Property Law of The People's Republic of China - Passage

Passage

The drafting of the law involved considerable controversy. The proposed bill caused quite a stir since it was first published in 2002, was subsequently deferred, and yet again failed in its reading at the National People's Congress (NPC) of 2006 because of disputes over its content. It finally went through its eighth reading in 2007. Many in the Chinese legal community feared that creating a single law to cover both state property and private property would facilitate privatization and asset stripping of state-owned enterprises. The draft law was subject to a constitutional challenge. Legal scholars, notably Gong Xiantian of Peking University, argued that it violated the constitutional characterization of the PRC as a socialist state. The law was originally scheduled to be adopted in 2005, but was removed from the legislative agenda following these objections. The final form of the law contains a number of additions to address these objections.

On March 8, 2007, the Property Law 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 law was adopted on March 16, the final day of the two-week session of congress, with the backing of 96.9% of the 2,889 legislators attending, with 2799 for, 53 against, and 37 abstentions. In 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."