Shanghai’s NPC deputies get chance to prepare for session

Newly elected NPC deputies from Shanghai were given an opportunity to share their ideas with the city’s delegation on Sunday in a discussion ahead of the annual session of the top legislature.

The meeting, which is unique to the Shanghai delegation, was aimed at helping National People’s Congress deputies — especially those attending for the first time — put forward higher-quality proposals.

Deputies discussed 14 proposals, with issues ranging from legislation on personal information protection to amending the Road Traffic Safety Law.

“The Shanghai delegation to the NPC has a very good tradition of dividing deputies into different groups based on the various topics they focus on, as well as organizing meetings ... to formulate higher-quality motions and suggestions,” said Zheng Haisheng, deputy director of a work committee under the Shanghai People’s Congress Standing Committee.

More than half of the delegation this year are serving their first five-year term as deputies, he said. “So we need such communication to learn from each other and formulate motions that will be powerful enough to eventually influence legislation and policymaking,” he added.

Ten deputies, six of whom are newly elected, spent up to five minutes talking about the reasons behind their legislative suggestions, explaining the current laws and policies, and offering possible solutions.

Fan Yun, who was re-elected to the NPC this year, introduced her suggestion to increase supervision of ridehailing services.

“These platforms must be brought under the oversight of traffic authorities, and their practices of refusing to take passengers and randomly raising prices must be curbed and punished,” said Fan, who is chairwoman of Shanghai Fushen State Assets Evaluation Co.

“The opinions of citizens, especially the elderly, must be widely collected for such policy decisions.”

Chen Li, meanwhile, introduced his suggestion of making a national law covering the protection of personal information. He said channels to obtain citizens’ personal data online are growing, and big data technology and illegal transactions in this area are increasingly common.

Although there are some legal provisions throughout various laws, they are far from enough to curb many illegal practices, according to Chen, who is Party secretary and general manager of the Shanghai branch of China Mobile.

“For example, the current laws and regulations don’t touch on how civil compensation should be carried out if someone’s practice of selling others’ personal information does not constitute a criminal offense,” he said.

Only suggestions that receive the support of at least 30 deputies, or those submitted by a delegation, will become motions and be presented to the NPC for discussion.

Some deputies are still mulling their suggestions, with the deadline for submissions at noon on Wednesday.