The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) recently released its 2025 work priorities, along with the legislative, supervisory, and deputy work plans for the year. According to the plans, the top legislature will conduct the initial deliberation of the procuratorial public interest litigation law this year, and in October, it will hear and review the report from the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on the situation of procuratorial supervision over enforcement of criminal penalty.
According to the work priorities plan, the NPC Standing Committee will strengthen communication and coordination with the State Council, the National Supervisory Commission (NSC), the Supreme People's Court (SPC) and the SPP to enhance collaborative legislative efforts.
The formulation of the procuratorial public interest litigation law is highlighted in the section on advancing legislation in social and cultural sectors.
In the section on enhancing oversight over law enforcement, supervisory and judicial work, it is specified that the NPC Standing Committee will hear and review reports from the State Council on enforcement of criminal penalty and from the SPP on procuratorial supervision over enforcement of criminal penalty.
The legislative work plan outlines that this year the NPC Standing Committee will continue to deliberate 14 draft laws, including the law on legal publicity and education, while 23 laws, including the procuratorial public interest litigation law, will be deliberated for the first time, according to the legislative work plan.
The supervisory work plan highlights the efforts to strengthen the implementation of the Constitution and related supervision, enhance the system regarding the people's congresses' role of supervision over administrative, supervisory, adjudicatory and procuratorial organs, and refine mechanisms for implementing the Supervision Law.
The supervisory work plan also specifies that the NPC Standing Committee will hear and review the report by the SPP on the people's procuratorates carrying out prosecutorial supervision over enforcement of criminal penalty. Key areas of focus include the overall performance of procuratorial oversight, the presence of resident procurators in prisons and detention centers, the advancement of circuit prosecution, and the application of big data in supervising criminal enforcement.
The emphasis will also be placed on carrying out substantive reviews of commutation and parole, on promoting the lawful application of parole and standardized temporary prison release, and on strengthening supervision of enforcement of criminal penalty, property penalty enforcement, and community correction, as well as on the prosecution of judicial officers for duty-related crimes, the existing problems and challenges, and suggestions and recommendations for future work.
In the deputy work plan, it is proposed to coordinate efforts with the State Council, the NSC, the SPC and SPP to enhance the system for deputies' consultation. This includes supporting and promoting the establishment of mechanisms for deputies to participate in relevant work and activities, providing feedback on work progress to deputies, and offering information to deputies in a timely manner.
