BEIJING, March 16 (UPI) -- The Chinese legislature approved a measure Friday that requires equal protection for public and private property.
The National People's Congress passed the measure at the end of its annual session after the proposed law spent more than 13 years in legislative limbo, Xinhua, China's official government-run news agency, reported Friday.
NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo said the bill passed with the support of 2,799 lawmakers, with 52 voting against, 32 abstaining and one declining to vote.
"The property of the state, the collective, the individual and other obligees is protected by law and no units or individuals may infringe upon it," the new law states.
The measure, scheduled to take effect Oct. 1, is the first law requiring equal protection of property in the country. Experts say the law is an important part of the country's economic reform process.
"Only when people's lawful property is well protected could they have the enthusiasm to create more wealth and could China maintain its economic development," Jiang Ping, the former president of the Chinese University of Political Science and Law who was involved in the early drafting process of the law, said in the Xinhua report.
