Full Text: Work report of NPC Standing Committee

5. We maintained the unity of the socialist legal system.

Maintaining the unity of the socialist legal system is an inherent requirement for strengthening the democratic legal system and doing legislative work well. China is a unified multiethnic socialist country. The unity of its socialist legal system is the foundation for safeguarding national unity, ethnic solidarity and social stability, and establishing a unified modern market system. At the same time, China is a large country; economic, cultural and social development varies greatly between regions; and the country is in the midst of profound changes. These basic national conditions determine that China implements a unified but tiered legislative system. We have always upheld the authoritative position of the Constitution as the country' s fundamental law, and carried out legislative work in strict compliance with our statutory limits of authority and statutorily specified procedures. While enacting laws and regulations, we also carried out a concentrated review of existing laws and regulations, and strengthened the filing and examination of normative documents. In this way, we have ensured that laws, administrative regulations and local statutes do not conflict with the Constitution; administrative regulations do not conflict with laws; local statutes do not conflict with laws and administrative regulations; and provisions of laws and regulations are connected and coordinated and do not contradict each other, thereby guaranteeing the unity of the socialist legal system.

Fellow Deputies,

The vitality of laws lies in their enforcement. The formation of a socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics has generally solved the problem of having laws for people to follow. In these circumstances, the problem of ensuring that laws are observed and strictly enforced and that lawbreakers are prosecuted has become more pronounced and pressing. This is also an issue the masses have shown interest in and which has generated strong reactions from all sides. Therefore, as we continue to strengthen legislative work, we need to take active and effective measures to genuinely guarantee the effective enforcement of the Constitution and laws. First, we need to uphold their authority and dignity. All state organs, armed forces, political parties, mass organizations, enterprises and institutions must abide by them. No organization or individual has any privileges that transcend them, and all violations of the Constitution and laws must be prosecuted. Second, we need to adhere to law-based administration and judicial justice. State administrative organs must perform their duties in strict compliance with statutory authority and procedures, and accelerate the development of law-based government. State judicial and procuratorial organs must exercise their judicial and procuratorial powers in an independent and just manner, and uphold social equity and justice. Third, we need to enhance the awareness of laws and the rule of law across society. We need to get leading cadres at all levels and employees of state organs to take the lead in following the Constitution and laws, and become good at using the law to solve practical issues in real life. We need to assist the masses in learning to express their demands and solve problems and disputes in accordance with the law and legal procedures, and to use the law to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests. The NPC and its Standing Committee need to exercise, in accordance with the law, their important power of overseeing the enforcement of the Constitution and laws, and local people' s congresses at all levels and their standing committees need to fulfill, in accordance with the law, their important duty of ensuring that the Constitution, laws and administrative regulations are observed and enforced in their respective administrative regions in order to guarantee that all state organs truly use the powers bestowed upon them by the people for the benefit of the people.