China strengthening law-based governance through new regulations

BEIJING -- China is set to introduce a series of new laws and regulations focused on enhancing the well-being of its people, preserving the environment and safeguarding cultural heritage in September this year, reflecting the country's commitment to promoting governance based on the rule of law across various sectors.

A new law on building a barrier-free living environment will come into effect on Sept 1, 2023 that will guarantee the rights of people with disabilities and the elderly to engage fully in social life, ensuring both convenience and equitable access for all.

This law stipulates that the construction, renovation and expansion of facilities such as residential and public buildings, transportation, and urban and rural roads should meet the standards for barrier-free facilities.

This new law includes targeted provisions on enhancing barrier-free services in medical and health care, social security, financial business and other scenarios closely related to social life.

A newly revised set of regulations on the procedures for handling legal aid cases will also go into effect on Sept 1.

These new regulations have simplified the application process for legal aid, scraping unnecessary paperwork. The regulations stipulate that legal aid providers should obey relevant laws and regulations and are prohibited from taking money or property from aid recipients.

Another set of regulations, focused on consular protection and assistance, will also be implemented starting from Sept 1. The regulations outline the conditions under which consular protection and assistance would be provided by China's diplomatic missions stationed abroad.

The regulations state that the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas diplomatic missions are obliged to issue safety warnings for its citizens in due course.

Starting from Sept 1, the law on ecological conservation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will be enforced to beef up legal protection of "the roof of the world."

The law prioritizes ecological protection and places a strong emphasis on natural restoration on the plateau while underlining a management approach that is coordinated, targeted, scientific and systematic.

In accordance with this law, the country will establish an ecological risk prevention and control system for the plateau and enhance it. The law will also regulate tourism and sports activities on the plateau to eliminate any potential harm to the local ecological environment.

A series of industry standards related to the digitalization of intangible cultural heritage items as well as the collection and bibliography of these digital resources will be implemented starting from Sept 29.

The industry standards define the general requirements and business and technical specifications for the collection and bibliography of digital resources of intangible cultural heritage items into 10 categories including folk literature, traditional music and dancing.