news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

"How does your country solicit opinions from the grassroots when legislating? How are the opinions of the grassroots conveyed to higher authorities?" On August 24, a consultation meeting for legislative opinions and suggestions on local regulations was held at the People's Congress Representative Liaison Station in Xinghualing Street, Taiyuan, Shanxi. Issues such as scientific legislation and democratic legislation became the focus of questions from the "audience".

This was a special consultation meeting. Unlike previous meetings, this time there were dozens of important foreign guests, who filled the back seats, including Akesong, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Speaker of the Tanzanian National Assembly, Chun Gong, Secretary General of the IPU, and heads of parliamentary delegations from developing countries.

At the consultation meeting, 10 relevant representatives participated in the draft discussion.

A consultation meeting for suggestions at the grassroots legislative contact point

The Paper noted that the IPU is the world's oldest, largest and most influential international parliamentary organization, and an important platform for legislative bodies of various countries to communicate, dialogue and seek cooperation. In the 40 years since joining the IPU, the cooperation between the NPC and the IPU and legislative bodies of various countries has continued to deepen and become more practical.

On the morning of August 20, the 40th anniversary celebration of the National People's Congress joining the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the sixth seminar for parliamentarians from developing countries opened in Beijing. Afterwards, the seminar members visited and exchanged views in Shanxi and Tianjin from Beijing.

Xinghualing District is located in the northeast of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, and has 12 towns under its jurisdiction. Xinghualing Sub-district is located in the south-central part of Xinghualing District, and has the Xinghualing Regional Party and Mass Service Center, which is the location of the grassroots legislative contact point of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

At the consultation meeting, participating representatives solicited opinions and suggestions on the "Shanxi Sports Development Regulations (Draft)". National People's Congress representative, Yang Rong, deputy director of Sanqiao Police Station, Xinghualing Branch, Taiyuan Public Security Bureau, Shanxi Province, and others spoke and put forward suggestions.

In order to better understand the opinions of the participating representatives, Cai Fenxiang, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, also participated in the consultation meeting. Dozens of foreign guests in the audience participated in the exchange, and learned about and felt the Chinese legislative landscape on the spot.

Akeson, Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, spoke at the consultation meeting.

The draft regulations for consultation consist of 10 chapters and 62 articles, which clarify the legislative purpose, principles, main contents of sports development, supervision and management, and legal responsibilities, and have strong local characteristics. "The draft regulations are an operational refinement to ensure the in-depth implementation of the superior law in Shanxi, but there is room for further refinement of some individual clauses." Yang Rong made two specific suggestions in her speech. One of them is to clarify the responsibilities and scope of the daily supervision department of non-academic off-campus sports training institutions in the draft. "The reason is that with the emergence of off-campus non-academic sports training institutions, the scope and responsibilities of supervision are not clear, and the performance of duties is not in place. The training institutions are not in compliance with the regulations on the configuration of venues and equipment, there are problems with the qualifications of teachers, and there are safety issues such as injuries caused by improper training, which are easy to cause conflicts and disputes."

To this end, she suggested that the draft regulations should clarify the responsibilities of the daily regulatory departments of non-academic extracurricular sports training institutions, clarify the scope of supervision and red lines, so as to jointly build a solid safety line for extracurricular sports training institutions.

Yang Rong has participated in such consultation meetings for opinions and suggestions many times. In order to promote scientific legislation, democratic legislation, and legislation in accordance with the law, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress established the first batch of "national" grassroots legislative contact points in July 2015. On October 23, 2020, the Xinghualing Street Grassroots Legislative Contact Point was established and was established by the Legal Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress as the grassroots legislative contact point in the province. It is also the first grassroots legislative contact point in Shanxi Province. In July 2022, the Xinghualing Regional Party and Mass Service Center was established as the grassroots legislative contact point of the Legal Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

It is reported that for various draft laws and regulations, the grassroots legislative contact point of the Xinghualing Regional Party and Mass Service Center uses various forms to solicit opinions and suggestions from all walks of life. For example, by holding consultation meetings, opinions and suggestions are collected on the spot. At present, more than 400 opinions have been collected on 40 laws and regulations, including the "Shanxi Province Fenhe River Protection Regulations (Draft)" and the "Taiyuan City Tourism Regulations (Draft Revised)", and more than 300 opinions have been sorted out and reported.

The Paper observed that grassroots legislative contact points are conducive to bringing legislation closer to ordinary people and reflecting the reasonable opinions of the masses in legal provisions. Grassroots legislative contact points play an active role, which has become one of the rich, vivid and efficient democratic practices in contemporary China.

Foreign guests visited the Xinghualing Street People's Congress Representative Liaison Station to learn about China's legislative practice of "whole-process people's democracy."

Experience the whole process of people's democratic legislation in China

At the consultation meeting, Xing Jun, a deputy to the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress and a senior coach at the Taiyuan Amateur Swimming School, put forward more specific opinions and suggestions. She said: "The content of the draft regulations is highly operational and practical, and can effectively promote the development of sports in our province, but I hope to delete Article 25, paragraph 2 of the regulations."

This clause is about encouraging schools to purchase liability insurance and encouraging students to voluntarily participate in accident insurance. "According to Article 16 of the Shanxi Province School Student Personnel Personal Injury Accident Prevention and Handling Measures, there are special and clear provisions for schools and students to participate in insurance. The encouragement clause in the draft is not mandatory, and it is recommended to implement it in accordance with the existing regulations." Xing Jun said.

As soon as he finished speaking, another representative immediately expressed reservations. "Just now, Representative Xing Jun mentioned the provisions of Article 25, Paragraph 2 of the draft. From the perspective of the school, I think this provision is still very necessary." Xu Yunli, a deputy to the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress and principal of Taiyuan No. 16 Middle School, said that she was on vacation when she received the draft regulations for comments, but immediately discussed the relevant issues with physical education teachers and principals of her school and some neighboring sister schools and summarized a number of suggestions. "I think schools should be encouraged to purchase liability insurance and students should be encouraged to voluntarily participate in accidental injury insurance. I personally reserve my opinion."

Xu Yunli believes that "because sports activities on campus may cause students to suffer accidental injuries, the insurance system can reduce the medical burden on schools and parents, making them more at ease and relieving their worries."

At the consultation meeting, Namibian Speaker Kajavivi commented in the audience.

In the audience, Namibian Speaker Kajavivi expressed his approval for the above suggestions and practices, and shared his feelings: Encouraging school students to buy sports insurance is a very good practice, which inspired him a lot. During the discussion, two other parliamentarians successively raised questions about the legislative process. For example, how does the state solicit opinions from the grassroots in legislation? How can the opinions of the grassroots be conveyed to the higher authorities?

"Our legislation includes legislation by the National People's Congress and local legislation. In order to ensure the democratization of legislation, opinions will be solicited for each draft law. The specific draft texts will be sent to the provinces and grassroots legislative contact points to solicit opinions. In this process, the people's congresses at all levels will also attach great importance to the opinions of the people's congress representatives." Cai Fenxiang introduced that in response to the content of the draft, the people's congresses at all levels arranged field research to understand the needs of the grassroots and invited relevant departments and experts to solicit opinions. In addition, the opinions of the public will be solicited through the media. Legal review is not a one-time solution to the problem. Some require a second or third review to fully guarantee the important role of the people in legislation.

"I am a community police officer. 80% of my working time is spent dealing with the people at the grassroots level. While serving the people, I also perform my duties as a deputy to the National People's Congress." Yang Rong gave an example, saying that when soliciting opinions on the draft revision of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law last year, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress sent a letter to solicit opinions and suggestions from deputies and their work units. "All 141 grassroots law enforcement officers of our Taiyuan Public Security Bureau participated in the solicitation of opinions. At that time, we put forward seven opinions, and one was adopted in the second draft. We police officers were very excited. We felt that the opinions and suggestions from the grassroots level could really reach the National People's Congress directly. The whole-process people's democracy is not just a slogan, but real and effective."

National People's Congress deputy Yang Rong put forward legislative suggestions and responded to questions from foreign guests at the consultation meeting.

"The place where you are is the grassroots legislative contact point of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. It serves as a national legislative through-train. The opinions and suggestions raised by grassroots people to the legislative point can be directly reflected to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress." Yang Rong said.

Cai Fenxiang said frankly that the suggestions made to the legislative contact points may not be professional opinions, but they must be authentic voices of the people. The ideas of the people and the protection of their rights can be raised directly. "We will also report the words of the grassroots people in their original form for full consideration by legislative experts."

The Paper noted that during the approximately two-hour observation process, the foreign guests interacted with the Chinese participants from time to time, and felt up close the vitality, vigor and effectiveness of China's whole-process people's democracy.

The tour guide explained the Chinese democratic legislative model in detail to foreign guests at the Xinghualing Street People's Congress Representative Liaison Station.