeping and examination of government regulations, lawmakers have made detailed provisions on the record keeping of the legal interpretations of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate in the Supervision Law.

Upholding the CPC's basic line

While deliberating the Supervision Law during the 23rd Meeting of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, members of the committee agreed that the Draft Supervision Law was formulated under the guidance of the Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents" [a policy developed by former General Secretary Jiang Zemin of the CPC Central Committee, meaning the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China] and in accordance with the Constitution. A testament to the unity of the CPC's leadership, the people's status of being masters of the country and the policy of governing the country by law, the Draft Supervision Law correctly handles the relationships between strengthening the supervision of people's congresses and adhering to the leadership of the CPC, and between strengthening the supervision of people's congresses and rendering support to the governments, courts and procuratorates so that they can function well according to law, embodying the principles of democratic centralism, collective supervision and orderly supervision.
 Yang Jingyu, Director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, revealed in his report that Article 3 of the Draft Supervision Law for the fourth round of deliberation originally read, "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels, while exercising the power of supervision, shall subordinate to and serve the general goals of the state; adhere to the leadership of the CPC, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents," the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist road; and persist in reform and opening up." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee argued that the CPC's basic line for the primary stage of socialism-to unite with and lead the people of all ethnic groups in the endeavor to build China into a prosperous, strong, democratic and highly civilized modern socialist country by taking economic development as the central task, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles [adherence to the socialist road, the people's democratic dictatorship, the leadership of the Communist Party, and Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought], persisting in reform and opening up, developing the spirit of self-reliance and pioneering enterprises with painstaking efforts-- should be incorporated into the law in its entirety. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered this suggestion and revised the draft version of this article as: "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels, while exercising the power of supervision, shall center on the general goals of the state; take economic development as the central task; adhere to the leadership of the CPC, Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents," the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist road; and persist in reform and opening up." Wang Tao, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said at a panel discussion that the Supervision Law was formulated on a sound basis. Over a long period of time, both the NPC and local people's congresses have accumulated rich experiences in exercising the power of supervision. Based on these experiences, the Supervision Law, which covers the supervision of both the NPC and local people's congresses, helps them exercise the power in a more standardized manner, thus improving the efficiency of the supervision. The main task of the current NPC Standing Committee is to improve the quality of legislation and the efficiency of supervision. The adoption of the Supervision Law is essential to improve the quality of supervision of the NPC Standing Committee and the standing committees of local people's congresses at various levels. It is also an important step taken by the NPC Standing Committee to improve the quality and efficiency of supervision and promote the development of China's legal system. It has crystallized the experiences of the standing committees of people's congresses over a long period of exercising supervision in the form of law. Also, it has legalized the power of supervision of the NPC Standing Committee and the standing committees of local people's congresses at various levels.

Cong Bin, a member of the NPC Standing Committee believes that the Draft Supervision Law, which has undergone four major revisions, is rather mature. According to him, four major characteristics stood out in the formulation process: The principle that the Constitution should be taken as the basis of legislation was embodied; the essential spirit of building political democracy with Chinese characteristics was materialized; clear-cut and workable provisions on the power of supervision of people's congresses at various levels were put forward and constructive suggestions of members of the NPC Standing Committee were taken into account.

Correct use of constitutional power

The supervision of the standing committees of people's congresses is highly political. It is exercised on behalf of the state and the people and is legally binding. A correct understanding the principles of exercising the power of supervision is therefore of paramount importance to the building of political democracy with Chinese characteristics and the appropriate exercise of this constitutional power by guarding against dereliction of duty and overextension of power.

According to Yang Jingyu, Sub-article 2 of Article 19 of the Draft Supervision Law for the fourth round of deliberation originally said, "The people's governments on par shall study and deal with the opinions made by members of the standing committees of people's congresses after reviewing the report on the implementation of the fiscal budget and the audit report." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee argued that their opinions on the report on the implementation of the economic and social development plan should also be studied and dealt with by the governments. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered the suggestion and revised the draft version of this sub-article as: "The people's governments on par shall study and deal with the opinions made by members of the standing committees of people's congresses after reviewing the report on the implementation of the economic and social development plan, the report on the implementation of the fiscal budget and the audit report." Article 9 of the Draft Supervision Law puts forward the ways of determining the subjects of other state organs" work reports to be heard and reviewed by the standing committees of people's congresses. Some members of the NPC Standing Committee suggested that how to decide on the themes of law enforcement inspections should also be made clear in the law. The Legislative Affairs Committee considered their suggestion and revised Article 21 of the draft law for the fourth round of deliberation as: "The standing committees of people's congresses at various levels shall, with reference to the ways specified in Article 9 of this law, choose several major issues that bear on the general goals of reform, development and stability and the people's immediate interests and are widely concerned in society every year and conduct law enforcement inspections on the implementation of relevant laws and regulations in a planned manner." Some members of the NPC Standing Committee raised the question whether the Decision on Strengthening Examination and Supervision Over Central Government Budget and the Decision on Strengthening Supervision Over the Economic Work, adopted by the NPC Standing Committee in December 1999 and March 2000 respectively, will remain in force after the Supervision Law is adopted. The Legislative Affairs Committee noted that the work procedures put forward in the two decisions on strengthening the supervision of the NPC were not included in the Supervision Law. In addition, although the main procedures on facilitating the work of the NPC Standing Committee were incorporated in the Supervision Law, some detailed work procedures were not included and were unnecessary to be included. Given these considerations, it ruled that the two decisions would remain effective.

Chen Shineng, a member of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, said at a panel discussion in the 23rd Meeting of the committee that it had been 20 years since the idea of the Supervision Law was first proposed. Mindful of the extensive theoretical and practical research over the past years, he noted that democracy prevailed throughout the process, especially in the recent few rounds of deliberation. The Draft Supervision Law was highly mature, he commented, adding that in the fourth draft of the law formulated at the 23rd Meeting of the 10th NPC Standing Committee, a large number of suggestions proposed at the previous sessions were taken into consideration. The draft law fully testified to the unity of the CPC's leadership, the people's status of being masters of the country and the policy of governing the country by law, to the fact that the supervision exercised by people's congresses is part of China's supervisory system and to the aspirations of people's congresses to exercise supervision according to law, guarantee and standardize their supervision, urge the governments to run state affairs by law and promote judicial justice. He believes the fourth draft was wisely devised, as it clarifies the respective positions of people's congresses and their standing committees. The law states that the standing committees of people's congresses are responsible for exercising supervision, an arrangement that conforms to the realities in the supervisory work of people's congresses.

Proceeding from China's realities and actual conditions, the NPC Standing Committee has improved the draft in a differentiated manner. It made deeper and more detailed provisions concerning issues where rich practical experiences were available. If there were not enough experiences but provisions had to be made, it only put forward general principles to leave room for further reforms. It postponed making provisions regarding issues where there was a lack of experiences and consensus among different parties until the time is ripe for amendments. This train of thought is scientific and appropriate for legislation.

Under the relevant provisions of the Supervision Law, the standing committees of people's congresses are required to pay greater attention to the concerns of the general public and become more competent in exercising the power of supervision, so that the supervision can be deepened and become more efficient. They are expected to review specific problems on a regular basis until the problems are resolved. The standing committees of people's congresses will have to shoulder a heavier workload, as the requirements upon them are raised.

(China.org.cn)