Source: Procuratorate Daily
The scene of the case press conference. Photo by reporter Yan Zhao
Top 10 Typical Administrative Procuratorate Cases in 2023
1. Ma v. the people's government of a town for compulsory demolition and supervision
2. The Heiliao procuratorate urged the revocation of Fang's case of procuratorial supervision of the registration of a fraudulent marriage
3. Case of Qian v. village committee requesting the performance of statutory duties and procuratorial supervision
4. A village joint-stock economic cooperative sued a town government for the revocation of an administrative agreement, a case of procuratorial supervision
5. A company v. a county human resources and social security bureau for the payment of insurance benefits, a case of procuratorial supervision
6. Wang Moupeng's case of illegal purchase and sale of wildlife under national protection
7. A state-owned farm v. a county natural resources bureau for the inspection and supervision of house ownership registration
8. Yang XX v. a municipal medical security bureau labor security administrative payment inspection and supervision case
9. A case of procuratorial supervision of administrative non-litigation enforcement of fines and administrative penalties by a municipal transportation bureau
10. An information technology company v. a municipal food and drug administration and a municipal government, a case of administrative punishment inspection and supervision
On January 26, the top ten typical administrative procuratorial cases in 2023, which have attracted much attention, were officially released. This is also the fourth year that the Seventh Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (Administrative Procuratorate) has worked closely with the Administrative Law Research Society of the China Law Society to hold the annual selection of the top ten typical administrative procuratorial cases.
How were the most typical and representative "Top Ten Cases" of administrative procuratorate in 2023 selected at various levels? What are the untold stories behind these cases? What impact have they had on promoting the high-quality development of administrative procuratorate in the new era? With questions, the reporter conducted an in-depth interview.
A. The best of the best, fresh cases emerge
In November 2023, the 4th Annual Top Ten Administrative Procuratorate Typical Cases Selection Activity officially kicked off. After the notice was issued, case materials poured in from all over the country. "We selected 49 cases from more than 160 cases reported by merit from all over the world, and five experts were organized by the Administrative Law Research Association of the China Law Society to conduct a preliminary evaluation. According to the results of the preliminary evaluation, 29 cases were determined to enter the expert re-evaluation and public voting. Zhang Lixin, the host prosecutor and second-level senior prosecutor of the Seventh Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, who has continuously organized and participated in the selection of the top ten typical administrative procuratorial cases of the year, introduced it to reporters.
Different from previous years, the expert re-evaluation of this year's selection activity was conducted for the first time in the form of on-site evaluation, and 10 experts scored and ranked the 29 participating cases. At the same time, the news of the public vote was successively released on WeChat public accounts such as the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Procuratorate Daily, and the China Law Review, inviting readers and netizens to participate in the vote. Based on the results of the expert re-evaluation and the public voting rankings, the top ten typical administrative procuratorial cases in 2023 will be finally determined.
On the morning of January 26, at the case conference held by the University of International Business and Economics, Ma Huaide, vice president of the China Law Society, president of the Administrative Law Research Society of the China Law Society, and president of the China University of Political Science and Law, said with emotion, "The release of cases that have not changed for four years has not changed our feelings for the cause of administrative prosecution, and what has changed is the case. Compared with previous years, there are many new types of cases. ”
"From the initiation of supervision by a single regional procuratorate to cross-provincial coordinated supervision, from the supervision of administrative organs to the supervision of autonomous organizations such as village committees, from administrative inaction to administrative agreements and the reverse connection of executions, and from administrative litigation supervision to administrative non-litigation enforcement supervision...... Each case fully demonstrates the political responsibility and rule of law wisdom of the prosecutors. Wang Jingbo, vice president of the Administrative Law Research Association of the China Law Society and president of Heilongjiang University, commented.
B. Be a procurator who can feel, feel, and benefit from the people
"Strive to make the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case", this is General Secretary Xi Jinping's requirement for justice for the people.
The villagers' livelihood has been seriously affected by the fact that they have been married under false names many times; the villagers' committees have not fulfilled their duties such as publishing the application for building houses, but the villagers' administrative lawsuits have not been accepted; and the administrative organs have refused to pay the insurance benefits to the injured workers because of the issue of filing work-related injury insurance for construction projects...... How to solve the problems of the masses and how to make the people feel fairness and justice? The answers can be found from the top ten typical cases of administrative procuratorates in 2023.
Zhong was accidentally injured while working on a construction project of a company, and although the county human resources and social security bureau determined that he was injured at work, it issued a notice on the grounds that Zhong was not in the list of migrant workers registered in the work-related injury insurance, and refused to pay the corresponding work-related injury insurance benefits. Dissatisfied, a company sued a county court, and after the first instance, second instance, and retrial, the court rejected the company's litigation claims. The company applied to the procuratorate for supervision, and after the procuratorate of a certain city raised a protest, the retrial upheld the original judgment. The Anhui Provincial Procuratorate followed up and supervised and protested again.
"After review, we believe that the construction company's participation in work-related injury insurance according to the project, and the timely filing and registration of the insured personnel is only a management measure, and does not belong to the conditions for paying work-related injury insurance benefits. If the employer fails to file the insured personnel in a timely manner, it shall not affect the work-related injury employee's receipt of work-related injury insurance benefits from the social security department, and the original judgment erred in applying the law. Gao Jun, a fourth-level senior prosecutor of the Seventh Procuratorate Department of the Anhui Provincial Procuratorate, introduced. In the end, after the court lodged a protest, the Anhui Provincial High Court revoked the original judgment and supported the company's claim.
Cheng Hu, vice president of the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, was deeply impressed by the case. He believes that the procuratorates at the two levels in Anhui uphold the supremacy of the people, and are really solving the problems of the common people through procuratorial protests, follow-up supervision, and procuratorial protests again.
Solving the practical problems of the common people and making the people truly feel fairness and justice has also been reflected in the case of a village joint-stock economic cooperative suing a town government for the revocation of an administrative agreement and supervision. The administrative dispute, which lasted for six years, troubled more than 1,400 villagers. Based on the function of legal supervision, the procuratorial organs substantively resolved administrative disputes throughout the entire process of supervision and case handling, and resolved the disputes after 408 days. Zhang Zhiyuan, executive vice president of the School of Discipline Inspection and Supervision of East China University of Political Science and Law, believes that "this case fully reflects the procuratorate's 'people-centered' insistence."
Housing is a major livelihood issue. Villager Qian filed an administrative lawsuit, demanding that a village committee perform its statutory duties such as publishing lists, signing opinions, and submitting them for approval in accordance with the law, but the court rejected the lawsuit. Qian's appeal and application for retrial were not supported. After applying for supervision, the procuratorial organs clarified the nature of the villagers' committee's performance of duties, confirmed the villagers' committee's qualifications as the main defendant, and held that the court's rejection of the lawsuit was indeed in error, so it issued a procuratorial recommendation for retrial to the court. After adopting the case, the court made a ruling, revoked the original first-instance and second-instance rulings, and ordered a certain basic level court to continue the trial.
"The approval of homestead building is a kind of administrative licensing, and the relevant duties performed by the village committee on the application for building a house are procedural acts in the administrative licensing. When a procedural administrative act has a final result, it will have a substantial impact on the rights and interests of the parties, so Qian's lawsuit falls within the scope of administrative litigation. Wang Zhuo, deputy director of the Fifth Procuratorate Department of the First Branch of the Shanghai Municipal Procuratorate, explained.
In the view of Lu Liqiu, director of the Administrative Law and Administrative Litigation Law Professional Committee of the All China Lawyers Association, this case reflects the accuracy of professional judgment, the sensitivity of procuratorial supervision, and the development direction of the administrative litigation system.
C. Serve the overall situation and provide procuratorial plans and countermeasures for social governance
"Wherever the party's central work is promoted, the procuratorial work must be followed up. Ying Yong, procurator general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, stressed that procuratorial organs should take the initiative to serve and integrate into the overall work of the party and the state, and make full use of the power of the rule of law to serve Chinese-style modernization.
The reporter noticed that among the top 10 typical cases, the overall situation of the service center for administrative procurators emerged everywhere.
A technology company signed a contract with a hospital to repair a faulty CT machine X-ray tube assembly (referred to as a tube) for a hospital. During the maintenance period, the company provided a temporary substitute tube emergency for a hospital, and the price of the product was more than 190,000 yuan after duty. However, because the tube did not obtain the medical device registration certificate, the former Food and Drug Administration of a certain city made an administrative penalty decision of imposing a fine of 10 times on a company suspected of illegal business activities. A company believes that the facts and application of the law in the administrative penalty are wrong, and the punishment is too heavy. After reconsideration, first instance, second instance and retrial, the company's claims were not supported. A company applied to the procuratorate for supervision.
After investigation, the procuratorate found that the former Food and Drug Administration of a certain city had imposed another administrative penalty on a hospital in the same case, and finally imposed a fine of 0.5 times the value of the hospital involved in the case. In the same situation, why is one fined 10 times and the other fined 0.5 times? The procuratorial organs held that the subjective purpose of a certain company was to repair the original ball tube, and that there was no subjective intention to carry out illegal acts, and that it also actively cooperated with the investigation, and that the punishment imposed by the administrative organ was obviously unusually heavy, violating the principle of proportionality and fairness of excessive punishment as stipulated in the Administrative Punishment Law, so it lodged a protest in accordance with the law. The court adopted the protest opinion, changed the judgment in accordance with law, and ordered the administrative organ to make a new administrative punishment decision. Later, the market supervision and administration bureau of a certain city decided to reduce the punishment of the technology company.
Xue Feng, vice president of the Beijing Financial Court, believes that the procuratorial organs have put forward supervision opinions in a timely manner, which has minimized the adverse impact of punishment on the normal production and operation activities of enterprises. He further pointed out that "protecting the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, standardizing the exercise of administrative power, and ensuring a fair and competitive market environment are the core elements of optimizing the business environment." Only by making a fair and just judgment in accordance with the law in the handling of each case and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of business entities can we give full play to the important role of the rule of law in consolidating the foundation, stabilizing expectations, and benefiting the long-term."
Since 2023, the administrative procuratorate has adhered to the pursuit of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency" as the basic value pursuit, promoted social governance through the governance of litigation sources, and effectively maintained the harmony and stability of the overall social situation. In the eyes of Wang Xizin, vice president of the Administrative Law Research Association of the China Law Society and professor of Peking University Law School, the case of Yang Moumou v. a municipal medical security bureau for the procuratorial supervision of labor and social security administrative payments is a vivid microcosm. He believes that in this case, the procuratorate promptly cooperated with relevant departments, courts and the government to promote the abolition of the entire NCMS insurance measures and related illegal norms that violated the superior law, and the effect was from point to point, and the system governance was implemented.
What this case reflects is that while the administrative procuratorial work promotes fairness and justice on a case-by-case basis, it also undertakes the larger mission of participating in the effective and systematic governance of the country. Wang Xizhen added.
It is a new task for administrative procuratorates in the new era to improve the two-way connection mechanism for executions, explore and advance the supervision of administrative violations, and promote the construction of a rule of law government. How to find a breakthrough in the supervision of administrative violations? How to find its boundaries? How can the procuratorial forces intervene in the relevant administrative procedures? The case of Wang Moupeng's illegal purchase and sale of wild animals under state protection has made a useful attempt in this regard.
Tan Zongze, vice president of the Administrative Law Research Association of the China Law Society and professor of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, paid attention to this case in the re-evaluation session. "What is valuable about this case is that after the execution was reversed, the procuratorial organs also put forward their opinions on the handling of the case and the implementation of the law after the transfer, and put forward procuratorial suggestions on the situation of inaction or failure to respond after a certain period of time, which strengthened the linkage between the government and the procuratorate and embodied the active procuratorate. He believes that this may become an effective breakthrough in the implementation of procuratorial supervision of administrative violations in the future.
D. Administrative procuratorate from the perspective of typical cases
A glimpse of the whole leopard. Through the selection activities for four consecutive years, through 40 typical cases of the year and nearly 100 excellent cases of the year, we can see the solid footprints of the administrative procuratorate all the way forward, and we can feel the hard work and efforts of countless administrative procurators.
Since the establishment of the Administrative Procuratorate (Seventh Procuratorate) by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 2019, the administrative procuratorial departments of procuratorial organs across the country have thoroughly implemented Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, persisted in serving the overall situation, serving the people's justice, and taking responsibility for the rule of law, continuously strengthened the supervision of administrative litigation, steadily explored the reverse connection of executions and the supervision of administrative violations, deepened the substantive resolution of administrative disputes, served and protected the people's livelihood and interests in accordance with the law, escorted the business environment under the rule of law, and handled a number of high-quality and effective administrative procuratorial supervision cases.
"After several decades of development, it should be said that the administrative procuratorial cause has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years and has achieved fruitful results. ”
"We can see through many cases the leverage of administrative procuratorates in the governance of the country. ”
"These selected cases are the best example of the administrative procuratorate's persistence in moving forward step by step every year. ”
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At the 2023 press conference on the top ten typical cases of administrative procuratorate, experts, scholars and judicial personnel from the theoretical and practical circles spoke highly of and fully affirmed the administrative procuratorial work in recent years.
2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and a crucial year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan. At the recent national meeting of procurators general, Procurator General Ying Yong emphasized that the administrative procuratorate should have a high position, a wide field of vision, a clear direction, and a stable path, focusing on strengthening the supervision of administrative litigation, orderly promoting the supervision of administrative violations, solving problems such as dare not and being ineffective, and pointing out the direction for the administrative procuratorate to achieve high-quality development.
"We must thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, implement the various arrangements of the National Conference of Procurators General, and take the opportunity of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to listen to the special report on administrative procuratorial work, comprehensively deepen administrative procuratorial supervision, handle every case with high quality and efficiency, and promote the construction of a rule of law in China with better administrative procuratorial performance, and contribute wisdom and strength to the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country on the track of rule of law. Zhang Xiangjun, director of the Seventh Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, told reporters.