Fifth reading of draft property law

The draft property law has been submitted to China's legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), for a fifth reading after the draft was released to the general public for comments on July 10 2005. China Daily reports that Chinese citizens provided 11,543 suggestions on issues such as how to protect private assets and on forced acquisitions by the government.

The NPC Standing Committee first read the draft property law in December 2002. Normally, a law is adopted by the legislature after three readings. However, due to the social importance of the legislation, the draft was submitted for a fifth reading during a six-day legislative session which began on August 22 2006. It is expected that the law will be finally adopted in a plenary session of the NPC.