the opportunity to produce input. The NPC Legislative Affairs Commission (法制工作委员会 fǎzhìgōngzuò wěiyuánhuì) is the key organ that are responsible for the law drafting work. Since the 1990s, scholars and experts are increasingly entrusted by the NPC Legislative Affairs Commission to form drafting groups to prepare the first draft of the basic laws (this was the case for the Contract Law (1999), the Law of Rights in rem (2007), the Law of Tort Liability (2009) and the Law of the PRC on the Law Applicable to Foreign-related Civil Relations (2010)). The act of legislating is to some extent a game of interest groups. The State Council The next tier of the PRC's legislative hierarchy—the State Council—is also elected by the NPC and is head of the nation's executive. It is empowered under Article 89 of the Constitution to "adopt administrative measures (办法 bànfǎ), enact administrative regulations (行政法规 xíngzhèng fǎguī) and issue decisions (决定 juédìng) and orders (命令 mìnglìng) in accordance with the Constitution and statutes." The State Council Legislative Affairs Office (国务院法制办 guówùyuàn fǎzhì bàn) is mainly responsible for the drafting of administrative regulations which are issued for the purpose of implementing laws. Lawmaking at the local level Of the four levels of local administration in China (province, region/prefecture, county/district, township), only the provincial level possesses real lawmaking power. The Organic Law of Local People's Congresses and Local People's Governments allows congresses at the provincial, municipal, provincial capital and "quite big city" levels to enact their own regulations, called local regulations (地方性法规 dìfāngxìng fǎguì). Nevertheless, drafts of legislation must be approved by the provincial level congress before they can become law. Judiciary The judge and prosecutor still are regarded as public servants. It is recognized that the quality of judges and prosecutors are lower than lawyers, but in the major cities, such as the provincial capital cities, the new recruited judges are with higher law degrees than ever before. In 2002, the unified State Judicial Exam (SJE) was introduced, partly to improve the quality of the judiciary. Any person who wants to work as a judge, prosecutor, or become a practicing lawyer or a public notary, will need to pass the SJE to obtain a Certificate of Legal Profession Qualification. Like in courts of imperial times, judges are also inquisitors who question witnesses, but unlike traditional courts, only evidence given in court is taken into account. Parties are permitted to