The ruling Communist Party's state parliament on Monday heard a proposal recommending lighter sentences for crimes such as smuggling weapons, organizing prostitution and counterfeiting currencies, the official Xinhua state news agency said.

The draft amendment to China's criminal law is part of a review aimed to reform the country's legal system, and needs to be approved by the National People's Congress in order to become legislation.

Crimes that would be exempt from capital punishment under the amendment include arms smuggling, fraudulent fund raising, "counterfeiting currencies…and arranging for or forcing another person to engage in prostitution," Xinhua reported.

The crimes of "obstructing a commander or a person on duty from performing his duties" and "fabricating rumors to mislead others during wartime" are also on the list, the news agency said. The proposal recommended the maximum penalty for such offences be reduced to life in prison.

A review in 2011 that led to the death penalty for 13 other crimes being scrapped had caused no "negative effects for public security," Xinhua quoted a government legal official, Li Shishi, as saying.

The death penalty currently applies to 55 offences in China, including drug trafficking, serious corruption and other non-violent crimes.

Highest number of executions

Beijing keeps the number of executions a state secret, but human rights groups estimate China kills more people than any other country. A recent report released by US-based human rights organization, the Dui Hua Foundation, said China had executed 2,400 people in 2013, and said it was likely to reach similar totals this year.

The group said there had been a steady decline in executions since 2002, when an estimated 12,000 people were put to death, but added this was likely to be "offset" this year, amid a countrywide anti-corruption campaign and a clampdown on terrorism in the largely Muslim northwestern province of Xinjiang.

In 2007, it became mandatory for the Supreme Court in Beijing to review all death sentences - a move that has contributed to "far fewer" executions, according to Dui Hua. In examining cases in 2013, the top court sent around 39 percent of death sentences back to provincial courts with a request for further evidence, the group said.

nm/mz (Reuters, AFP, dpa)