China is set to amend its anti-corruption law for the first time

China is set to amend its anti-corruption law, allowing corruption suspects to be released on bail during investigations, but also extending the period of detention during which suspects will not have access to a lawyer.

A draft amendment to the Supervision Law was reviewed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislative body, during a four-day session that ended on Friday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

It would be the first amendment since the legislation was introduced in March 2018. The draft was published on the NPC website on Friday afternoon, kicking off a month-long public consultation.

The Xinhua report did not say when or whether the standing committee would approve the amendments. Amendments to the law are generally adopted after three reviews.

Some lawyers said the bill left them with no more leverage to defend their clients, while at the same time depriving anti-corruption agencies of more legal means to conduct investigations.