NPC session to address consumer protection law  

十二届人大常委会第二次会议举行 消法修订引关注

今日起至25日，十二届全国人大常委会第二次会议将在北京举行，备受社会关注的消费者权益保护法修正案草案，将在本次会上迎来首次审议。此外，本次会议还将继续审议旅游法草案、特种设备安全法草案等。

(Ecns) -- A bimonthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) on April 23-25 will for the first time deliberate changes to the Law on Protection of the Rights and Interests of Consumers.

The law was issued in 1993, and took effect on Jan 1, 1994.

Although the law has contributed greatly to the protection of consumer rights, some of its regulations have fallen behind the times as people's consumption habits have changed during the past two decades and some have even hampered the protection of consumer rights.

For instance, when the law was drafted 20 years ago, medical care and housing were part of social welfare, but now they are commercial in nature.

The existing consumer protection law also doesn't include regulations for some emerging business fields like e-commerce, so an amendment that can provide legal basis to solve disputes in these areas is badly needed.