The Standing Committee of China’s 13th National People’s Congress passed a new biosafety law at its 22nd session Saturday after the third reading of the draft in Beijing.

The Biosafety Law has ten chapters and eighty-eight articles which deal with risks in the biosafety field, national biosafety governance, and systems for minimizing biosafety threats. The law provides for the establishment of 11 basic systems for biosecurity risk prevention and control. These preventative measures include systems for risk monitoring and early warning, information sharing, biosafety review, and emergency response.

The Biosafety Law also contains provisions relating to specific risk prevention and response systems. These systems combat emerging infectious diseases, animal and plant epidemics, bioterrorism attacks, biological weapons threats, and other biosecurity risks. The provisions are designed in part to prevent a duplication of the COVID-19 crisis.

The law also lays down the responsibilities of various departments, including the central national safety leadership agency, the national biosafety work coordination mechanism and its member units, the coordination mechanism office, and other relevant departments of the State Council. The biosafety work coordination mechanism units must be established in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities under the direct control of the central government. These units clarify the responsibilities of local people’s governments and their relevant departments. The law will come into effect on April 15, 2021.