BEIJING, March 9 (Xinhua) --

China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, said Tuesday that the top legislature would ensure the goal of formulating a socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics by the end of this year, as scheduled.

The goal is the "bounden duty" and "primary task" of the National People's Congress (NPC) this year, Wu said in a report on the work of the NPC Standing Committee delivered at the ongoing annual NPC session.

Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said the legislature would promptly formulate new laws, revise some existing laws, and make legislation more scientific and democratic in order to meet the goal set at the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

He also promised to supervise and guide efforts to sift through administrative regulations and local statutes and improve the filing and examination of normative documents.

SOCIALIST LEGAL SYSTEM BASICALLY ESTABLISHED

A socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has been basically established and there are now laws that cover almost every area of China's economic, political, cultural and social activities, Wu said.

However, he noted that rapid economic and social development continues to place new demands on China's legislative work.

Li Xiusong, an NPC deputy and deputy director of the Department of Culture of east Anhui Province, agreed that China has initially formed a comparatively comprehensive and complete legal system.

Zhou Ze, a lawyer in Beijing, said China's existing laws and regulations cover almost all social areas. "The problem sometimes is that the laws are not effectively implemented."

There are more than 220 state laws in China. Last year, an important item on the NPC Standing Committee's agenda was the revision of the Electoral Law, which proposes electing deputies to people's congresses based upon the same population ratio in urban and rural areas and assures an appropriate number of deputies from every locality, ethnic group, and sector.

Wu said the amendment, which was submitted to the NPC session for deliberation, better embodies the principle that "all people, all localities, and all ethnic groups are equal."

In 2009, the committee enacted laws on tort liability, settlement of land disputes, national defense mobilization, the armed police force and others.

This year, one major task for the committee is to finish deliberating and revising the draft Social Security Law, a major issue that has drawn wide attention as it affects the lives of hundreds of millions, Wu said.

The draft law allows workers to transfer their basic old-age insurance accounts from one locality to another. It also stipulates that the state would gradually set up a new old-age insurance system for rural residents.

Other legislative efforts underway include deliberation of draft laws and amendments that are aimed at clarifying the set limits of administrative authority and the enforcing bodies, making it easier for people to seek state compensation and improving procedures for electing and dismissing members of village committees.

BIGGER ROLE FOR DEPUTIES, PUBLIC

Wu said the Standing Committee would continue to press ahead with legislative work in a scientific and democratic way and ensure that NPC deputies fully play their role and expand the public's participation in legislative work.

Chen Shu, an NPC deputy and honorary chairman of the Guangzhou Lawyers Association, has been going around China since last August for independent investigations. He was entrusted by the NPC Standing Committee to collect first-hand information to serve as reference for revising the Law on the Entry and Exit of Aliens.

Chen said it is an important trend that NPC deputies participate fully in legislative work.

"Government departments used to play a dominant role in formulating and revising laws, which makes it hard for them to be completely objective," Chen said.

Li Xiusong recommended that draft laws should be made public to fully solicit opinions of all social groups before being enacted.

"We should avoid finding that laws are difficult to implement shortly after they are promulgated," he said.

LEGISLATIVE EFFORT TO PUSH FOR GREEN ECONOMY

In the past year, the NPC Standing Committee also intensified legislative input on a green and low-carbon economy in order to address climate change, Wu said in the report.

In August, the Standing Committee passed a resolution on addressing climate change.

It also revised the Law on Renewable Energy, which further defined the main content and principles for formulating plans to develop and use renewable energy, and improved systems for drawing up, examining, approving and filing such plans.

The amendment also created a national system based on a law to guarantee the purchase of all electricity generated from renewable energy.

"All this is of great significance for promoting sound and rapid development of China's renewable energy industry, adjusting its energy structure, and intensifying the development of a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society," Wu said.

Chen Ying, a researcher at the Research Center for Sustainable Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it was necessary to support energy conservation and emissions reduction through legal means.

"To achieve the voluntary target China has set on reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, it needs guarantees from the law," Chen said.

China has promised to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

The third plenary meeting of the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) is held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2010. (Xinhua/Yang Zongyou)

In the past year, an important item on the committee's agenda was revision of the Electoral Law.

The amendment proposes electing deputies to people's congresses based on the same population ratio in urban and rural areas and assures an appropriate number of deputies from every locality, ethnic group, and sector.

Wu said the amendment, which has been submitted to the ongoing NPC session for deliberation, better embodies the principle that "all people, all localities, and all ethnic groups are equal."

The NPC Standing Committee also intensified legislative input on a green and low-carbon economy in order to address climate change, Wu said.

It revised the Law on Renewable Energy, which further defined the main content and principles for formulating plans to develop and use renewable energy.

The committee also enacted six laws in 2009 on tort liability, settlement of land disputes, national defense mobilization, the armed police force and others.

This year, one major legislative task for the committee is to finish deliberating and revising the draft Social Security Law, a major issue that has drawn wide attention as it affects hundreds of millions, Wu said.

The draft law allows workers to transfer their basic old-age insurance accounts from one locality to another. It also stipulates that the state would gradually set up a new satisfactory old-age insurance system for rural residents.

Deputies attend the third plenary meeting of the Third Session of the 11th National People's Congress(NPC) held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 9, 2010. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Other major legislative efforts underway include deliberation of the draft Law on Administrative Enforcement and the draft amendment to the Law on State Compensation, which, respectively, clarifies the set limits of authority and the administrative enforcing bodies, and makes it easier to seek compensation.

The draft amendment to the Organic Law of Villagers' Committees, also under deliberation, mainly revises and supplements provisions in order to improve procedures for electing and dismissing members of villagers' committees.

Last year, the top legislature repealed eight laws and decisions on related legal issues, revised 141 clauses of 59 laws, and identified a number of other laws that clearly need to be revised, Wu said.