Administrative Penalty Law was promulgated in 1996, and amended in 2009, 2017 and 2021 respectively. The latest revision will enter into force on 15 July 2021.
There are 86 articles in total. The Law aims to regulate the establishment and implementation of administrative penalties, so as to safeguard public interests.
Key points of the Law include:
Administrative penalties shall fall within the jurisdiction of administrative organs with the power of administrative penalty under the local people’s governments at or above the county level. Provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the actual circumstances, decide to hand over the power of administrative penalty of the departments under the local people’s governments at the county level, which is urgently needed for grassroots administration, to the people’s governments at the village and township level and subdistrict offices that can effectively undertake such power.
For the same illegal act committed by a party, no fine shall be imposed twice or more. Where the same illegal act violates several laws and regulations, the penalty of a fine shall be imposed at a higher amount. Where a fine is not paid within the prescribed time limit, the administrative organ deciding on administrative penalty may impose an additional fine at the rate of 3% of the fine on a daily basis, but its amount shall not exceed the amount of the original fine that shall be paid.
Where a party has sufficient evidence to prove that there is no subjective fault, no administrative penalty shall be imposed. Where an illegal act is minor, has been corrected promptly and has not caused any harmful consequence, no administrative penalty shall be imposed.
Before making the decisions on administrative penalties such as imposing a relatively large amount of fine, lowering the qualification level, ordering closure and restricting employment, an administrative organ shall inform the party of the right to request a hearing. And where a party requests a hearing, the administrative organ shall organize the hearing. The party shall not assume the expenses for the hearing held by the administrative organ.
In the event of emergencies such as the epidemic of major infectious diseases, administrative organs shall, in order to control, mitigate and eliminate the social harm caused by the emergences, give prompt and heavy punishment to those who violate the emergency response measures according to the law.