issued by the State Council and its subordinate departments. The concept of delegation of power has yet to be fully developed in the PRC legal system. For example, because it is not customary to expressly delegate power to administrative bodies to issue specific regulatory documents, they are not drafted pursuant to any specific entrustment of power in the manner of a statutory authorization of the enactment of implementing regulations. In drafting the new laws, the PRC has declined to copy any other legal system wholesale, and the general pattern has been to issue laws for a specific topic or location. Often laws are drafted on a trial basis, with the law being redrafted after several years. This process of creating a legal infrastructure piecemeal has led to judicial decisions having more precedential value than in most civil law jurisdictions. In formulating laws, the PRC has been influenced by a number of sources, including traditional Chinese views toward the role of law, the PRC's socialist background, the German-based law of the Republic of China on Taiwan, and the English-based common law used in Hong Kong. The law of the United States has also been very influential particularly in the area of banking and securities law. Specifically, China has copied the separation between investment banking, commercial banking, and insurance, even after those walls were abolished in the United States, and large sections of the Securities Law of the People’s Republic of China have incorporated in legislation concepts copied from American securities law. National People's Congress The highest legislative authority is the National People's Congress. It has the power to revise the Constitution and create major legal codes referred to as "basic laws" (基本法律 jīběn fǎlǜ). Apart from this, the NPC also enacts laws (法 fǎ) and decision (决定 juédìng). Decisions may contain legal norms in the form of amendments or supplements to laws. They are often used to delegate lawmaking authority to the State Council. The nature of the selection delegates to the NPC has meant that popular input into lawmaking at this level is very limited. Because the delegates range from different fields and backgrounds, only some of them are legal professionals or practitioners. Without any formal legal education or knowledge, few of the delegates can make suggestions or give opinions on legislation. Thus, a fairly wide cross-section of the party and government at both central and local levels is given