The China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) announced yesterday that the Law on the Protection of Disabled People will be revised to better safeguard the interests of the country's more than 60 million disabled citizens.

Along with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and several other ministries and government departments, the CDPF has formed a joint group to direct the revision. Some 20 experts on law and other spheres will advise them.

The amended draft law is expected to be submitted to the State Council in 2006 and to the Standing Committee of the National People Congress (NPC) the year after, according to the CDPF.

The current law, which took effect on May 15, 1991, has played a vital role in safeguarding the fundamental interests of disabled people, said the CDPF, and by the end of 2003 over 2.4 million had benefited from it.

But in recent years the living status of disabled people has fallen far below average, while bias against them and obstacles against them participating in society still exist, said the CDPF.

In recent years, NPC deputies and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have repeatedly called for revision of the law, which the CDPF said would draw from experience in government services and adopt international standards.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2005)