On February 22, experts from the fields of insurance and law discussed a draft of the controversial regulation on drivers' third-party liability insurance, which was published by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council. The session was organized by the PICC Property and Casualty Co.

The experts proposed modifications to the draft, some of them saying that the insurance companies would become traffic accident scapegoats if the rules were passed into law.

The fact that the session was held just before February 28, the deadline for public comments on the draft, indicates that China's biggest auto insurance company had learned how to use professional voices to express its opinions.

Now, more and more such interest groups are taking advantage of opportunities to participate in the lawmaking process. For example, many opinions were given during legislation of the Contract Law, the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, the Land Administration Law, and the Law on Road Traffic Safety.

"Besides the legislature and the government, opinions from scholars, the general public, organizations and enterprises also have an impact on legislation in China," said Li Shuguang, vice dean of the China University of Political Science and Law's Graduate School.

The increased participation of interest groups and individuals demonstrates the transformation of the legislative process in China. The public is no longer expected simply to follow the law passively: it actively participates in its creation.

"Legislation is the institutional distribution of power among interests. In order to balance the power of the law between all interest groups, they must all have the opportunity to join the drafting process and lobby for their own interests," said Professor Zhou Wangsheng, director of the Peking University's Legislation Study Center.

Behind this change is China's reform and opening, which began in 1978. As it transits from a planned economy to a market economy, the control that characterized the former is gradually being replaced by the autonomy of the latter. Resurgence in public consciousness of rights and interests and the diversity of those interests are the drivers of the country's legislative transformation.

The process requires that the government make a legislation plan, appoint a drafting committee, and organize a group of drafters to research, seek comments and complete a preliminary draft before submitting it to the National People's Congress (NPC) or people's congresses of localities. Finally, the deputies will discuss and vote on the law.

According to Zhou, about 75-85 percent of the laws adopted by the NPC in the past 20 years were proposed by the State Council. The Xinhua News Agency reports that the State Council proposed 38 of the 76 draft laws that went to the 10th NPC for consideration.

At the same time, administrative organs of the government passed numerous regulations.

"Much work has to be done on drafting laws during this period of legislative transformation. It is difficult for the NPC to complete the draft process without the government. The government has a far greater share of resource distribution," said Zhou.

Joining the legislature's public opinion discussions is the most common way for people to make their voices heard. They can also offer suggestions to the legislature and present their opinions in the media.

Since the 1980s, lawyers and other law professionals have been the most active both in drafting and proposing laws. The government has invited them to join in drafting important amendments to the Constitution, the Criminal Law, the General Provisions of the Civil Law, the Criminal Procedure Law and Administrative Procedure Law, as well as in creating and amending regulations.

On September 3 last year, the Law Committee under the Beijing Municipal People's Congress' Standing Committee organized the first hearing on the city's regulation for implementing the national Road Traffic Safety Law. Sixteen citizen representatives had the chance to speak. On October 22, after some changes were made in accordance with the opinions expressed at the hearing, the regulation was adopted.

The hearing was a landmark in the city's democratization drive. It built a platform for different interest groups to express their standpoints. 

Many interest groups still have a long way to go in determining the best ways to use the power of their voices. For example, in past legislation on direct sales and taxes, foreign companies showed the advantage of their far greater experience in protecting their own interests by lobbying legislators. But the change is now well under way, and Chinese lobbyists are learning to make their voices to best effect.

(China Newsweek, translated by Wu Nanlan for China.org.cn, March 29, 2005)