Beijing municipal government has set up a 30-strong think tank, called the Beijing Legislation Working Group Committee of Experts, to help it draft legislation, according to the Beijing Times. Experts will serve for five years and conduct comprehensive examinations of draft laws and regulations.

All draft laws and regulations will be examined by the panel of experts before being submitted to the municipal People's Congress for discussion and approval. The experts' views will be considered by legislators when making decisions. Drawn from universities, research institutions and social organizations, the members of the think tank are experts in various fields including jurisprudence, constitutional law, administrative law, civil law and commercial law.

"The founding of the committee is an innovative method to allow experts to participate in lawmaking," said Zhou Jidong, director of the legislation office of the Beijing municipal government. In the past, meetings were held to listen to expert opinions on thorny problems concerning draft laws and regulations. The meetings, however, were usually held at short notice, resulting in low involvement of experts and poor quality advice.

With the new committee in place, the experts will examine draft laws and regulations at regular meetings. The experts will pay particular attention to the fairness and justice of proposed laws, balancing of interests of different social groups, and the conformity of draft laws with existing legislation.

"I have participated in legislative work before, but always in an informal way," said Yang Jianshun, a committee member and a doctoral tutor of administrative law at Renmin University of China. "The committee gives us a platform and our opinions will bear more weight," he said. Formulators of laws and regulations will be required to cooperate with the experts, facilitate their examination of draft legislation, and provide the information and documents they need.

"The founding of the committee will allow the experts to get involved in legislation at an earlier stage," said Wang Li, director of the DeHeng Law Office. "The government used to consult experts at a later phase. It was difficult for them to make changes when faced with a fait accompli. Getting neutral experts involved in legislation from the outset will allow the work to proceed in a more scientific and forward-looking way."

Experts will have to sign a confidentiality agreement with the government before they join the committee. It stipulates that no information shall be disclosed before the official release of draft laws and regulations, or without the consent of the municipal government.

(China.org.cn by Chen Xia, August 13, 2009)