The Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress held its 32nd meeting Tuesday morning to read two draft laws. The agenda of the session also includes examining the preparation work of the upcoming session of the eleventh National People's Congress.
The NPC Standing Committee will have the third reading of a draft amendment for the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law.
The draft is expected to be approved at the session.
It emphasizes non fault liability of polluters, and details the punishment for those guilty of polluting the water.
According to the draft, heads of Chinese enterprises causing severe pollution may face a fine of half of their annual income.
Enterprises will be held responsible for 30 percent of direct losses of any serious water pollution incidents they cause and 20 percent for incidents of medium consequences.
The Protection Law for the Disabled will also be amended at the session.
The key point of the amendment is to prohibit discrimination to help the disabled live normal lives and find jobs.
The members of the Standing Committee will discuss the report on the examination of the Deputies' qualifications and the work report on the Deputy election.
The members will also discuss the Explanation of the agenda of the first session of the Eleventh National People's Congress.
The session will last three days.
This session of the Standing Committee is the last event of the tenth National People's Congress. This is when all the preparations for the next congress will be finalized. The Standing Committee members will discuss new laws, which are about to be implemented, and give some insight on them. In the following days we'll see how they sum up progress since the last congress, and what they expect from the legislature over the next five years.
(CCTV.com February 26, 2008)