A Return from Iron to Rubber Stamps: China’s 2006 Supervision Law and Its Erosion of Legislative Oversight

This paper analyzes the formulation of China’s 2006 enactment of the Supervision Law of Standing Committees of People’s Congresses at All Levels and its negative consequences for China’s legislative oversight. While the law was proposed in response to the persistent demands among legislative deputies to strengthen legislative oversight under the approval of the Chinese Communist Party, the Party later arrived at a more critical stance. Governments, courts, and procuratorates also opposed the enactment of a strong version of the Supervision Law, viewing this as a threat to their authority and operational autonomy. Consequently, the law was enacted in a manner that restricted and weakened legislative supervision in contrast to its original intent. This suggests that even in the area of lawmaking, the Party’s engagement and control have remained robust.