On October 19th, 2023, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee held a press conference, during which Mr. Yang Heqing, spokesman of the Legislative Affairs Commission, introduced the Legislative Plan of the 14th NPC Standing Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). This year marks the first year of activities of the 14th NPC Standing Committee. Drawing up the legislative plan and making overall arrangements for the legislative work in the next five years is of great significance for advancing law-based governance in an all-round way. Therefore, the Plan was drafted, formulated, and completed in a meticulous and careful way. Mr. Yang Heqing commented that the Plan prioritizes the urgent needs of the country, while focusing on long-term planning.

The legislative plan is composed of numerous projects to be completed. These can be divided into three categories:

  • 79 projects involving draft laws which have reached a certain degree of maturity to be now submitted for discussion and approval.
  • 51 projects involving draft laws which are not yet mature and for which further refinement is needed before they can be submitted for discussion and approval;
  • Unidentified legislative projects on which further research is needed.

Among the 130 projects of the first two categories, 60 involve new basic, comprehensive, and dominant laws formulated for the first time, while the remaining 70 are revision of laws involving institutional adjustments, reforms, as well as prominent problems reflected by relevant parties.

The followings are examples of key legislative projects for each category, for which the support of standardization activities will be particularly prominent:

First category:

  • Cybersecurity Law (revision)
  • Anti-Unfair Competition Law (revision)
  • Metrology Law (formulation)

Second category:

  • Telecommunications Law (formulation) (Please note that the Radio Spectrum Resources Law will be considered together)
  • Digital Economy Promotion Law
  • Tendering and Bidding Law (revision) (Please note that the revision of Government Procurement Law will be considered together)
  • Energy Conservation Law (revision)

Third category:

  • Legislative projects on climate change and carbon peaking
  • Legislative project on data ownership and network governance