The draft amendment to the country's 20-year-old marriage law will be up for deliberation at the session, according to sources with the meeting of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Monday, which was presided over by Li Peng, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

Revisions to the marriage law are expected to tackle the increasingly serious social issues of bigamy, domestic violence, sex discrimination and arranged marriages in China.

Other revisions are concerned with a draft regulation on Internet security and information security and three amendments to laws concerning Chinese-foreign joint ventures, Chinese-foreign cooperative ventures and solely foreign-funded ventures in China.

The International Convention of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, one of the two United Nations human rights conventions signed by the Chinese government, will also be up for discussion and ratification.

The other convention, which is on the political and civil rights of citizens, and is currently under scrutiny by Chinese government departments concerned, is yet to be approved.

From Monday, the NPC Standing Committee will also examine:

-- three new pieces of legislation on taxation, regional autonomy of ethnic minorities and improvement in the nation's "people's jury system";

-- four draft laws previously deliberated on the national written and spoken language, fishing industry, extradition, and the protection of the interests of returned overseas Chinese;

-- and work reports by the State Council on developing the nation's west and harnessing major rivers in China, along with other reports.

(Xinhua 10/16/2000)