Chinese legislators proposed in Beijing Friday that a draft law on industrial safety should extend its scope and should be put into force as soon as possible.
The draft law, tabled at the 27th session of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) for the second deliberation, was heatedly debated Friday afternoon during a panel discussion attended by members of the NPC Standing Committee.
Li Peng, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, attended the panel discussion on the draft law.
Many legislators held that it is vital to extend the scope of the law to cover all businesses, instead of only businesses which have a fixed address as decreed by the draft law.
Li Mingyu, a member of the NPC Standing Committee, said as it is a comprehensive law covering industrial safety, it should cover all businesses, whether with fixed place where they conduct their business or not.
He also proposed that the law should cover businesses with multiple ownership.
Jiang Chunyun, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said that more articles should be added to tackle the covert problems.
He stressed businesses with conditions which do not ensure production safety should be closed.
Li Denghai, a member of the NPC Standing Committee and a well-known agronomist, said safety in farm and fishery industries should be written into the law.
Many legislators attending the panel discussion voiced grave concern about industrial accidents which have occurred recently, and proposed the early promulgation of the law.
However, the draft law has still to go through the third deliberation by members of the NPC Standing Committee because disputes still exist among legislators about the content of the law, even though they believe the draft has become "almost perfect."
(People's Daily April 27, 2002)
