China Passes Laws on Product Quality, Farm Seeds, CustomsChina's national legislature passed three bills on product quality, farm seeds and customs, respectively, at the conclusion of its bimonthly meeting Saturday in Beijing.Li Peng, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presided over the closing meeting. Many proposals put forward by lawmakers were added to the laws to increase penalties for producers and dealers of fake and shoddy products, including farm seeds, and intensify supervision over customs officials to bar malfeasance. The 46-article amendments to the product quality law will take effect as of September 1 this year. The law on farm seeds will take effect on December 1 this year, and the 71-article amendments to the customs law on January 1, 2001. President Jiang Zemin signed three presidential decrees for the publication of the laws. Four bilateral treaties were ratified Sunday: a treaty on extradition between China and Uzbekistan, a consular treaty with Australia, and two separate treaties on judicial assistance in criminal cases with Colombia and Tunisia. The NPC standing committee ratified the final accounts of central revenue and expenditure in 1999, and approved a series of official appointments and replacements. |
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