[JURIST] China's National People's Congress [official website, in Chinese] passed a new law [press release, in Chinese] Thursday to hold officials legally accountable for providing accurate and timely information on public emergencies. The law also allows the government to revoke the business licenses of media organizations that are found to hurt public safety by publishing false reports of emergencies. The Emergency Response Law uses the colors Blue, Yellow, Orange, and Red to describe increasing levels of danger in a given situation, and was designed to ensure accurate reports resulting from man-made hazards and natural disasters.

China was widely criticized in 2006 for an early draft of the law which required news agencies to receive local government authorization [JURIST report] before reporting on emergency situations. That law would have applied to both local and foreign news outlets [JURIST report]. In June, China loosened the proposed media restrictions by eliminating the government authorization requirement [JURIST report], a response to concerns that local governments would use the law to suppress negative disaster coverage to avoid embarrassment. Xinhua has more.