Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's legislature, recently authored an article on the legal system and law-making in the Communist Party magazine "Seeking Truth." The following is an excerpt:

The legislature has scored emphatic merits over the past 20-odd years. The Constitution, enacted in 1982 in the wake of the chaotic "cultural revolution" (1966-76), has been revised three times in line with the trends of reality.

From 1979 to date, the NPC and its standing committee passed more than 440 statutes, interpretations and directives concerning specific legal affairs, with over 200 of them still in force today.

Meanwhile, more than 960 administrative decrees have been made by the State Council, along with over 8,000 bylaws by local congresses and their standing committees, and over 960 autonomous or separate ordinances in regions of ethnic autonomy.

A Constitution-centred socialist legal infrastructure with Chinese distinctions has begun to take shape, which has permanently terminated the past lawlessness and will ensure smooth sailing of the country's modernization drive.

However, we need to preserve a sober insight into the fact the legislation has yet to be fully brought in line with the market system, as well as China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

Whereas some major codes are still absent, some of the existing ones badly need revision or detailed ancillary rules for implementation. There is even discord between some laws and regulations.

It is therefore the cardinal job of the NPC and its standing committee to further improve law-making.

The goal of the 10th NPC, which started its five-year term last March, is to mould a basic socialist legal system with Chinese features. To meet this end, we have highlighted the quality, rather than quantity of legislations as the key point.

In this sense, law-making should always adhere to the country's reality. Prosperity in some places does not eclipse the backward scientific and educational levels, wealth gaps between urban and rural areas and mass layoffs that still lie ahead in China's long trek toward industrialization.

Legislation can therefore only be made out of reality instead of any dogmas, assumptions or wishful thinking. Nor should they be duplicated from Western countries.

Law-making schedules should be arranged to serve the need of the market and overall social progress, as well as the interests of the people.

Reference to good foreign experience is certainly necessary in our legislation in answer to the globalization trend, but an analytical approach is needed and blind imitation should be ruled out.

Harmony between different rules must also be underlined. China's legislation is a three-tier system, including the Constitution and laws made by NPC; statutes of local congresses; and the State Council's administrative decrees.

All these rules should conform to the Constitution, administrative decrees should not contradict laws, and local codes should not contradict laws and central administrative decrees.

Meanwhile, the economic and cultural imbalance between different areas demands separate rules catering to different conditions. Therefore, legislation should avert conflicts of rules on one hand while retaining a multi-layer structure on the other.

A proper distinction between State power and individual rights is needed to ensure the quality of legislation. Considering that a large number of statute books are drafted by functional departments concerned, it is particularly important to take a "people first" approach and prevent these departments from cashing in by legislating for their own special interests.

We need to grant administrative bodies the means necessary to make them work effectively, but at the same time keep a rein on them to protect the rights of citizens and organizations from unwarranted infringement.

Answering the 10th NPC's goal of moulding a basic legal infrastructure, the Standing Committee of the NPC mapped out a clear law-making agenda late last year which focuses on fields where laws are most needed.

Most of the 76 legislative items planned in the agenda can be categorized into three types: laws that are indispensable to the completion of legal system; laws key to the market system and people's interests; and laws that are well-timed to be enacted.

In regard to important items for which the time is not ripe to make laws, the agenda will leave them to the State Council's administrative ordinances.

The agenda also puts the revision of current laws on par with the making of new ones. As the country continues moving ahead on political, economic and cultural fronts, anachronistic laws need to be revised accordingly in a timely manner.

The legislative agenda is not exclusive. It can be adjusted according to the real situation, and items outside the agenda may be added in if necessary.

Two things deserve special attention in our law-making plan. First, we cannot blindly model after stereotypical Western legislative systems. If existent foreign laws do not tally with China's de facto need, it is all right to forgo such laws, and vice versa.

Second, the three-tier legislative structure is in line with reality in China. It is impractical to make laws on every new issue rising amid reform and development, whereas bylaws and administrative decrees can supplement for the time being.

Meanwhile, local codes and autonomous ordinances can well address the varying and specific needs of different constituencies.

(China Daily February 5, 2004)