Deputies and delegations to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), or China's parliament, have put forward 1,006 motions on legislation during its fourth session, with more than half of them focusing on administrative and economic laws, a senior official with the legislature said Monday.

"Of all the motions, 33.1 percent are about government functions, concerning the boosting of sci-tech development and education; 20.1 percent are related to economic legislation involving rural development, resources saving and environmental protection," said Sheng Huaren, deputy secretary-general of this NPC session.

Reform of government functions, building a new countryside and innovation-oriented country are also on top of the next five-year plan for economic and social development now still under discussion during this session.

As provided by law, a valid motion should have at least 30 signatures of individual NPC deputies or be put forward by a provincial delegation. Of all the motions, 1,003 come from deputies and three from delegations.

According to the motion list seen by Xinhua, many were on the formulation of the same piece of legislation, such laws on the promotion of sci-tech development, promotion of transfer of sci- tech results, innovation, revisions to and formulations of the education law, compulsory education law and law on educational investment.

For the promotion of rural development, deputies also propounded legislation on rural communal economic organization, agricultural investment, irrigation facilities, according to the list. Of all the motions, eight were on formulation of the law on rural communal economic organization.

Other laws proposed to be made or revised were on social security, protection of disadvantaged social groups, organization of courts and prosecution offices and protection of intellectual property rights.

"NPC deputies have paid more attention to motions they put forward, and the bills are of higher quality and more feasible," Sheng said. Of all the motions, 541, or 53.9 percent, are appendixed with law drafts.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a circular in May last year on promoting the role of NPC deputies, which was followed by NPC Standing Committee regulations on services to deputies in terms of motion submission, said Sheng Huaren, also vice-chairman and secretary general of the NPC Standing Committee.

Sheng pledged that the NPC Standing Committee will "seriously consider their law drafts and absorb their contents" in making relevant laws. Deputies should also be invited to attend meetings on formulation of the laws to which they have made contributions, he said.

Lawmakers presented 991 legislative motions during last year's annual session. Some have been turned into laws and regulations, including the high-profile legislation on lifting the threshold of personal income tax levy from 800 yuan to 1600 yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2006)