Backgrounder: Long-debated draft property law

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Source: CCTV.com | 12-25-2006 14:20

Brief

The property law is a basic civil law regulating various forms of property ownerships and an important part of China's socialist legal system. The formulation of the law is urgently needed for the country's economic and social development.

　The draft property law had its first reading in China's legislature in 2002 as part of a draft civil code. It has been deliberated by the NPC Standing Committees an unprecedented seven times.

At the 25th session of the 10th NPC Standing Committee held last December, lawmakers reached consensus on the draft law. The draft property law will be deliberated by nearly 3,000 NPC deputies at the upcoming annual session of the 10th NPC in March.

The draft law, which tries to strike a balance between private property and state ownership, stipulates that everyone has equal legal status and ownership rights.

The long-debated property law is a step closer to approval as Chinese lawmakers again debate the issue. Also submitted for consideration is a proposal that the bill should be put for up for vote at the next full session of the NPC in March.

The draft property law is designed to protect both public and private ownership.

It was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for the first time in 2002.

But it was withdrawn from the NPC's full session last March amid worries that the draft, China's first specific law to protect private ownership, might undermine the legal foundation of the country's socialist system.

Last August, the draft was further revised to install state ownership at the heart of the economic system after 15-thousand pieces of suggestion from the public were pooled.