A Constitution-based socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics has initially taken form thanks to the efforts of the Standing Committee of the 9th National People's Congress (NPC), said outgoing Chinese top legislator Li Peng in Beijing Monday. Over the past five years the 9th NPC and its Standing Committee, China's top legislature, has deliberated a total of 124 draft laws, judicial interpretations and decisions on legal issues and promulgated 113 of them, said 9th NPC Standing Committee chairman Li Peng. Li made the remarks when delivering a report on the work of the 9th NPC Standing Committee to the third plenary meeting of the 10th NPC first session, which opened in Beijing Monday morning. The report reviewed the achievements of the legislature in making laws and exercising supervision over the past five years. Li elaborated on how laws have been made or revised in seven major legal categories, namely constitutional, civil and commercial, administrative, economic, social, criminal and litigation and non-litigation procedure laws. Li said the second session of the 9th NPC in 1999 passed an amendment to the Constitution, writing Deng Xiaoping Theory and the principle of governing the country according to law into the Constitution. The enacted law on rural land contracting in particular codified and safeguarded Chinese farmers' right to long and stable use of land, he said, adding that a systematic and comprehensive civil law has been drafted and tabled to the lawmakers for first round of deliberation. Li said the 9th NPC Standing Committee has enacted a law encouraging the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and the Governmental Procurement Law, revised a series of other laws on trade and intellectual property right protection in compliance with the rules of the World Trade Organization. China has set the objective of establishing a complete socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics by 2010. (Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2003)