China to focus on revising, improving laws
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Regarding the major work of the NPC Standing Committee in 2010, Wu said that it put great efforts into formulating and revising important laws that form the framework of the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics, and oversaw and guided relevant authorities in completing the work of reviewing existing administrative regulations and local statutes.
As a measure to establish a sound insurance-law system, the NPC Standing Committee held three times of reading of and made major revisions to the draft of the Social Insurance Law last year, he said.
The draft law clearly states in legal terms that the state shall establish social insurance systems such as pension, health care insurance, work-related injury insurance, unemployment insurance and maternity insurance, according to him.
The NPC Standing Committee passed several revisions to the Criminal Law, and one of them abolished 13 non-violent economic crimes punishable by death, or 19.1 percent of all capital crimes, he said.
These revisions also outlawed as criminal offenses actions that severely harm public interests, such as drunk driving, speeding, and wage default, and defined more specifically crimes of endangering food safety, producing and selling counterfeit drugs, and damaging the environment and resources.
"All of this resulted in a better match between punishment and crimes so that the Criminal Law can better play its role in punishing crimes, reeducating criminals, and preventing and reducing crimes," he said.
Further, Wu said the NPC Standing Committee worked hard to make legislation in a more scientific and democratic manner, citing enacting of the Vehicle and Vessel Tax Law as an example of expanded orderly participation of citizens in the legislative process.
The NPC Standing Committee made important revisions to the law's draft based on nearly 100,000 comments from the public it received in just one month after the draft's full text was publicized.
Wu said that the revised law did not increase tax on the majority of car owners, yet could help to promote energy conservation and emission reduction.
Moreover, the NPC Standing Committee launched a pilot project last year for evaluating enacted legislation, he added.
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