China's controversial draft Property Law, a sweeping bill designed to protect both public and private ownership, is to be submitted to the national legislature for the seventh time.

 

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) will convene for a regular legislative meeting from December 24 to 29, at which the draft will go through a rare seventh reading.

 

The draft was first submitted to the legislature in 2002 and withdrawn from the NPC full session last March amid worries that the draft, the country's first specific law to protect private ownership, could undermine the legal foundation of China's socialist system.

 

But the opposition faded after drafters revised the fifth version in August to install state ownership at the heart of the economic system.

 

During the process, lawmakers collected more than 15,000 suggestions from the general public, who showed enormous interest in the draft law.

 

It is hoped that the marathon legislative process will end next March with a vote at the full NPC session.

 

The upcoming legislative meeting will also continue to discuss the draft Labor Contract Law, which received more than 190,000 suggestions within a month since it was released to the public in March.

 

The draft Corporate Tax Law will be submitted for first reading.

 

The agenda of the 25th meeting of the 10th NPC Standing Committee was decided at yesterday's meeting of NPC Standing Committee's chairman and vice chairpersons.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2006)