China's expert witnesses, who are currently employed by judicial or other public departments, will soon be independent civil agents, according to a draft decision on appraisal of justice submitted to China's top legislature Friday.

The draft decision, aiming to ensure expert witnesses are independent and impartial, was submitted for the third deliberation to the ongoing 14th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC).

The draft decision was once submitted to the 9th NPC Standing Committee, but at that time lawmakers could not reach an agreement on the draft and related departments were also disputing about it, according to Wang Yiming, deputy director of the NPC Law Committee.

"As all major parties have reached an agreement on the main principle of the future expert witness system and lawmakers have expressed a positive attitude toward the draft, our committee suggests that the draft be approved at this session," said Wang.

In the past, hundreds of NPC deputies proposed bills on revising the system.

Experts here pointed out that many disputed or unfair judgments could be attributed to the unusually close relationship between expert testimony units and judicial authorities.

According to the draft, all judicial departments are prohibited from holding expert testimony centers but public security departments are allowed to keep their expert witnesses, who are not allowed to provide services for outside applicants, according to the draft.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2005)