Chinese lawmakers have started compiling the individual books of a planned civil code since late last year, a legislative official said Thursday.

Work on the books is under way, Zhang Rongshun, vice chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual NPC session.

China has designed a two-step approach to developing a civil code of its own: formulating general provisions to lay down basic principles and compiling individual books to regulate different types of civil activities and relations.

National lawmakers are deliberating the draft general provisions, which went through three readings at bi-monthly sessions of the NPC Standing Committee last year. It is rare for a draft law not to be passed after three readings.

According to the current legislative plan, there will be five books on property, contract, tort liability, marriage and inheritance. A complete civil code, consisting of the general provisions and individual books, will be enacted in 2020.

The individual books are expected to be submitted as a whole for a first reading at a bi-monthly session of the NPC Standing Committee in 2018, Zhang said.

The NPC Standing Committee will organize separate reviews of the books.

"Quality trumps speed, so the schedule is also subject to change," Zhang added.