Pollution and food safety to top legal agenda this year, Zhang Dejiang tells NPC delegates

China's top lawmaker vowed yesterday to push forward legislation in areas of key public concern, including pollution and oversight of officials' conduct.

National People's Congress (NPC) Chairman Zhang Dejiang made his comments while delivering his annual work report to delegates, echoing Premier Li Keqiang's remarks to open the annual congress last week.

Zhang, who ranks third in the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, said combatting pollution would be one of the top priorities to be addressed this year by the NPC, through legislation and oversight, as public dissatisfaction over environmental degradation in China intensified.

"We will revise the Environmental Protection Law and the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law to improve environmental protection and management so that emissions of all pollutants are strictly supervised," Zhang said.

"[We will] enforce the strictest systems for protecting the environment by controlling pollution at the source, holding polluters accountable and ensuring that they compensate for the damage they cause," he said.

The NPC also plans to revise the Food Safety Law, another leading cause of public concern. Li had earlier vowed to apply the strictest possible oversight and accountability to prevent food contamination.

Zhang promised to strengthen oversight of the State Council, the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate (the state prosecutor's office) in the coming year.