demand accountability in law enforcement, and establish a system of law-based government administration that combines rights with responsibilities and that is authoritative and effective. They must move more quickly to become the rule-of-law governments which have well-conceived functions and statutorily-defined powers and responsibilities, strictly enforce the law, and are open and impartial, clean and efficient, and more credible and law-abiding”.
Second, fully carrying out government functions in accordance with the law. (1) “We need to improve legislation on administrative organization and procedures, and promote the codification of governmental institutions, functions, powers, procedures, and responsibilities into law… Administrative bodies must not assume power which is not prescribed by law, make decisions that reduce or encroach upon the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons, or other organizations, or increase their obligations when there is no legal basis for such decisions. We need to promote a system in which government powers are clearly delineated”. (2) “We need to work to ensure that the powers of each level of government and the way they are exercised are rooted more firmly in laws and procedures. We need to improve the legislation defining the powers of governments at different levels, especially power sharing between central government and local governments: we need to strengthen the central government’s functions of exercising macro-level regulation and establishing systems, and the powers necessary for it to enforce the law. We also need to strengthen the responsibility of governments at the provincial level for overall planning on ensuring access to basic public services within their jurisdictions is increasingly equitable; and strengthen municipal and county governments’ performance of their duties and functions”.
Third, improving law-based decision-making mechanisms. (1) A mechanism needs to be established for administrative agencies to review the legality of their major decisions, and we need to “ensure that those decisions that have not undergone or have not passed the legality review are not submitted for collective deliberation”. (2) “We need to actively implement the system of government legal advisors”, and “make sure these advisors play an active role in helping make major administrative decisions and promoting law-based government administration”. (3) “We need to establish a lifelong accountability system and a mechanism for retroactive investigation of liability for major decisions. For very bad decisions and for decisions that should, in accordance with the law, have been made promptly but were delayed, resulting in major losses or negative effects, top administrative officials and other leaders and individuals responsible will be held legally accountable”.
Fourth, deepening structural reform in administrative enforcement of law. (1) “We must carry out coordinated law enforcement, greatly reducing the number of categories of government law enforcement employees at the municipal and county levels. We need to focus on promoting coordinated enforcement of law in the areas of food and drug safety, industrial and commercial administration, quality inspection, public health, workplace safety, culture, tourism, resources and the environment, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, transportation, urban and rural development, and marine industries and fisheries. Cross-departmental coordination in law enforcement may be adopted where conditions allow”. (2) “We must improve regulation of administrative enforcement of law at the municipal and county levels, strengthening unified leadership and coordination. We must develop a sound system of administrative compulsion and refine the system of law enforcement by urban management officers”. (3) “We must strictly implement certification and credentials systems for those working in administrative law enforcement… We must strictly implement a system in which law enforcement officers do not collect the fines they issue, and the management of revenue and expenditures is separated”. (4) “We must improve the mechanism for linking administrative law enforcement with the administration of criminal justice, better define standards and procedures for case referrals, and establish a system for sharing information, releasing updates on cases, and referring cases between agencies charged with administrative enforcement of law, public security agencies, procuratorates, and courts. We must be firm in eliminating the phenomena of failing to refer cases when necessary, creating difficulties for their referral, and issuing administrative penalties instead of criminal sentences, so as to ensure that administrative punishment is well coordinated with criminal punishment”.
Fifth, ensuring that law is enforced in a strict, standardized, impartial, and civil manner. (1) “We need to improve the procedures for law enforcement and establish a record keeping system to document the whole process of law enforcement. We need to clarify specific procedures with a focus on such aspects of law enforcement as administrative licensing, administrative punishment, administrative compulsion, administrative revenue collection, the charging of administrative fees, and administrative inspection. We must strictly implement a system by which major decisions on law enforcement are reviewed to check their consistency with the law”. “We must establish a sound system of baselines for administrative discretionary powers … We must strengthen the application of information technology and information sharing in administrative law enforcement, and make law enforcement activities more efficient and standardized”. “We must fully implement the accountability system for administrative enforcement of law … We must strengthen supervision of law enforcement”, and “punish instances of corruption in law enforcement”.
Sixth, strengthening checks on administrative powers and supervision over the exercise of these powers. (1) In strengthening checks on administrative powers, we need to focus on strengthening checks on government powers. “We need to improve supervision among governments at different levels as well as specialized supervision, improve supervision of governments by those at the next level up, and establish a permanent system of supervision. We need to improve remedial and accountability mechanisms”. (2) “We must improve the auditing system, and make sure that supervision is exercised through independent auditing and in accordance with the law … Leadership of auditing agencies by those at the next level up needs to be strengthened. Efforts need to be made to explore unified management of human, financial, and material resources of local auditing agencies below the provincial level. We need to increase the level of professionalism in auditing”.
Seventh, building transparency into the work of the government across the board. (1) Decision-making, implementation, management, services, and outcomes are all open to the public. Special emphasis needs to be placed on making information on government budgets, the allocation of public resources, the approval and implementation of major construction projects, and the development of public interest projects available to the public. (2) A public notice system for administrative enforcement of law needs to be put into effect. “We need to press ahead with increasing the use of information technology in making government work more transparent”.
1.2.4.4. Part 4: Ensuring judicial impartiality and improving judicial credibility. This mainly includes: First, innovation of concept and basic ideas—Justice is the lifeblood of the rule of law. Judicial justice encourages social justice, while judicial injustice cripples it. We must improve the system for managing the judiciary and the mechanisms for exercising judicial powers, standardize judicial behavior, tighten supervision over judicial activities, and make every effort to ensure that the people feel justice is served in every case.
Second, improving the system for ensuring the law-based, independent, and impartial exercise of judicial and procuratorial powers. (1) “We need to develop record keeping, reporting, and accountability systems to deal with officials intervening in judicial activities, including the handling of specific cases”. (2) “We must improve the systems whereby administrative agencies appear and defend themselves in court in accordance with the law, support the court in handling cases filed against them, and respect and carry out effective judgments made by the court. We need to improve legal provisions on punishing illegal activities such as acting to impede judicial bodies’ performance of their duties in accordance with the law, refusal to carry out effective judgments or rulings, and contempt of court”. (3) A sound mechanism to protect those working in the judiciary in the performance of their statutory duties needs to be established.
Third, improving the allocation of judicial functions and powers. (1) “We need to improve the systems and
