BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- A draft amendment to the Securities Law was submitted Saturday to a bimonthly session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, China's top legislature, for a third reading.

The latest revisions to the law include rules on the newly-devised science and technology innovation board, which pilots a registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system.

Under the current IPO system, new shares are subject to approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission before being listed.

Other revisions in the draft are made in light of new progress of reforms and new developments of the capital market.

Previously, a draft amendment to the law was submitted to the top legislature for the first reading in April 2015, mainly to meet the legislative demand of reforming the IPO system toward a registration-based one.

New revisions were submitted for a second reading in April 2017 to improve regulation on such areas as stock trading, acquisitions of listed firms, information disclosure and investor protection.