Legislative System, Procedures, and Oversight in China

Author: Ma Huade
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-05-01
Features: This book addresses the main issues in China's legislative activities, drawing on the experience of foreign legislative systems and grounded in China's practices. Based on the principles of the Constitution, it systematically studies issues such as the legislative system, procedures, and supervision, proposing specific ideas for drafting a unified legislative law, clarifying legislative powers, improving delegated legislative systems, reforming legislative procedures, and enhancing legislative supervision mechanisms.
1. General legislative powers of local power organs According to the Constitution and the Organic Law, the people's congresses and their standing committees of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government may formulate local regulations based on the specific conditions and actual needs of their administrative regions, provided that these regulations do not conflict with the Constitution, laws, or administrative regulations. The people's congresses and their standing committees of cities where the provincial or autonomous regional governments are located, as well as those of larger cities approved by the State Council, may also formulate local regulations based on the specific conditions and actual needs of their cities, provided that these regulations do not conflict with the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, and local regulations of the respective provinces or autonomous regions. These regulations must be approved by the standing committees of the provincial or autonomous regional people's congresses before implementation.
The legislative powers of local power organs exhibit both subordinate and autonomous characteristics. These characteristics determine the following functions of local legislative powers: [56] First, ensuring the effective implementation of the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, and national policies within their administrative regions; second, addressing issues that the central government cannot resolve independently or that are not yet suitable for central legislation; and third, independently resolving various issues that should be addressed through local legislation. Therefore, the legislative powers of local power organs can be described as: ① executing and implementing laws; ② formulating norms necessary to ensure the observance and implementation of the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, and to guarantee the execution of national plans and budgets; ③ matters related to politics, economy, education, science and technology, culture, health, civil affairs, and ethnic work within their administrative regions; ④ matters authorized by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee for the formulation of local regulations.
The formulation of local regulations must adhere to the principle of non-conflict. They may not conflict with the Constitution,