VZCZCXRO9659
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #0390 0170807
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170807Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3906
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 7426
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 6803
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 7766
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 2178
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 6212
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 8752
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1552

UNCLAS BEIJING 000390 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS USTR FOR KARESH, A. ROSENBERG, CELICO 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREAS FOR OASIA/ISA-CUSHMAN 
USDOC FOR 4420/ITA/MAC/MCQUEEN AND DAS KASOFF 
GENEVA FOR CHAMBERLIN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EINV PGOV CH
SUBJECT:  LABOR CONTRACT LAW: NATIONAL PEOPLE's 
CONGRESS RELEASES SECOND DRAFT 
 
REF: A) 06 BEIJING 24304  B) 06 BEIJING 9677 
 
¶1.  (U)  On December 25, 2006, the National People's 
Congress (NPC) debated a new, second draft of the 
Labor Contract Law (LCL).  The LCL is intended to 
complement existing labor legislation and specifically 
address prevalent abuses of workers? rights.  The 
second draft is substantially different from the first 
draft issued in March 2006.  According to the NPC 
website, the new draft reflects the issues raised in 
over 190,000 responses to its March 2006 request for 
public comment on the original draft.  On December 26, 
the NPC decided not to vote on the second draft, 
meaning that further revision is possible. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The international business community has 
not yet provided any official reaction to the new 
draft.  The American Chamber of Commerce in China 
(Amcham) and the US-China Business Council (USCBC) are 
both in the process of reviewing it and soliciting 
their members' comments.  Amcham plans to hold a 
roundtable meeting for its members to discuss the new 
draft during the week of January 22, with a view 
toward giving additional comments to the NPC at an 
appropriate time.  (The NPC has not yet asked for 
public comment on the second draft.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Comment:  A preliminary look at the new 
draft suggests that the NPC did respond positively to 
some of the international business community's 
original comments on the first draft(ref B), as well 
as concerns raised by Chinese labor organizations.  In 
a public statement accompanying the release of the new 
draft, the NPC accurately summarized these concerns, 
without attribution, and explained how the second 
draft takes these concerns into account.  While Amcham 
and others have been criticized in the international 
press and by members of the United States Congress for 
allegedly lobbying against workers? rights (ref A), 
the NPC expressed no such sentiment, and appears 
intent on producing a law that will effectively 
improve workers? rights protections without creating 
unreasonable obstacles to doing business.  Embassy 
will provide more details on the draft LCL once Amcham 
and USCBC have finished studying it. 
RANDT