Other important laws on the agenda include the draft food safety law, which aims to raise standards and reinforce supervision; the State assets law, to protect state-owned property; and the law on administrative mandatory action, to prevent government abuse of power.

But a number of expected draft laws, such as a law on the correction of illegal acts and the 7th amendment to the Criminal Law, are not on the agenda.

The draft law on the correction of illegal acts, which aims to reform the system of re-education through labor, or laojiao, was listed on the NPC's legislative agenda last year, but it failed to be submitted for review on time.

Teng Wei, deputy director of the criminal law office under the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, said some major issues, such as who should be included in the system and how the system works, need further discussion. He said there is no exact timetable for the draft law's revision.

The NPC Standing Committee also made public yesterday its annual supervision plan. According to the plan, the committee will hear 11 work reports delivered by the State Council, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court.

Among these, the State Council's report on reconstruction work following the snow disasters this spring, financial micro-control, stability of commodity prices and prevention and control of water pollution are the most anticipated.

The committee also plans to look at the implementation of the Labor Contract Law, which has fueled controversy nationwide as many entrepreneurs said it would significantly raise production costs. The law aims to protect the interests of laborers and prevent them from being exploited by employers.

He Yehui, deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, said the committee decided to oversee these areas because "they are closely related to the interests of the people and they are what the people really care about".

(China Daily April 23, 2008)