MOJ to promote implementation of revised administrative penalty law

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) will take concrete steps to promote the implementation of China's newly-revised Law on the Administrative Penalty, according to Zhao Zhenhua, director of the ministry's Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination and Supervision Bureau. 

Zhao made the announcement at a press conference held after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress adopted the revised law on Jan 22, the last day of its 25th session. 

The revised law further improves China's administrative penalty system, provides administrative organs at all levels with a sufficient legal basis for strictly carrying out law-based administration, and sets a higher standard for administrative law enforcement, said Zhao. 

He disclosed that the ministry will strengthen the publicity of the law by making it a key part of this year's administrative law enforcement training program and helping both administrative law enforcers and the general public deepen their understanding of it. 

The ministry will also make institutional improvements, according to Zhao. These will include revising or repealing any current provisions inconsistent with the revised law, improving the review and filing of normative documents, fully implementing the legality review mechanism for such documents, and strictly carrying out the rules that require disclosure and full-process recording of administrative law enforcement activities and the legal review of major law enforcement decisions. 

To ensure the law's effective implementation by local authorities, the ministry will cooperate with relevant departments to develop guidelines which will specify such major issues as forms of administrative penalty, procedures, the list of penalty-free acts and team building for enforcers.