China's top legislature on Sunday promised to give people more say in formulating legislation.
"In principle, all draft laws submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee for review will be released in full text for public comment," the NPC Standing Committee announced. Following the announcement, the draft food safety law, aimed at raising standards and regulating supervision, was made public for comments on Sunday.
In recent years, China's legislation has been on the fast track. From March 2003 to March 2008, nearly 100 laws and amendments to laws were adopted by China's top legislature. While the number of laws is soaring, how to get the best quality legislation is an issue that has drawn much attention.
Allowing ordinary people to participate in the formation of laws seems an efficient solution. Through legislative hearings or collecting opinions through the release of the full texts of laws, viewpoints from different interest groups could be reflected in the law.
China's top legislature has been trying to invite more citizens to take part in the formulation of legislation in the past couple of years, and there has been a positive response.
In July 2005, the NPC Standing Committee released the draft property law in full for public comment, and citizens proposed 11,543 suggestions in just 40 days. In March 2006, the draft labor contract law was publicized in full and 191,849 suggestions were put forward by the public in one month.
In 2007, China's top legislature also publicized the draft Amendment to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution and the draft employment promotion law for comment.
Following in the footsteps of the top legislature, some provincial legislatures also use the "open door legislation" principle.
In 2008, Shanghai Municipal People's Congress solicit comments from the public on their upcoming five-year legislative plan via the Internet, while Guangdong Provincial People's Congress solicit opinions on a draft local regulation on city management.
Making draft laws public is an effective measure for ensuring legislation quality, but many details demand attention. The public should try their best to make some to-the-point suggestions, while legislatures should try their best to absorb public suggestions in their laws and give better feedback to every suggestion provider.
(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2008)