Legislature to decide on date of 3rd session
The top legislature is expected to decide on Wednesday on the exact timing of this year’s plenary session of the National People’s Congress, after the nation’s most important annual political event was postponed due to the novel coronavirus epidemic.
A draft decision on the opening date of this year’s full session of the NPC was submitted for review on Sunday to the bimonthly meeting of the NPC Standing Committee, according to an official release. The meeting is scheduled to end on Wednesday. No details were disclosed.
The annual plenary session of the NPC normally opens in early March. About 3,000 national legislators from across the country gather in Beijing to review work reports from the central government, as well as the nation’s highest court and procuratorate, the budget and the national economic and social development plan. In some years, they also deliberate on key bills or elect State leaders.
However, the NPC Standing Committee decided in February to postpone the third plenary session of the 13th NPC, as the nation was focusing on fighting the COVID-19 outbreak at the time and many national legislators were working on the front line of the battle.
Also on the agenda of the bimonthly meeting of the NPC Standing Committee are draft revisions to the Law on Animal Epidemic Prevention and the Law on the People’s Armed Police Force. A draft amendment to the Copyright Law was also submitted to the top legislature for the first reading on Sunday.
In the following three days, the legislature will also have a second review of a draft biosecurity law, and a draft law on administrative discipline — a law to strengthen supervision over everyone who exercises public power in the public sector.
A draft revision to the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste will go to a third reading.
The latest version has proposed strengthened management of medical waste, especially how to manage medical waste in major infectious disease epidemics.
Draft laws are usually reviewed three times by the top legislative body before being adopted, according to the Legislative Law.
Lawmakers have also been deliberating a draft decision to authorize the State Council to temporarily adjust relevant laws and regulations in the Hainan pilot free trade zone and a report on environmental protection.
A bill aiming to improve animal epidemic control and public health in China was submitted to the top legislature for review on Sunday.
China will take a more aggressive approach to gradual elimination of major diseases threatening animal husbandry and public health instead of focusing on narrower measures, according to the draft revisions to the animal epidemic prevention law.
Utilizing wild animals for special purposes other than meat, such as scientific research, drug development and exhibition, would be subject to strict approval procedures, inspection and quarantine measures, according to the draft submitted to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.
It also includes articles to improve animal epidemic control supervision, including risk evaluations, epidemic monitoring, early warnings targeting wild animal diseases and subjecting animal markets to epidemic inspections.
More efforts will be made to strengthen prevention at the grassroots level, the bill said.
The existing animal epidemic prevention law, passed in 2008, has played an important role in ensuring safe production of animal husbandry, food, public health and environmental safety, Liu Zhenwei, deputy director of NPC’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said to the NPC Standing Committee at a Sunday meeting.
A revised law is needed as quickly as possible due to severe challenges facing animal epidemic prevention in China. The revision is being discussed amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, believed to be associated with wild animals.
After the outbreak started, the NPC Standing Committee issued a notice in February on measures to be taken against the illegal trade and consumption of wild animals to prevent public health risks.
Feng Shuzhang, a researcher in animal infectious diseases at Jilin University, in Changchun, Jilin province, said adopting a more aggressive approach, such as slaughtering all raised animals suspected of having serious diseases, is an international trend.
“For diseases that cannot be prevented by vaccines, slaughtering animals is an effective way to eliminate diseases, but it should be carried out gradually considering the economic costs,” he said.
Wild animals bred for meat, such as turkeys and ostriches, are allowed to be traded, but they also should be subject to strict quarantine and inspection measures, he said.