Liu Yang told a three-day national conference which kicked off in Beijing yesterday that such a system will include laws on prisons, re-education-through-labor, lawyers, notary, national judicial examination, judicial expertise, mediation and legal aid.

"We have built up momentum in reforming judicial administration in recent years and some problems have been tackled in this process," said Liu. "However, legislation is needed if we want to resolve these problems."

Significant improvement has been made this year in legislation on judicial administration, with a regulation on prison management expected to come out soon and progress made in drafting a regulation on legal aid and a law on notary.

The ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is deliberating the draft decision on judicial expertise.

If passed, the decision will make it clear that judicial administrative departments are responsible for the management of judicial expertise, aiming to end the current chaos brought by separate management by the judicial administrative, public security departments, courts and procuratorates.

Sources with the ministry said 12 local regulations have been issued this year for such fields as judicial expertise and legal aid, providing reference for legislation at a national level.

Liu's ministry has also abolished 414 judicial administrative documents, which run counter to the rules of the World Trade Organization.

Liu noted that an unsound legal system in judicial administration has not been "fundamentally changed" and called for more research to improve it.

"Legislation remains the weak link," said Liu. "There are no related laws concerning some aspects in judicial administration and some functions lack legal protection."

According to Liu, her ministry is working on a five-year plan for possible laws and regulations, giving priorities to areas that still lack laws and regulations.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Zhang Fusen stressed that more efforts should be made to tighten the law on notary and the amendment on the Law on Lawyers before they can be decreed early in the coming year.

(China Daily December 28, 2002)