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The legal framework of the SEZs thus consists of both national laws and regional laws. The regional laws can further be divided into those promulgated by the provincial government and those promulgated by the city government, each of which represent different degrees of authority. This multilevel regulatory structure gives rise to the question of how to determine the governing rules when the national laws and regional laws, or various levels of regional laws conflict or differ. he Constitution authorizes each regional people's congress or its standing committees to enact regional laws and regulations effective within their respective jurisdiction." Regional laws and regulations so enacted must be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for recording purposes.87 In resolving the problems pertaining to the legislative authority of regional governments, when regional laws differ from national laws on similar subjects, the guiding principle is Article 100 of the Constitution, which authorizes regional governments to enact regional laws only to the extent they do not conflict with national laws and regulations, thereby implying the supremacy of the national laws apply where the central government authorizes a regional government to enact regulations different from the corresponding national laws. These principles also apply to the relationship between various regional laws promulgated by the regional governments at different levels.
Difficulties often arise when laws or regulations are not clear or are worded too broadly without expressly indicating whether a regional government has the authority to so promulgate. Actually, the above mentioned resolution of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress authorizing provincial governments to enact rules governing SEZs illustrates these difficulties. This general rule, however, does not erning SEZs illustrates these difficulties. of that resolution only contains two sentences. On the one hand, it states that regional laws enacted must conform to the "principles" of the pertinent laws and policy, thereby implying that the regional laws must conform to the national policy and laws. On the other hand, the resolution also emphasizes the need to enact laws and regulations to conform to the special needs of the SEZs, suggesting that the regional government has the authority to make rules different from national laws. The emphasis on conformity of regional laws with the "principles" of the national laws other than their specific provisions also indicates that regional laws may differ from national laws so long as they are consistent with the policy of the national law in overall terms.