According to the provisions of China s Legislation Law, which prefecture level cities enjoy the loca

On March 15, 2015, the third session of the 12th National People's Congress decided to amend the Legislation LawLocal legislative powersExpand to allDistricted cities

Legal basisLegislation Law of the People's Republic of ChinaArticle 72:

The people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government and their standing committees are different from the constitutions, laws, and administrative regulations on the basis of the specific conditions and actual needs of their respective administrative regions.

Under the premise of conflict, local regulations can be formulated.

The people's congresses and their standing committees of districted cities may, on the basis of the specific conditions and actual needs of the cities and on the premise that they are not in conflict with the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, and local regulations of their own provinces or autonomous regions, formulate local regulations on matters such as urban and rural construction and management, environmental protection, and historical and cultural protection. Local regulations of cities divided into districts must be reported to the standing committee of the people's congress of the province or autonomous region for approval before they come into force. The standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces and autonomous regions shall review the legality of local regulations submitted for approval, and shall approve them within four months if they do not contradict the Constitution, laws, administrative regulations, or local regulations of that province or autonomous region.

When the standing committee of the people's congress of a province or autonomous region examines the local regulations of a districted city submitted for approval, and finds that they contradict the rules of the people of that province or autonomous region, it shall make a decision on how to deal with it.

In addition to the cities and special economic zones where the people of the provinces and autonomous regions are located.

The city where it is located and the larger city that has been approved.

In addition, the specific steps and time for other districted cities to begin formulating local regulations shall be determined by the standing committee of the people's congress of the province or autonomous region by comprehensively considering factors such as the population, geographical area, economic and social development, legislative needs, and legislative capacity of the districted cities under the jurisdiction of the province or autonomous region, and shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress for the record.

The people's congresses of autonomous prefectures and their standing committees may, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article, exercise the functions and powers of districted cities to formulate local regulations. The specific steps and time for autonomous prefectures to begin formulating local regulations are to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Local regulations that have been formulated by the cities where the people of the provinces and autonomous regions are located, the cities where the special economic zones are located, and the larger cities that have been approved shall continue to be effective if they involve matters beyond the scope of the second paragraph of this article.

As of February 2015, there are 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the central government, 22 provincial capitals, 5 autonomous region capitals, 18 larger cities, and 4 special economic zone cities.

Speaking of local legislative power, it is necessary to mention "larger municipalities" first. "Larger city" is a legal concept in the People's Republic of China, that is, it was created to address the legislative power of prefecture-level cities. Once a prefecture-level city has acquired the status of a "larger city", it has the legislative power to enforce local regulations.

On March 15, 2015, the Third Session of the 12th National People's Congress decided to amend the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China: local legislative power is extended to all cities divided into districts.

In other words, if there is a district in your city, then it has legislative power.

They are: Jilin City, Tangshan City, Datong City, Baotou City, Dalian City, Anshan City, Handan City, Benxi City, Fushun City, Qiqihar City, Qingdao City, Wuxi City, Huainan City, Luoyang City, Ningbo City, Zibo City, Suzhou City, Xuzhou City.

"Larger city" is a legal concept created to address the legislative power of prefecture-level cities. Once it has the status of a "larger city", it has the legislative power of local regulations and local regulations.

A total of 19 "larger cities" were approved four times. Among them, Chongqing is no longer a "larger city" because it has been upgraded to a municipality directly under the central government, so there are only the above 18 approved "larger cities" in China.

There are 18 larger cities, and the 18 larger cities with legislative power are: Tangshan City, Datong City, Baotou City, Dalian City, Anshan City, Fushun City, Jilin City, Qiqihar City, Wuxi City, Huainan City, Qingdao City, Luoyang City, Ningbo City, Handan City, Benxi City, Zibo City, Suzhou City, Xuzhou City. Among them, Chongqing was approved by the National People's Congress as a municipality directly under the central government in 1997.

As of January 11, 2021, among the 282 districted cities in the country, 49 have the right to formulate local regulations, including 27 provincial capitals, 18 larger cities approved by the National People's Congress (among them, Chongqing was approved by the National People's Congress as a municipality directly under the central government in 1997), and 4 cities where special economic zones are located, and 233 cities without local legislative power.

Tangshan, Datong, Baotou, Dalian, Anshan, Fushun, Jilin, Qiqihar, Qingdao, Wuxi, Huainan, Luoyang, Chongqing, Ningbo, Zibo, Handan, Benxi, Suzhou, Xuzhou.

The 18 larger cities are: Jilin City, Tangshan City, Datong City, Baotou City, Dalian City, Anshan City, Handan City, Benxi City, Fushun City, Qiqihar City, Qingdao City, Wuxi City, Huainan City, Luoyang City, Ningbo City, Zibo City, Suzhou City, and Xuzhou City.

"Larger city" is a legal concept created to address the legislative power of prefecture-level cities. Once it has the status of a "larger city", it has the legislative power of local regulations and local regulations. A total of 19 "larger cities" were approved four times.

Among them, Chongqing is no longer a "larger city" because it has been upgraded to a municipality directly under the central government, so there are only the above 18 approved "larger cities" in China.

Is the local legislative power of districted cities first and foremost stipulated in China's legislation and regulations?

The local legislative power of districted cities is extended from the local legislative power of larger cities. The origin of local legislative power in cities divided into districts and high-altitude cities can be traced back to 1982, when the local organic law was amended, taking into account the relatively important political, economic, and cultural status of some larger cities, it was also necessary to formulate local regulations according to the actual conditions of the localities. Therefore, the revised local organic law stipulates that the standing committees of the people's congresses of provincial capitals and larger cities approved by the People's Republic of China "may draw up draft local regulations required by the city, submit them to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the province or autonomous region for formulation and promulgation, and report them to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the People's Congress of the People's Republic of China for the record."

Looking back at China's reform and innovation on judicial activities, it is not difficult to find that they are all gradually implemented and implemented by the local government, and then extended to the whole country after they have matured, but the local legislative authority in the previous legislation law was relatively vague. How should the revision of the legislation law clearly define the authority of local legislation 1, and clarify the scope of authorization before legislationAt present, China has formed a relatively complete legal system, and the problem of having laws to follow has been basically solved, but the legal boundaries of local legislative reform and innovation need to be clarified. In accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and laws, the National People's Congress has authorized the formulation of regulations on issues related to the reform of the economic system and opening up to the outside world, but the scope of this authorization is not clear enough.

In order to improve the system of laws and regulations for advancing and standardizing reforms, the authorization resolution shall be studied to determine its scope, and when necessary, the National People's Congress may be requested to clarify the scope. In addition, the National People's Congress has made a series of authorization resolutions on the legislative power of the special economic zone, these authorization decisions are also not clear enough, and it is also necessary for the authorizing authority to clearly define the legal definition of which areas of legislation belong to the matters reserved by the first legislation, and which belong to the scope of local independent legislation. 2. Clarify the legal boundaries of local legislation to carry out reform and innovation to solve the problem of unclear boundaries, it is necessary to conduct research in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the Legislation Law, combined with the actual needs of China's reform and innovation, and when necessary, the National People's Congress may issue a special legal interpretation on the issue of the authority of local legislation in the Legislation Law, clearly define the scope of reform and innovation in local legislation, eliminate the concerns of local legislatures, and provide a clear legal basis for reform and innovation through local legislation.

3. Clarify the criteria for judging whether it violates the higher-level lawThe Legislation Law stipulates that local people's congresses at all levels and their standing committees have the right to formulate local regulations on "local affairs" "on the premise that they are not in conflict with the Constitution, laws, and administrative regulations", but there is a lack of operational standards for how to judge the principle of non-conflict. In legislative practice, some local legislation pursues local characteristics and innovation too much, violating the provisions of the higher-level law, while in some places, due to excessive fear of contradicting the higher-level law, the legislature is timid and simply repeats the provisions of the higher-level law, resulting in a waste of legislative resources. The law stipulates that:

Article 11 of the Legislation Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "The National People's Congress and its Standing Committee shall formulate laws in a timely manner when the conditions for enacting laws are ripe and the conditions for enacting laws are ripe for authorized legislative matters." After the enactment of the law, the authorization of the corresponding legislative matter is terminated.