In addressing judicial irregularities and other problems that have aroused great public concern, the Standing Committee reviewed and deliberated on reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on how to bring judicial and procuratorial activities in line with proper procedures, and urged them to intensify efforts to regulate their activities, improve the credibility of the judiciary, and ensure that people feel justice is served in every case.

At the suggestion of the Standing Committee regarding the above-mentioned reports, the Supreme People's Court took steps toward improving judicial work by stopping the practice of ranking higher people's courts, reforming the system of adjudication committees, and standardizing criminal sentencing; while the Supreme People's Procuratorate worked diligently on implementation of measures, such as the launching of a year-long campaign to better regulate activities in procuratorates all over the country by focusing on eight areas identified for improvement.

4. We worked to promote ecological progress.

In response to strong public complaints about serious air pollution, the Standing Committee inspected the enforcement of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, focusing on key areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River delta, and the Pearl River delta. We worked to ensure that the government and enterprises take responsibility for the prevention and control of air pollution, and stressed the need to focus on key areas, address problems at the source, better coordinate prevention and control efforts in affected regions, strengthen oversight and supervision over law enforcement, and crack down on illegal behavior.

The State Council forwarded the comments of the Standing Committee to relevant government departments and local authorities, requiring them to carefully study the comments, actively contribute to the all-out drive to prevent and control air pollution, willingly accept the oversight of people's congresses, and earn people's trust by achieving real results.

It was reported in the medium-term evaluation of the implementation of the 12th Five-Year Plan that progress in meeting some obligatory targets set out in the plan for conserving energy and reducing emissions was behind schedule.

To address this problem, the Standing Committee listened to and deliberated on a report of the current state of work concerning energy conservation and emissions reduction. We proposed that conserving energy and reducing emissions should be regarded as important means for transforming the growth model and making structural adjustments, and this work should be carried out with greater resolve and increased efforts; responsibility and accountability systems for meeting energy conservation and emissions reduction targets should be strengthened; and outdated production facilities should be shut down in order to ensure that the targets and tasks set out in the 12th Five-Year Plan are fulfilled.

5. We improved the way we carry out oversight.

First, we ensured oversight and legislation were more closely integrated. The Standing Committee made major revisions to the Workplace Safety Law, increasing the responsibility of production and operations entities and of government oversight and supervision, and intensifying investigations of accountability for workplace safety. At the same time, we listened to and deliberated over a report on the state of workplace safety. The Standing Committee inspected the enforcement of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law. The State Council conscientiously studied and adopted the comments and suggestions put forward by the Standing Committee on the basis of inspections, reviewed the experience it had gained in implementing the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution, then drafted revisions to the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law and submitted them to the Standing Committee for deliberation. We also conducted research on the prevention and control of soil pollution in order to facilitate work in this area and also prepare for enacting a soil pollution prevention and control law.

Second, we improved the way we inspect the enforcement of laws. During our inspections of the enforcement of the Tourism Law, we combined our work of listening to reports and holding forums with random inspections and unannounced visits, and integrated comprehensive inspections with follow-up inspections of and oversight over typical cases. We also reported our findings both orally and via video at a Standing Committee meeting.

Third, we improved our work on special inquiries. Members of the Chairperson's Council led teams to carry out research at the community level, held forums for deputies, conducted questionnaire surveys online, and made issues of common concern to all parties the focus of inquiries in order to fully reflect the concerns of the people and community-level organizations. The State Council attached great importance to the special inquiries of the Standing Committee, and its leaders attended the meetings and earnestly responded to the inquiries, fully embodying the principle and requirement that the government should be responsible to the NPC and should be subject to its oversight.

We worked diligently to put on record and review normative documents. Over the past year, we reviewed, one by one, the 12 administrative regulations formulated by the State Council and the 15 judicial interpretations made by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate. At the same time, we conscientiously looked into the comments made by various departments during the review. (More)


Full Text: Work report of NPC Standing Committee (7)