Biodiv Sci ›› 2020, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (5): 550-557.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2020120

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Revision of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife: Background, issues and suggestions

Zhongmei Lü1,*(),Zhenliang Chen2   

  1. 1 School of Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084
    2 School of Law, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou 311300
  • Received:2020-03-27 Accepted:2020-05-18 Online:2020-05-20 Published:2020-06-10
  • Contact: Zhongmei Lü

Abstract:

An amendment to the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife has been incorporated into the annual legislative plan for 2020. Although the current Law has been revised many times, its existing problems, such as a narrow scope of wildlife protection, outdated regulatory system, uninformed law enforcement, and imperfect legal system, do not meet the new requirements and regulations put forth in the “Healthy China” and “Beautiful China” era. The decision to ban illegal wildlife trade altogether, eliminate the abuse of wild animals, and ensure people’s health and safety that was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress provides a good opportunity for revising the Law. We suggest that the revision of the Law should be carefully studied and implemented in the legislative process by reasonably defining the scope of protection, improving the “black and white” directory and licensing system, optimizing wildlife protection supervision and responsibility, and properly handling coordination with other relevant laws. These steps will promote the modernization of the environmental management system and its capacity.

Key words: amendments of Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife, re-revision, legislative purpose, protection scope, protected directory, management system