Research On The System Of City Legislation Approval In China

Since 1986,our country has set up the legislative approval system of the city with district.Article 7,paragraph 2,and article 38,paragraph 2,of the Law on Local organizations,as first amended in 1986,provide that,The people's Congress and its standing Committee of the people's Government of the Autonomous region and the larger cities approved by the State Council shall have the power to formulate local laws and regulations.Although the Local Organization Law only stipulates that some district cities people's congresses and standing committees have obtained legislative power,the local laws and regulations formulated by the city with district people's congresses and standing committees since then have always been the legal basis for the judicial organs of our country to settle disputes.Especially after 2015,the number of local laws and regulations made by the cities in the districts of our country has increased sharply.Because Article 72 of the Legislative Law,as amended in 2015,gives the local laws and regulations of the district city people's congresses and standing committees of all districts in China,the district city people's congresses and standing committees of the whole country have enacted laws one after another.It makes the proportion of local laws and regulations in our country's legal system rise abruptly.Because the local laws and regulations formulated by the district cities established by the districts are only applicable to the cities in the districts,the public awareness is not high,the intensity of social supervision is insufficient,and the situation of abuse of legislative power by the district city people's congresses and standing committees of the districts is likely to occur.It is very important to supervise the legislation of the city in advance.The law requires the standing Committee of the Provincial people's Congress to examine and approve the local laws and regulations formulated by the district cities in the districts under the jurisdiction.This kind of supervision mode of prior examination and approval is more effective than the way of supervision on record after the event.Therefore,since the people's congresses and standing committees of the cities with their own districts have gained legislative power,the laws of our country stipulate that local laws and regulations formulated by the cities with districts must be approved by the standing Committee of the Provincial people's Congress before they can be put into effect,but there are no relevant provisions in the Constitution of our country.Until 2018.On March 11,2018,Article 100 of the Amendment to the Constitution adopted at the first session of the 13 th National people's Congress(NPC)made relevant provisions,and the standing Committee ofthe Provincial people's Congress(NPC)shall implement the procedure of approving the legislation of the cities in which the districts are established.This power of approval of local legislation,which lacks constitutional basis,has been in force in China for more than thirty years,and it has to be said to be a way of local legislative supervision with Chinese characteristics.Since the development of the city legislation approval system in our country,it has played a very important role in supervising the local legislation and improving the quality of the local legislation,but there are also many legislative deficiencies and practical obstacles.For example,since the relevant provisions of the Constitution are general provisions,it does not provide for the legislative competence of the the district cities in which the districts are located,does not specify whether the standing Committee of the Provincial people's Congress should conduct a legality review,and does not set a four-month time limit for approval.There is no provision for the handling of the legislative approval system of the city with district that conflict with the laws of the Superior Government and the regulations of the provincial government.The Legislative Law stipulates that the scope of legislative power is limited to urban and rural construction and management,environmental protection,historical and cultural protection,etc.,but it does not define the "other aspects of matters".Although the legislation of the prefectural city is not allowed to conflict with the upper law and the provincial government regulations,there is no clear standard or treatment of the violation;although a four-month time limit for approval is set,there are no other procedural provisions.Moreover,our country has always neglected to supervise the process of the provincial people's Congress standing Committee exercising the power of approval.Therefore,the authority of approval is still unclear,the procedure mechanism of approval is still not constructed,and the supervision of approval is also absent.And because there are some inconsistencies between the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the relevant provisions of the Legislative Law,some new problems have arisen in the approval practice of the standing Committee of the people's Congress of the provinces and autonomous regions of our country.For example,whether the legislative powers of the cities set up in the districts are still limited to the question of "three types of matters".It is worth discussing whether the approval authority of the approving organ is limited to the examination of legality and whether the approving organ has the power to deal with the legislation of the district cities in which the laws and regulations of the provincial government contradict the laws of theprefectural districts and so on.This paper probes into the important problems that have not been solved in the approval system of the district city legislation in China after the amendment of the Constitution,and puts forward some perfect ideas.