Amendments coming to criminal law

A draft amendment to the Chinese Criminal Law and a draft law on administrative punishments are expected to be unveiled this year, according to a legislative official.

"We're taking the time to study and draft the two laws, and try to submit them to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, for review at a certain time of this year in line with the legislative procedures," said Zang Tiewei, the first-ever spokesman of the committee's Legislative Affairs Commission.

He released the plan at the commission's first news conference since its founding on Wednesday, explaining that the implementation of a spokesperson is meant to help the public better understand the country's lawmaking and legislative process in a timely manner.

Over the next few months, the commission will also promote the legislative affairs on draft sections of the civil code, as well as on draft amendments to the drug administration law, the securities law, the land administration law and the urban real estate administration law, he added.

As for the legislation on personal information protection, which has been put on the NPC's Standing Committee's legislative agenda, Zang said studies and draft-related work are still being improved.

"We've found some people's legitimate rights have been seriously harmed in recent years after their personal information was leaked, abused or improperly collected, so we've paid a lot of attention to solving the problem through legislation," he said.

China has already enacted several laws, regulations and rules relating to the issue, such as the Criminal Law and the Cybersecurity Law, according to him.

Asked whether China would legalize same-sex marriage at the news conference, he said Chinese law only allowed for marriage between a man and a woman.

"This rule suits our country's national condition and historical and cultural traditions," he said. "As far as I know, a majority of countries in the world don't recognize the legalization of same-sex marriage."

Besides Zang, director of the commission's research department, Yue Zhongming, director of its legislative planning department, was also named as the spokesperson.

At Wednesday's conference, Zang added that he and his colleagues would like to answer legislative questions from the public and increase communication with the public.