2007 National People's Congress - Property Law

Property Law

On March 8, the Property Law of the People's Republic of China was formally introduced at the NPC. Vice-Chairman Wang Zhaoguo told the Congress that the law will "safeguard the fundamental interests of the people", and the law is an attempt at adapting to new "economic and social realities" in China. The bill was first published in 2002. It was subsequently deferred, failed again in its reading at the 2006 National People's Congress because of a dispute over its contents, and then went through its eighth reading in 2007.

Some press reports have characterized this law as the first piece of legislation in the People's Republic of China to cover an individual's right to own private assets, although this is incorrect, as the right to private property was written into the PRC Constitution in 2003, and the law itself is directed at defining all forms of property in the PRC.

The law was adopted on March 16, the final day of the two-week session of parliament, with the backing of 96.9% of the 2,889 legislators attending, with 2799 for, 53 against, and 37 abstentions. With his final address to the 2007 Session, NPC Chairman Wu Bangguo declared "the Private Property Law and the Corporate Taxation Law are two of the most important laws in the new economic system of Socialism with Chinese characteristics; we must attempt to learn these laws fully through various methods."