Top legislature hears experts on water pollution law enforcement

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The Standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, held a forum Monday and invited experts to give opinions on the enforcement of the country's water pollution control law.

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the NPC Standing committee, attended the event and gave a speech.

According to a plan regarding the NPC Standing committee's law enforcement inspection, the NPC's environment and resources protection committee earlier this year entrusted the Chinese Academy of Engineering to conduct an evaluation and research program on the implementation of the water pollution control law.

It is the first time a third party evaluation has been introduced into the top legislature's law enforcement inspection.

At the forum, Li listened to experts giving speeches and exchanged opinions with them.

The NPC Standing committee has given top priority to the inspection of legal enforcement of the water pollution control law as it is important to implement the Communist Party of China Central committee's decisions and plans on water environment protection and the prevention and control of water pollution, said Li. "It also matters to the efforts in the fight against pollution."

Li said introducing a third party evaluation could help the legislature carry out its supervision work in a more scientific, professional, objective and authoritative manner.

It can also help in improving the quality of the legislation, he said.

He told the NPC Standing committee's law enforcement inspectors to seriously value expert opinion, conduct careful research in it and apply the evaluation results for inspections, so as to make the inspections better targeted and more effective.