A law for property rights

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-09 07:26

After six readings and 13 years of debate, the latest draft of the real rights law is awaiting approval by the National People's Congress.

Hopes are high that the 10th NPC will sign it into law at the current, and final, full session.

If it does, the 10th NPC will be remembered for one of contemporary China's most important pieces of legislation.

The 10th NPC Standing Committee is eager to see the draft law approved, saying in December the draft was mature enough.

We see no major stumbling blocks ahead.

The framework of the draft appears flawless. China was not starting from scratch. As a latecomer in property rights legislation, we have plenty of international references.

Structured around rights of ownership, rights of usufruct the use of another's property and security interests, the present version of the draft follows the precedents of the world's achievements in jurisprudence.

We have additional confidence in its smooth sail because 13 years was long enough to have every major concern addressed.

In creating a law dealing with the fundamental rights and interests of each and every citizen, the drafters demonstrated constant readiness to engage the public. In July 2005, the NPC Standing Committee published the full text of the draft law for comments. More than 100 discussions and a number of opinion-soliciting missions were then carried out

Difference of opinion once postponed the lawmakers' vote on the draft law. But it was worth the time.

With worries and dissent aired and responded to, the draft law should not face any major objections when it comes to a vote.

Since the current draft has managed a fine balance between rights of the State, the collective and the individual, there is little ground for ideological tangles.

The average citizen wants to see the law passed, mostly because of its effect on dispute-prone matters such as the individual's rights in relocation for urban development programs.

(China Daily 03/09/2007 page9)