China adopts amendment to postal law

China's legislature on Friday adopted an amendment to Postal Law.

The amendment, to take effect on the date of promulgation, stipulates that postal administrations under provincial level are responsible for the supervision and administration of postal services and markets within their jurisdictions, giving legal authorization for municipal administration.

The State Council issued an order in January calling for 27 provinces and autonomous regions, with the exception of Hainan Province, on the Chinese mainland, to establish municipal postal administrations.

The previous postal law provided a two-tier postal system featuring administration at both State Council and provincial levels.

However, the rapid development of the postal industry has made it imperative to implement postal administration at municipal level.

The amendment was adopted at the concluding meeting of the bi-monthly session of the NPC Standing Committee.

According to a report on the deliberation of the amendment, some wording of the draft amendment had been changed to avoid ambiguity.

Some legislators proposed that the draft amendment might lead to confusion that postal administrations could both provide postal services and act as regulators, according to the report.

Correspondingly, the final amendment specified that postal administrations at the State Council, provincial and under provincial levels are only responsible for the supervision and administration of postal services and markets within their respective jurisdictions.