A new law designed to help lawmakers supervise the government was formally adopted yesterday.

The Supervision Law of Standing Committees of People's Congresses at Various Levels, which should enhance lawmakers' powers to prevent administrative and judicial bodies from abusing their position, will go into effect on January 1.

It was passed at a session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), which concluded yesterday.

"The correct implementation of the law must be ensured," said President Hu Jintao at a meeting with leaders of non-Communist parties, federations of industry and commerce and personages without party affiliation.

The priorities of the supervision should be issues concerning reform, opening-up and stability and the people's interests, as well as those concerned by the general public, he said.

"The law will contribute to administration based on the law and judicial justice, and will help promote democracy and the rule of law," said Wu Bangguo, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.

He asked the standing committees at various levels to use the law to strengthen their supervision work.

"Legislation and supervision are the two important duties entrusted by the Constitution to the people's congresses, the new law will help people's congress supervise the work of governments, courts and prosecuting organs," said Yang Jingyu, director of the NPC Law Committee.

The legislature began to draft the supervision law in 1987. Over the past 20 years, the NPC has received 222 motions from 4,044 NPC deputies on the stipulation and promulgation of the law.

The draft law was submitted to the Standing Committee for a first reading in August 2002. It was finally adopted after four discussions and revisions.

Yang said that in recent years, the standing committees of people's congresses at various levels have examined and evaluated some aspects of the government's work, particularly in areas such as agriculture, compulsory education, environmental protection, work safety and demolition compensation.

The standing committees have also evaluated local officials' performance, exposing their shortcomings.

New bankruptcy law

The NPC Standing Committee session also adopted a corporate bankruptcy law, which aims to protect both the creditors of bankrupt enterprises and the people who work for them.

The law will come into effect on June 1 next year.

The current bankruptcy rules, promulgated in 1986, are widely regarded as outdated as they fail to give sufficient protection to creditors and only cover State-owned enterprises.

The new law explicitly covers private businesses for the first time.

It also raises the status of commercial creditors, requiring failed companies to pay them first instead of workers, who previously had priority.

"All the country's companies and enterprises, whether State-owned or private, will have to follow a unified corporate bankruptcy law," said a Xinhua report.

Source: China Daily/Xinhua