China's top legislature on Saturday passed the country's first passport law, aiming to standardize application, issue and management of passports.

The law, to go into effect on January 1st 2007, will replace a regulation governing passport management that has been in place for nearly two decades.

An increasing number of Chinese have gone abroad for study, business or travel as the country is opening wider to the outside world, but the existing regulation on passport application has no longer adapted to the changing situation, said an official with the Legislative Office under the National People's Congress, the top legislature.

Official statistics show that China issued more than 4.8 million passports in 2004, 200 times the figure in 1978.

According to the law, China's passports are divided into three categories -- regular passport, diplomatic passport, and service passport.

The law bans fabrication, transfer, damage, or illegal holding of passports, while providing penalties for people who assist in passport frauds.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2006)