On May 21st, the third session of the 13th National People's Congress held a press conference in the press hall of the Great Hall of the People. A spokesperson for the conference answered questions from Chinese and foreign reporters on issues related to the agenda of the conference and the work of the NPC.
Surging News Reporter: We are concerned that after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress made a special decision to comprehensively ban illegal wildlife trade and eliminate the bad habits of overeating wild animals. May I ask, what special considerations and practical significance does this decision have? In addition, the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People ’s Congress not only discussed the content of the draft biosecurity law, but also reviewed the revised draft of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law. Therefore, we would also like to ask, how will the National People's Congress strengthen the legal guarantee of public health in the future? Thank you.
Zhang Yesui: Thank you for your question. Since the outbreak, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has performed its duties in accordance with the law and acted swiftly. It has mainly done four aspects of work: First, it has issued relevant decisions to comprehensively prohibit the illegal trade and consumption of wild animals. Second, consider the draft of the Biosecurity Law and the revised draft of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law. Third, deploy and initiate legislation and amendments to strengthen the public health legal system. Fourth, publicize and interpret the epidemic prevention and control laws to provide legal support for epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development.
Zhang Yesui: China currently has more than 30 laws related to the protection of the rule of law in public health. These laws have generally withstood the test and played an active role in this epidemic exam, but there are also some shortcomings and deficiencies. Next, an important task of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is to further improve and strengthen the public health rule of law security system through legislation and amendment. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has formulated a special plan and set up special classes for work. It is planned to formulate 17 revised laws and 13 revised laws in due course. The key points are to strive for the approval of the newly drafted Biosecurity Law during the year; to strive to submit the revised draft of the Wildlife Protection Law in the second half of this year; to complete the amendment of the Animal Epidemic Prevention Law as soon as possible; Improve laws on infectious disease prevention and control, and emergency response laws. Thank you.
(Organized according to the webcast text)