NPC accepts suggestions from public

China's top legislator has welcomed opinions and suggestions from the public after recently proposed security law amendments caused considerable discussion online.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress' Legislative Affairs Commission said in a statement on Monday that it will carefully review public advice on draft laws and draft amendments, including those concerning the highlighted provisions, so that it can optimize legislative items.

The statement came after a recent discussion around draft amendments to several provisions in the Law on Penalties for Administration of Public Security, which was released online to solicit opinions from all walks of life early this month.

For example, one clause in the draft states that a person will face a detention of five to 10 days or a fine ranging from 1,000 yuan ($137) to 3,000 yuan if he or she wears, or forces others to wear clothes or signs that "hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation".

The clause quickly triggered a debate on Chinese social media, with lots of people, including legal professionals, questioning what kind of clothes or signs can be identified as "hurtful" and suggesting that the legislature clarify the definition.

The draft amendment was reviewed by the NPC Standing Committee on Aug 28, and its full version was published on the legislature's website to solicit public opinions from Sept 1 to 30.

As of Tuesday, the draft amendment has received more than 109,900 suggestions from almost 90,000 people.

A few other draft laws and draft amendments, including those on value-added tax and preschool education, have also been put online and are also receiving suggestions during the same period.

In general, legislators from the commission will continue to update or revise such draft laws and draft amendments in accordance with the solicited opinions and suggestions, and in China, a draft will generally become law after being reviewed by the NPC Standing Committee three times.

The statement on Monday said that disclosing draft legislative items to receive public suggestions is a requirement written into the Chinese Legislation Law as well as a regular move in legislation.

Under the law, a draft law should be open for public comment for a period generally no less than 30 days and the solicitation of opinion needs to be made known to the public.