Opinion-collecting stations gather views from across the country

Lawmakers in Xiangyang city, Hubei province, have been busy visiting communities, enterprises and government agencies in recent weeks after being tasked by China's top legislature with seeking public opinion on a draft value-added tax law.

After talking to residents and conducting surveys with business operators and officials working in the financial and commercial sectors, the lawmakers collected more than 40 suggestions on the draft, mainly focusing on tax deduction and simplifying the methods used to compute the levy.

The suggestions have been presented to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body, through a "grassroots legislation opinion collection station" in Xiangyang.

The standing committee of Xiangyang people's congress, the city legislature, acts as the station. The decision to set up stations was made by the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission in July 2015.

The NPC Standing Committee also told the standing committees of legislatures in Lintao, Gansu province, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, and Hongqiao subdistrict in Shanghai to set up such stations.

Yang Fang, deputy head of the Xiangyang people's congress standing committee's general office, said, "The station acts as a bridge between the public and the top legislature, enabling more people to take part in legislation and ensuring different voices on legislative affairs are heard."

She said she is delighted with this new work method, as the station has been added to a draft amendment to the Legislation Law, meaning that collecting public opinions will become an inevitable part of lawmaking.

The draft amendment states that legislative bodies at all levels should maintain close contact with the people and gather public suggestions on legislation by establishing such stations.

The draft revision is due to be submitted to the first annual session of the 14th NPC for deliberation on Sunday.

The revision also highlights the principle of "whole-process people's democracy" and strengthens the review of normative documents to ensure they are consistent with the Constitution. Such documents, which are frequently seen in China, cover judicial interpretations, regulations and administrative rules, among other issues.

'Head' of all laws

The draft amendment was reviewed by the NPC Standing Committee in October and December.

Generally speaking, a draft becomes law after being reviewed three times by the NPC Standing Committee. However, if a piece of legislation is closely related to the nation's fundamental issues and people's interests, such as institutional reforms to State organs or regulating civil behavior, it must be further discussed by all NPC members, rather than simply being adopted by the NPC Standing Committee.

Zang Tiewei, spokesman for the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, said in October the Legislation Law is an important law that defines the national legislative system and standardizes legislative activities.

This law, which took effect in 2000, relates to the introduction and improvement of every law and regulation, and is usually referred to as the "head" of all laws in China.

Feng Yujun, a law professor at Renmin University of China, wrote in an article published in Law Science Magazine in June that in view of new problems and efforts made regarding legislation in recent years, the Legislation Law, which was partly amended in 2015, needs urgent and further revision to continue playing a leading role in regulating legislative activities.

As public demand for the rule of law has increased, people also expect problems to be solved and justice to be realized through legislation in the new era, "or simply put, the public need for legislation is no longer based on whether it exists or not, but whether it works," the article stated, adding that legislators must meet higher requirements.