Top legislator hails 'new steps' in legislative work

China has made remarkable progress to improve its legislative work over the past year, by focusing on improving the quality of the country's legislation, China's top legislator said on Sunday.[Special coverage]

According to Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the Standing Committee took new steps in the work of the NPC, and ensured that its work got off to a good start.

In total, 15 bills and draft decisions on legal issues were deliberated by the NPC Standing Committee, of which ten of them were passed, 21 laws were revised and two were enacted, Zhang said.

He said the NPC Standing Committee enacted last year the Tourism Law to ensure sustained, sound development of tourism, and the Special Equipment Safety Law to ensure safety during manufacturing and operation process.

It also made significant revisions to the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests to maintain market order and safeguard consumers' legitimate rights and interests, and revised the Trademark Law to streamline the trademark registration procedures and improved the protection system for famous trademarks.

Meanwhile, the Standing Committee also deliberated draft revisions to the Environmental Protection Law twice in the past year, Zhang said.

He said prominent environmental problems, such as air, water and soil pollution, are of great public concerns but stressed that protecting the environment is an urgent and complex task that requires long-term efforts.

The draft of the Asset Evaluation Law and the draft revisions to the Administrative Procedures Law, the Military Facilities Protection Law and the Law on Production Safety were also deliberated by the NPC Standing Committee.