Chinese lawmakers began reviewing laws on protecting national and public interests at the ongoing 18th session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee (NPC), which is being held in Beijing from Friday to Tuesday.
The lawmakers began reviewing a draft law on procuratorial public-interest litigation that aims to protect national and public interests in an improved manner.
The draft was submitted on Friday to the ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the NPC, the national legislature, for its first reading.
The law will help consolidate the mature practices and institutional innovations developed over the past decade. It will also help address practical challenges and further advance the work of public interest litigation by procuratorial organs.
A draft amendment to China's Cybersecurity Law was also submitted on Friday, for its second reading.
To address the growing need for AI governance, the draft proposes supporting fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research, advancing key technologies such as algorithms, and building AI infrastructure.
It also stipulates improvements to ethical standards of AI, stronger security risk monitoring, and enhanced AI safety regulations.
The draft also strengthens legal responsibilities by clarifying penalties for violations and increasing fines. Serious offenses may result in suspension, closure, or even revocation of licenses.
The ongoing session also saw two parts of the draft environmental code submitted for a new round of deliberations.
The draft code consists of five parts in total, and the other three parts were submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for a second reading in September this year.
Lawmakers on Friday reviewed a section on pollution prevention and control, which stipulates that governments at all levels should allocate funds from their fiscal budgets to support the treatment of rural domestic waste, and the prevention and control of pollution from livestock, poultry and aquaculture.
China mulls over laws to better protect national, public interests
