国发（1996）13号
（April 15， 1996）
颁布日期：19960415 　实施日期：19960415 　颁布单位：国务院

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Punishments （hereinafter referred to as the Law on Administrative Punishments） shall go into effect on October 1， 1996. This is a great event in China's socialist democracy and legal system construction， and of great importance in standardizing administrative organs' acts， promoting the legality of administrative acts， improving the government administration， strengthening the construction of an honest and clean government， maintaining the social order， safeguarding the public interests and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of citizens， legal persons and other organizations. It is an important duty for all administrative organs to ensure a complete and correct implementation of the Law on Administrative Punishments and so as to impel the governments at various levels and all government departments to conduct administration in strict accordance with the law， which is also a major task in the government legal system construction. Local people's governments at various levels and all departments of the State Council shall attach great importance to the implementation of the Law on Administrative Punishments and be sure to make the preparations well. This Circular are hereby issued for that purpose.

1. Seriously Study the Law on Administration Punishments and Fully Realize the Effects Brought to the Administrative Organs by the Law on Administrative Punishments.

The Law on Administrative Punishments is an important law for standardizing the government administration and has an important bearing on administrative organs. With the establishment of the systems about the power of setting administrative punishments， qualifications for implementing administrative punishments， relative concentration of the authority of administrative punishments， hearing， separation of the decision and collection of a fine and the government's supervision over administrative punishments， the Law on Administrative Punishments shall bring about a significant reform in the existing administrative punishment system and have a profound significance in the reform of government organs， transformation of government functions and the strengthening of the government legal system construction. Personnel， especially the leaders， of administrative organs at various levels shall conscientiously and seriously study the Law on Administrative Punishments， fully realize the importance of the implementation of the Law on Administrative Punishments. All localities and departments shall， in line with the principle of combining study with practice， pay close attention to the training of administrative law-enforcing personnel， making the personnel have a good grasp of the Law on Administrative Punishments. The government's office of legislative affairs shall， under the unified leadership of the government at the same level or the central government's office of legislative affairs， organize the training within their own locality and department. Various localities and departments shall， through the media and means of publicity and in vivid and effective forms， publicize the Law on Administrative Punishments among the masses of the people， so as to form an opinion and environment in favor of people's learning， knowing and observing laws and safeguarding their own legitimate rights and interests according to law.

2. Pay Close Attention to the Revision of Regulations.

According to the provisions of the Law on Administrative Punishments， administrative punishments may only be set by laws， regulations and rules， no other regulatory documents may set administrative punishments； rules may only set warnings and fines of certain amount； provisions imposing administrative punishments on illegal acts must be published， otherwise， they may not be taken as legal basis for administrative punishments. Accordingly， a lot of rules currently in effect shall be amended or annulled in accordance with the Law on Administrative Punishments， and many administrative punishments set by regulatory documents shall become invalid. Various localities and departments shall， in view of guarding the unity and sanctity of the country's legal system， hasten to check up the rules and， if there is a need to formulate administrative regulations or local regulations， sum up experience and raise them up to administrative regulations or local regulations； specific articles concerning administrative punishments in rules which go beyond the bounds of the Law on Administrative Punishments but are necessary for the administration shall be submitted to the State Council or the standing committee of the people's congress of the province， autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government for approval. Administrative punishments set by other regulatory documents shall all become invalid starting the effective date of the Law on Administrative Punishments.

The work of revision of rules shall be completed before December 31， 1997. Administrative punishments provided for in existing rules shall remain in force until that day. However， administrative punishments newly set by rules formulated after the implementation of the Law on Administrative punishments must be in conformity with the provisions of the Law on Administrative Punishments. Fines set by rules of departments of the State Council for illegal acts in non-profit-seeking activities may not exceed 1，000 yuan； with regard to illegal acts in profit-seeking activities， the fine may not exceed three times the illegal earnings， if any， with a maximum of 30，000 yuan， or may not exceed 10，000 yuan， if there is no illegal earning； those going beyond the aforesaid limits shall be submitted to the State Council for approval. The limits for fines set by rules of local governments shall be determined by the standing committee of the people's congress of the province， autonomous region or municipality directly under the central government with no subjection to the above-mentioned limits.

3. Check up Administrative Law-Enforcing Institutions According to Law and Attach Great Importance to the Building of Administrative Law-Enforcing Contingent.

According to the provisions of the Law on Administrative Punishments， administrative punishments may only be implemented by administrative organs in principle. Enterprises and institutions as non-administrative organizations may not exercise the power of administrative punishments except authorized by laws or regulations； without explicit provisions by laws， regulations or rules， no administrative organs may authorize institutional organizations to implement administrative punishments. All localities and departments shall attach great importance to those provisions， pay close attention to the work of checking up the existing administrative law enforcing institutions of various types， and as early as possible rectify the cases where administrative organs set up inner establishments to implement administrative punishments on their own behalf， regulatory documents other than laws and regulations authorize any organization to implement administrative punishments， or， without legal basis provided by laws， regulations or rules， administrative organs entrust organizations by themselves to implement administrative punishments. From now on， law enforcing institutions newly established by various localities and departments must be lawfully qualified， or if any locality or department has disqualified organs or organizations implement administrative punishments， the leaders of the locality or department shall be investigated for responsibility.

Some persons in the administrative law-enforcing contingent are low in quality at present. Some of them abuse power for personal gains， refusing to provide service without personal gains or misusing power just for personal gains. Some of them even pervert justice for bribes and break the criminal law. Some localities and departments employ contract or temporary workers to carry out the work of law-enforcement without necessary funds and other necessary conditions， resulting in a decline in the general quality of the law-enforcing personnel and a damage to the image of the government. All localities and departments must pay close attention to that problem， regard the building of an efficient and honest and clean law-enforcing contingent as the key point of the work of implementing the Law on Administrative Punishments and raising the level of administration， and make the work effectively accomplished. Strengthen the education of law-enforcing personnel in the Party spirit and legality， making them enhance their sense of responsibility and consciousness of acting according to law. Strengthen the control over the qualifications， certifications and clothing of law-enforcing personnel， and stop the situation that contract and temporary workers implement the administrative punishments.

4. Strengthen the Supervision over Administrative Punishments.

The Law on Administrative Punishments clearly stipulates that administrative organs shall establish and improve the system of supervision over administrative punishments， and the people's governments at and above county level shall strengthen the supervision over and inspection on administrative punishments. All localities and departments shall， in accordance with the actual situation of their own locality or department， implement those stipulations， establish and improve the filing system for regulatory documents and major cases of administrative punishments， the system for citizens， legal persons and other organizations to make appeals and accusation with regard to administrative punishments， the system for deciding administrative punishments and statistical system for administrative punishments， etc…… At the same time， the rules filing system and the Regulations on Administrative Consideration must be strictly implemented and the acts of illegally setting and implementing administrative punishments shall be rectified without delay.

The supervision and inspection by people's governments at and above county level on administrative punishments is an important way by which people's governments at higher levels exercise supervision over people's governments at lower levels and government exercise supervision over its departments， and is also an important duty of the government. Local people's governments at and above county level shall take the supervision and inspection on administrative punishments as an important content of the government's work， pay close attention to it and be sure to obtain actual effect. The inspection shall lay emphasis on inspecting the situation of the implementation of systems as regarding the power of setting administrative punishments， qualifications for implementing administrative punishments， on-the-spot punishments and separation of decision and collection of fines， etc…… Problems discovered in the inspection shall be resolutely corrected by adopting energetic measures. The office of legislative affairs under either local people's governments at various levels or their various departments shall， in accordance with the unified plan of the government at the same level or their own department， organize and undertake the supervision and inspection of administrative punishments.

5. Take Vigorous Action to Seek and Establish an Administrative Law Enforcement System Which Can Help Improve the Authority and Efficiency of Administrative Law-Enforcement.

People's governments of various provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government shall conduct experiments in relatively centralizing the power to make administrative punishments and， in accordance with the local conditions， put forward a proposal on adjusting the power to make administrative punishments and implement it after submitted to and approved by the State Council. Various departments of the State Council shall research an administrative punishment system that is compatible with the socialist market economy， and give support to people's governments of provinces， autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government in the work of relatively centralizing the power to make administrative punishments. All localities and departments shall seriously implement the system of hearing， separation of investigation for evidence and decision of punishment， and separation of decision and collection of fines. They shall， in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Administrative Punishments， define the scope of hearing， determine persons taking charge of the hearing， formulate hearing rules， choose a relative detached institution in the administrative organ for conducting preliminary examination on the investigation results， reform the system for managing the funds of administrative law-enforcing organs and check the way of making the administrative punishments directly contacted with the interests of the administrative law-enforcing organs and personnel.

6. Grasp the Moment when the Law on Administrative Punishments Is to Be Implemented and Raise the Legal Work of the Government to a New Level.

The Ninth Five-Year Plan and the Long-Term Target Program for the Year 2010 of the National Economy and Social Development approved by the Fourth Session of the Eighth National People's Congress calls for managing state affairs according to law and building China into a country of socialist legal system. That is an important guarantee for the country's lasting political stability and it also ask more of the legal work of the government. Governments at all levels and all their departments shall fully realize the importance of effectively carrying out the government legal work in the new period， strengthen the leadership over the government legal work， put the construction of the government legal system to an important place in the work of the government and place it on the agenda as an important item. What is important at present is to lift the work concerning the government legislative affairs， law-enforcement and supervision over the law-enforcement up to a new step and raise the level of administration through the implementation of the Law on Administrative Punishments.

For strengthening the government legal work and implementing the Law on Administrative Punishments， there must be a special contingent with relatively high political and professional qualities. People's governments at and above county level and all their departments shall take effective actions to reinforce the institutions for government legislative affairs， make the establishments and the personnel meet the demands of the tasks of government legislative affairs of their own locality or department， create necessary conditions for them to develop the work and give full play to their role as an advisor and assistant in the government operation.

All localities and departments shall， in accordance with the actual situation of their own locality and department， seriously study and implement this Circular after receiving it. Important events and problems shall be reported to the Bureau of Legislative Affairs of the State Council without delay.