"Changes are being made to the country's civil administrative legislation at a speed which has no parallel," Yan Shi, an official with the Civil Affair Ministry (CAM), said in Beijing Friday.

According to Yan, since the founding of new China in 1949, seven laws, 32 regulations and nearly 30 ministerial directives on civil administration have been formulated, most of them were done after 1994.

The changes cover a broad field including the protection of senior citizens' rights, the adoption of children, marriage registrations, funerals and burials, negative income tax for urbanites, reemployment of ex-servicemen, the soliciting of contributions for social welfare use, the counseling and compensating of the handicapped, the issuance of welfare lotteries as well as donations for disaster relief.

Tong Baogui, head of the Internal Office of the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, said, "Legislation on civil affairs has a direct bearing on the interests of people, especially the vulnerable."

"It is also has a far reaching influence on the country's economic reforms and social stability," he said.

As civil administration is mainly focused on the old and weak, the laid-off and victims of natural disasters, every job the ministry takes charge of requires cooperation from other departments such as the Ministry of Public Security, the tax department and the Ministry of Finance.

Correspondingly, the legislation of legal documents on civil affairs is more time-consuming and can cause departmental conflicts.

"The speeding up of civil administrative legislation is the result of the country's increased legal awareness and the unanimous recognition of the importance of legislation," Yan said.

According to incomplete statistics, there are 358 current local rules and regulations applying to civil administration in current use. The largest number in use in one province or autonomous region is 17, which is in Shandong Province.

In western China region such as the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Qinghai and Guizhou provinces, the number in each of them is about eight.

In 2000 alone, some 158 out-of-date regulations and normative documents were canceled and 60 items were erased from the government list.

Chen Xunchui, an official with the CAM taking charge of the implementation of China's bottom-line security system, said, "The CAM has established a series of compulsory procedures to make sure civil administrative personnel provide a standard service and perform according to law."

"Standardization helps improve transparency and wins people's trust," he said.

Currently, there are some 121,000 civil administrative personnel working in the sector and meanwhile they are receiving supervision from law enforcing measures.

In Hubei, Shandong, Henan and Beijing, a special organization has already been established by local civil affair departments to carry out much needed surveillance.

The CAM has also promised to investigate cases and enforce both administrative and economic penalties on departments and individuals responsible for any violations.

"Despite the marked progress, there is still much left to be done", said Tong, "And only after the country's economic strength expands and the reform of economic systems deepens can the legislation work be hastened."

Sources with the CAM disclosed that the Ordinance on Management of Provincial and Inter-county Boundaries as well as the Ordinance on Management of Marital Registration will be soon announced.

Another two ordinances on foundation management and preferential treatment toward servicemen are being deliberated in the State Council.

What's more, a number of regulations including the Law on the Organization of Neighborhood Committee are being amended.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2002)