The State Oceanic Administration ("SOA") has recently distributed the Procedural Provisions on the Oceanic Legislative Work (the "Provisions"), immediately effective from the issue date.
The Provisions cover content relating to the plan management, drafting and submission for review, submission for deliberation, publication, interpretations and evaluations, coordination of legislation, guidance for legislation, etc. The Provisions clearly state that the nationwide plan for oceanic legislative work shall make clear the name, category and department in charge of the drafting work for each legislation project, and the annual objectives. Generally, projects established for formulating marine laws are classified into three types, such as "projects urgently needed by the program to fully deepen reform". According to the Provisions, at the stage of submitting the draft for deliberation, the legislation department under the SOA shall focus on the review of content in six respects, such as "whether the proposed legislation gets aligned with the relevant laws, administrative regulations, and rules" and "whether it is able to practically safeguard the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations and whether it embodies the principle of subjecting administrative organs to responsibilities in proportion to their rights". When a draft is reviewed, opinions shall be solicited from legal counsels.