The Standing Committee of the NPC is accountable to the NPC, reports on its work to the congress and is subject to its supervision. The NPC has the power to alter or annul inappropriate decisions made by the Standing Committee.

　　No one on the Standing Committee of the NPC may hold office in any of the administrative, judicial or procuratorial organs of the state. The chairman and vice chairmen of the Standing Committee may serve not more than two consecutive terms. The following persons have once served as chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949: Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Ye Jianying, Peng Zhen, Wan Li, Qiao Shi and Li Peng. The chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tenth NPC is Wu Bangguo.

　　The functions and powers of the Standing Committee of the NPC are defined by the Constitution, and they chiefly are:

　　To interpret the Constitution and supervise its enforcement.

　　To enact and amend laws with the exception of those which should be enacted and amended by the NPC; to partially supplement and amend laws enacted by the NPC when the NPC is not in session, the NPC provided that the basic principles of these laws are not contravened, and to interpret laws.

　　To review and approve when the NPC is not in session, partial adjustments to the plan for national economic and social development and to the state budget that prove necessary in the course of their implementation; to decide on the ratification or abrogation of treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign states; and to decide on the granting of special pardons.

　　To supervise the work of the State Council, the Central Military Commission, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate; to annul those administrative regulations, decisions or decrees of the State Council that contravene the Constitution or the law; to annul those local regulations or decisions made by the organs of state power at the level of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government that contravene the Constitution or the law or administrative regulations.

　　To decide, when the NPC is not in session, on the choice of ministers in charge of ministries or commissions, the president of the People’s Bank of China, the auditor-general and the secretary-general of the State Council upon nomination by the premier of the State Council; to decide upon nomination by the chairman of the Central Military Commission on choice of the other members of the commission; to appoint or remove, at the recommendation of the president of the Supreme People’s Court, the vice presidents and judges of the Supreme People’s Court and members of its Judicial Committee, etc. To appoint or remove, at the recommendation of the procurator-general of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the deputy procurator-general and procurators of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, members of its Procuratorial Committee, etc. And to approve the appointment or removal of chief procurators of the people’s procuratorates of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; to decide on the appointment or recall of plenipotentiary representatives abroad; etc.

　　The chairman of the Standing Committee of the NPC directs the work of the Standing Committee, and the vice chairmen and the secretary-general assist the chairman in his work. The chairman, the vice chairmen and the secretary-general constitute the Council of Chairmen, which handles the important day-to-day work of the Standing Committee of the NPC.

　　The National People’s Congress establishes a number of special committees. These special committees work under the direction of the NPC, or the Standing Committee of the NPC when the Congress is not in session. They examine, discuss and draw up relevant bills under the direction of the NPC and its Standing Committee.

　　Members of the special committees are selected from among the deputies to the NPC, and most of them are experts or scholars in different fields of study, or persons with practical experience. The special committees carry out regular work, and they continue their work when the NPC and its Standing Committee are not in session.

　　There are nine special committees under the NPC: the Ethnic Affairs Committee, the Law Committee, the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs, the Finance and Economy Committee, the Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Overseas Chinese Committee, the Environmental and Resource Protection Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Areas Committee.

　　Under the Standing Committee of the NPC, there are the General Office, the Legislative Affairs Commission, the Budget Committee, the Committee for the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Committee for the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region.