Product Quality Law to Apply to Construction Quality: Legislators

Some top Chinese lawmakers proposed here Tuesday that ensuring the quality of construction projects be an integral part of the Product Quality Law.

In a panel deliberating the draft amendment to the law, Mao Zhaoxi, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People' s Congress (NPC), said that in recent years the poor quality of some buildings and construction projects has caused great losses to the State and the general public.

Mao took the quality of apartment buildings as the example. "

The price of apartments is very high, and in most cases, the departments involved use every excuse to shake off their legal liabilities when quality problems emerge," he said. "To protect the legitimate rights of the general public, the Product Law should cover quality problems of construction projects."

Li Yining and Yin Kesheng, members of the NPC Standing Committee, voiced the same opinion when examining the draft.

Some other NPC Standing Committee members held that the Law should stipulate that the practice of promoting products through administrative means should be forbidden, punishments for illegal activities should be made more severe, and the legitimate rights of the producers of products should not be neglected.

NPC Standing Committee Member Zhang Haoruo said that though the draft specifies that the quality supervision authorities are not allowed to participate in the making or selling of any kind of product, some other government departments are still involved in such activities. Therefore, "the draft should stipulate that government departments are not allowed to promote any product to the general public," he suggested.

The participants in the deliberation panel agreed that the draft not only lays down strict measures against the malpractice of the producers of products and the quality supervision authorities, but also protects the legitimate rights of the customers and the producers.

The lawmakers proposed that the ongoing session of the NPC Standing Committee pass the draft amendment to the Product Quality Law after some minor revisions are made.



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