Study on the Legislative Authority Allocation between China’s Central and Local Authorities

Abstract

China has a unitary state system, dominated by the legislative power of the National People’s Congress (NPC). With the twice revisions of the Legislative Act of the People’s Republic of China, it is apparent that the delineation of legislative powers between governments at different levels has been more detailed. However, in practice, there still are some overlaps in the scope of China’s central and local legislative matters, a lack of clarity between the legislative authority of the local provincial People’s Congresses and their Standing Committees, and imperfections in the mechanism for resolving conflicts between local laws and administrative regulations, among other problems. This article mainly collects domestic and foreign representative literature by using the literature analysis method, historical research method, and comparative research method, to analyze the causes of the problems in the division of legislative competence of central-local authorities in China while considering the perspective of development and changes, and to propose practical solutions based on the history and the future development trend. Through research and analysis, this article points out some suggestions for the division of China’s legislative competence from three main aspects, based on the relationships between the NPC and the local People’s Congresses, the delimitation of the National People’s Congress and its Standing Committee, and the relationship between departmental rules and local regulations.