CHINA is on track with the translation of its laws into English, but the bilingual drafting of legislation is beyond its capability, a law-drafting expert said.
Yue Xiang, consultant of the Commission of Legislative Affairs under the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said the committee had completed the English translation of all laws passed in 1993 into five volumes.
The committee is responsible for drafting and translating all the laws endorsed by the National People's Congress. 'We aim to finish the translation of all laws passed in 1994 by the end of this year,' Mr Yue said.
Although the translation work is well underway, the committee is facing the problem of a shortage of translation experts. 'The translator has to be familiar with both the translation work and the legislation because the English version has to be identical to the Chinese,' he said.
'This makes the drafting of both versions at the same time impossible.' At a press conference in Hong Kong to promote the first loose-leaf book on mainland law and regulations, Mr Yue said an English version of the book was being considered.
He said some of the administrative rules and regulations in the law book were endorsed and translated by the Ministry of State Affairs. The two departments had to work together, making it more difficult to come up with an English version, Mr Yue said.
