Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strictly Regulating the Administrative Inspection of Enterprises
Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Strictly Regulating the Administrative Inspection of Enterprises
Guoban Fa [2024] No. 54
The people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and all ministries, commissions, and agencies directly under the State Council:
Administrative inspection is an important way for administrative law enforcement entities to perform administrative duties, and it plays an important role in guiding and standardizing the legitimate operation of enterprises and preventing and correcting illegal acts. In order to implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee on further standardizing enterprise-related law enforcement, strictly standardize the administrative inspection of enterprises, resolutely curb random inspections, and effectively reduce the burden on enterprises, with the consent of the State Council, the following opinions are hereby made.
I. General requirements
Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the 20th Central Committee, and address the many, frequent, and arbitrary administrative inspections, as well as arbitrary inspections, sports inspections, and disguised inspections in various names. Strengthen administration according to law, ensure that administrative inspections are based on law, strictly standardized, fair, civilized, accurate and efficient, and further optimize the business environment.
II. Clarify the subject of administrative inspection, and strictly prohibit organizations that do not have the subject qualification from conducting administrative inspections
Subjects carrying out administrative inspections must have legal qualifications. Administrative organs with administrative law enforcement powers must carry out administrative inspections within the scope of their legal duties; organizations authorized by laws and regulations to manage public affairs must carry out administrative inspections within the scope of legal authorization; entrusted organizations must carry out administrative inspections within the scope of their mandates. Except for the above-mentioned entities, no organization or individual may carry out administrative inspections. The qualifications of administrative inspection subjects must be confirmed in accordance with the law and announced to the public. It is strictly forbidden for government deliberation and coordination agencies to carry out administrative inspections in various names; it is strictly forbidden for inspection and testing institutions, scientific research institutes and other third parties to carry out administrative inspections; it is strictly forbidden to outsource to intermediary agencies to carry out administrative inspections; it is strictly forbidden for law enforcement auxiliary personnel, grid personnel, temporary workers and other personnel who have not obtained law enforcement certificates to carry out administrative inspections.
III. Clean up and publicize administrative inspection items to contain random inspections at the source
The relevant competent departments shall strictly implement the list of powers and responsibilities system, sort out the existing enterprise-related administrative inspection items in this field and implement dynamic management, resolutely clean up those without legal basis, adjust in a timely manner if the legal basis changes, and cancel those without actual results. Administrative inspection items shall be announced to the public in accordance with the requirements of transparency of powers and responsibilities and openness of use of power, and accept supervision by enterprises and society. Administrative inspection items that have not been announced shall not be implemented.
IV. Reasonable determination of administrative inspection methods to minimize the frequency of inspections of enterprises
Vigorously promote accurate inspections to prevent duplicate inspections and multi-head inspections. Those that can be combined to implement administrative inspections shall not be duplicated inspections; those that can jointly implement administrative inspections shall not be multi-headed inspections; those that can be supervised through written verification, information sharing, intelligent supervision, etc., shall not be allowed to enter enterprises for on-site inspections. Strictly control the number of inspectors entering enterprises, optimize "comprehensive inspection once", "double random, and one public" spot checks, and implement "one table through inspection" for simple matters. Except for the statutory basis, the inspection of entering enterprises shall not be used as a prerequisite for administrative acts such as administrative licensing and administrative payment. Before the end of June 2025, the relevant competent departments of the State Council shall establish a hierarchical and classified inspection system in this field; the relevant competent departments shall publish the annual Frequency Cap for the administrative inspection of the same enterprise by the same administrative organ. The frequency of administrative inspections shall be included in the annual statistical report of administrative law enforcement. If it is really necessary to implement administrative inspections based on clues such as complaints and reports, transfer and handling, data monitoring, etc., or if administrative inspections are implemented at the application of enterprises, they may not be subject to the Frequency Cap restrictions, but if the frequency obviously exceeds a reasonable frequency, the administrative law enforcement supervision organs shall follow up and supervise in a timely manner. Explore the establishment of an economic impact assessment system for administrative law enforcement cases involving enterprises, and reduce the negative impact of administrative law enforcement, especially administrative inspections, on enterprises in accordance with the law.
V. Strict administrative inspection standards and procedures to prevent arbitrary inspections
The relevant competent departments of the State Council shall sort out the existing administrative inspection standards in this field and publish them before the end of June 2025. If the administrative inspection standards in different fields conflict with each other, the relevant competent departments shall, in accordance with regulations, request the government at the same level or the administrative organ at the next higher level for coordination to avoid enterprises being at a loss.
Before implementing an administrative inspection, an inspection plan shall be formulated and reported to the person in charge of the main body of administrative law enforcement for approval, and shall not be approved only by the person in charge of the internal agency. If the situation is urgent and needs to be implemented on the spot, it shall be reported in a timely manner and the formalities shall be completed. When implementing an administrative inspection, an administrative inspection notice shall be issued. Speed up the implementation of "scanning the code to enter the enterprise", and upload the data of the main body, personnel, content and results of the administrative inspection to the information system in real time. Law enforcement personnel shall take the initiative to present law enforcement certificates, and it is strictly forbidden to use other certificates instead of law enforcement certificates for administrative inspection; the people's police shall present the people's police certificates. Except as otherwise provided by law, there shall be no fewer than two law enforcement personnel. On-site inspection transcripts shall be made for Adhere to the equal punishment, strictly implement the benchmark system of administrative discretion, and use more flexible law enforcement methods. Those who can be handled by reminding, informing, discouraging, etc. according to law shall not be punished or exempted from punishment according to the principle of inclusiveness and prudence. Cases with outstanding problems shall be notified and exposed. The administrative law enforcement supervision agency of the State Council shall formulate a unified basic format standard for administrative inspection documents by the end of April 2025 and publish it to the public. Administrative inspections of enterprises involved are based on the principle of territorial jurisdiction. The relevant competent departments of the State Council shall establish and improve the remote assistance mechanism for administrative inspections by the end of December 2025, clarify relevant rules, and strictly prohibit the implementation of remote inspections in violation of regulations.
Strictly control the inspection of special projects to avoid "going through the motions" and sports inspections
For outstanding problems in a certain region or field, special project inspections may be deployed according to law. The special project inspections must meet the objective needs of supervision. If it is really necessary to deploy after evaluation, the scope, content and time limit of the special project inspections must be strictly controlled, and the full coverage and indiscriminate inspections of "one person is sick, everyone takes medicine" must be resolutely eliminated. The special project inspections shall be subject to annual quantity control, and the inspection plans shall be drawn up in advance. After being approved by the government at or above the county level or the administrative organ at the higher level that implements vertical management, they shall be filed in accordance with regulations and announced to the public. If the inspection items involve two or more departments, the relevant competent departments shall jointly formulate inspection plans to avoid multiple and repeated deployments. If the latent risk is large and may cause serious adverse consequences, it is really necessary to urgently deploy a special project inspection, the inspection plan should be revised in a timely manner and filed. The special project inspection should be implemented in strict accordance with the standards and procedures of administrative inspection, so as to achieve practical results and prevent "going through the motions".
Seven, standardize administrative inspection behavior to prevent profit-seeking inspections and willful inspections
The administrative inspection of enterprises involved must achieve "five strictly prohibited" and "eight not allowed". It is strictly forbidden to pursue profit inspections, not to accept any gifts, rewards, welfare benefits from the inspected enterprises, not to participate in banquets, entertainment, tourism and other activities provided by the inspected enterprises, not to be paid by the inspected enterprises Consumer expenses or transfer inspection costs to the enterprises, and not to force enterprises to accept designated intermediary agencies to provide services. It is strictly forbidden to interfere with the normal production and operation of enterprises, and not to deliberately require the presence of legal representatives. It is strictly forbidden to arbitrarily punish enterprises, and not to seize, detain, freeze, or order production and business suspension at every turn. It is strictly forbidden to issue inspection indicators, and not to link the performance of assessment and budget items to the frequency of inspection and the amount of fines. It is strictly forbidden to conduct inspections in disguised form, and not to conduct inspections in the name of observation, supervision, inspection, etc.
VIII. Compact and standardize management responsibilities and strengthen law enforcement supervision of administrative inspections
Governments at all levels and relevant competent departments should conscientiously implement the "Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Construction of the Coordination and Supervision Work System of Administrative Law Enforcement", strictly implement various requirements, take responsibility realistically, and strengthen the standardized management of administrative inspections of enterprises involved. Administrative law enforcement entities should uniformly announce on government websites the relevant matters of administrative inspections that should be made public according to law, and implement administrative inspections in strict accordance with regulations. If administrative inspections are carried out in violation of regulations, enterprises have the right to refuse to accept inspections and have the right to complain and report. Administrative law enforcement supervision organs should conscientiously perform their supervision duties, strengthen the training of administrative law enforcement personnel, effectively change the wrong concept of "offloading inspection" of administrative law enforcement personnel, innovate the supervision methods of enterprise-related administrative inspections, promote the "supervision + service" model, and realize normal supervision.
Strengthen digital technology to empower law enforcement supervision to ensure accuracy and efficiency
The administrative law enforcement supervision agency of the State Council shall speed up the completion of the construction of the national administrative law enforcement supervision information system, and the relevant competent departments shall actively coordinate, open up platforms, and break down barriers. It is necessary to comprehensively, uniformly, and timely collect law enforcement data related to administrative inspections, and conduct full-process supervision of administrative inspections in accordance with the information on administrative inspection items, bases, standards, plans, frequencies, and other information filed or announced in accordance with regulations. It is necessary to use artificial intelligence and big data to conduct statistical analysis, quickly warn multi-head inspections, repeated inspections, and high-frequency inspections, and conduct timely supervision of common and high-incidence problems. It is necessary to collect enterprises' opinions and suggestions on administrative inspections through information systems, pay attention to outstanding problems that are strongly reflected by enterprises and society, and conduct key supervision of the acceptance and handling of complaints and reports by administrative law enforcement It is necessary to establish and improve the administrative law enforcement supervision and 12345 government service convenience hotline information sharing mechanism, and at the same time give full play to the role of the Federation of Industry and Commerce in enterprises to reflect the clues of the problem.
X. Strictly investigate responsibility and increase the investigation and punishment of random inspections
Administrative law enforcement supervision organs at all levels who do not have the qualifications of administrative law enforcement entities to conduct inspections, fail to implement inspections in accordance with the announced administrative inspection items and standards, fail to implement inspections in accordance with prescribed procedures, deploy special project inspections without authorization, implement inspections beyond the annual Frequency Cap of administrative inspections, and violate the "Five Strictly Prohibited" and "Eight Not" requirements for random inspections must be found and dealt with together, and timely ordered to make corrections; conduct public interviews with the person in charge of administrative law enforcement entities or relevant responsible persons; if the enterprise reflects strongly and has a bad social impact, it shall be directly supervised and reported to the public; if it is suspected of violating discipline or violating duties and committing crimes, it shall be transferred to the discipline inspection and supervision organs according to law. At the same time, it is necessary to establish and improve the mechanism of administrative inspection responsibility investigation and due diligence exemption from accountability, and refine relevant circumstances and procedures.
All regions and departments must conscientiously implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and in accordance with the requirements of central overall planning, provincial responsibility, and city and county implementation, strengthen departmental coordination and cooperation, increase publicity and training efforts, and vigorously promote the implementation of work. Regulate and manage administrative inspections of enterprises as an important part of government supervision and administrative law enforcement supervision. It is necessary to prevent excessive inspections and law enforcement from disturbing enterprises, and to ensure that necessary inspections are carried out effectively. It is necessary to summarize experience and practices in a timely manner, and report important situations and problems to the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice, as the administrative law enforcement supervision agency of the State Council, should strengthen comprehensive coordination, guidance and supervision, track the progress of work, and timely request reports on major matters.
General Office of the State Council
December 30, 2024
(This article is published publicly.)
