Wire flash
China's SAMR to issue new rules ensuring proportionate administrative penalties
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Source reporting is collected, normalized, translated or condensed automatically when needed.
- Automatically published source-backed update
On September 24, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced at a quarterly press conference that it will soon issue the 'Regulations on Discretion in Administrative Penalties for Market Supervision,' aiming to ensure penalties are proportionate to violations. The regulation has three main features: first, it elevates the discretionary rules from a normative document to a departmental regulation, providing stronger binding force and a unified national standard. Second, it refines penalty gradations into five tiers—no penalty, mitigated, lightened, standard, and aggravated—with clear application criteria for each, particularly distinguishing between mitigated and lightened penalties to address enforcement hesitation. Third, it unifies the criteria for common discretionary factors such as 'first-time violation,' 'minor violation,' and 'minor harmful consequences,' ensuring consistent treatment of similar cases nationwide. The regulation also requires comprehensive consideration of multiple aggravating or mitigating factors to prevent mechanical or selective enforcement, and mandates strict procedures for adjustments, such as requiring collective discussion by department heads to change a lightened penalty to a mitigated one, balancing flexibility for special cases with prevention of abuse of discretion.
Source report
Beijing, September 24 — The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced at its third-quarter regular press conference today that it will soon issue the Regulations on Discretion in Administrative Penalties for Market Regulation, aiming to ensure that penalties are proportionate to the violations.
The new regulation features three key characteristics:
1. Elevated Legal Authority
The discretionary rules have been upgraded from a normative document to a departmental regulation, providing stronger institutional rigidity and greater binding force. This establishes a unified standard for law enforcement nationwide.
2. Refined Gradations
Penalty discretion is divided into five tiers: no penalty, mitigated penalty, lightened penalty, standard penalty, and aggravated penalty. Each tier clearly defines the applicable circumstances. Notably, the regulation distinguishes between "mitigated" and "lightened" penalties—two categories often confused in practice—to address enforcement officers' concerns about "daring to use" discretion and their confusion about "how to use" it.
3. Unified Standards
Based on practices across various regions, the regulation standardizes the criteria for commonly used discretionary factors such as "first-time violation," "minor violation," and "minor harmful consequences." This provides clear guidance for grassroots enforcement and ensures that business entities know what to expect.
Key Principles
- "One Ruler" for Standards: Discretionary scales previously applied inconsistently across regions are now unified under a single set of criteria, ensuring that similar cases are treated equally and fairly.
- Comprehensive Assessment: When a party involved has multiple circumstances that qualify for lightened, mitigated, or aggravated penalties, enforcement officers are required to evaluate the impact of each factor and exercise discretion comprehensively, preventing mechanical or selective enforcement.
- Strict Procedural Oversight: For cases where the penalty is clearly inappropriate and requires adjustment, strict procedures are established. For example, adjusting a lightened penalty to a mitigated penalty requires a collective discussion and decision by the department's leadership. This approach preserves flexibility for exceptional cases while closing the door on abuse of discretion.
(Source: CCTV News)
Source
界面Eastern
Part of this Story
China's Market Regulator to Issue New Rules Ensuring Proportional Administrative Penalties