Section 4 Hearing Procedure

Article 63 Before making decisions on one of the following administrative penalties, an administrative organ shall notify the party concerned of his right to request a hearing, and where the party requests a hearing, the administrative organ shall organize one:

1. A relatively large fine;

2. Confiscating relatively large amount of illegal gains or illegal property of relatively high value;

3. Lowering the level of qualification or revoking a license;

4. Ordering the suspension of production or business, ordering the closure of business, or restricting engagement in certain business operations;

5. Other relatively heavy administrative penalties; or

6. Other circumstances as prescribed in laws, administrative regulations or government rules.

A party shall not bear the expenses for the hearing held by an administrative organ.

Article 64 A hearing shall be organized according to the following procedures:

1. To request a hearing, a party shall submit the request within five days after being notified by the administrative organ;

2. The administrative organ shall notify the party and persons concerned of the time and place for holding a hearing seven days before it is held;

3. Except for those involving state secrets, trade secrets, or personal privacy that shall be kept confidential in accordance with law, a hearing shall be held in public;

4. A hearing shall be presided over by a person designated by the administrative organ other than an investigator of the case; if the party believes that a person has a direct interest in the current case, he shall have the right to apply for the withdrawal of that person;

5. A party may participate in a hearing in person, or he may entrust one or two persons to act as his agent(s) in it;

6. Where a party or his agent refuses to attend a hearing without justifiable reasons or withdraws from it without permission, it shall be deemed that he has waived the right to a hearing, and the administrative organ shall terminate the hearing;

7. At a hearing, the investigator shall state the facts of the party's violation of law, produce evidence and offer suggestion on the administrative penalty, and the party shall defend himself and make cross-examination; and

8. Transcripts shall be made for a hearing. The transcripts shall be signed by or affixed with the seal of the party or his agent(s) after verification thereby. Where the party or his agent refuses to sign his name or affix his seal, this fact shall be indicated in the transcripts by the presider of the hearing.

Article 65 After the conclusion of a hearing, an administrative organ shall, on the basis of the transcripts of the hearing, make a decision in accordance with the provisions of Article 57 of this Law.

Chapter VI Enforcement of Administrative Penalties

Article 66 After a decision on an administrative penalty is made in accordance with law, it shall be carried out by the party within the time limit specified in the written decision on the administrative penalty.

Where a party truly has financial difficulties and needs to postpone the payment of a fine or to make payment in installments, he may do so after applying to and obtaining approval of the administrative organ.

Article 67 Administrative organs that make decisions on fines shall be separated from the organs that collect fines.

An administrative organ making decisions on administrative penalties and its law enforcement officers shall not collect by themselves any fine other than those to be collected on the spot in accordance with the provisions of Articles 68 and 69 of this Law.

A party shall, within 15 days from the date of receipt of a written decision on an administrative penalty, pay the fine to the designated bank or through the electronic payment system. The bank shall accept the fine and turn it over directly to the state treasury.

Article 68 Where a decision on an administrative penalty is made on the spot in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of this Law, a law enforcement officer may collect the fine on the spot under one of the following circumstances:

1. A fine of not more than 100 yuan is imposed in accordance with law; and

2. If the fine is not collected on the spot, it will be difficult to enforce the decision afterwards.

Article 69 Where, after a decision on a fine is made by an administrative organ and its law enforcement officers in accordance with the provisions of Articles 51 and 57 of this Law, it is truly difficult for a party to pay the fine to the designated bank or through the electronic payment system in a place which is remote, on water or not easily accessible, the administrative organ and its law enforcement officers may, at the request of the party, collect the fine on the spot.

Article 70 An administrative organ and its law enforcement officers that collect a fine on the spot must issue a special receipt uniformly made by the public finance department under the State Council or the public finance department of the people's government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government; where no special receipt uniformly made by a public finance department is issued, the party shall have the right to refuse to pay the fine.

Article 71 A fine collected by a law enforcement officer on the spot shall be turned over to an administrative organ within two days from the date on which the fine is collected; a fine collected on the spot on water shall be turned over to an administrative organ within two days from the date of landing; and the administrative organ shall turn over the fine to the designated bank within two days.

Article 72 Where a party fails to carry out a decision on an administrative penalty within the prescribed time limit, the administrative organ making the decision may adopt the following measures:

1. Imposing an additional fine at the rate of 3% of the original fine on a daily basis where a fine is not paid within the prescribed time limit, but the amount of the additional fine shall not exceed the amount of the original fine that should be paid; 

2. Selling by auction or lawfully disposing of sealed up or seized property, or debiting frozen deposits or remittance to offset the fine in accordance with law;

3. Adopting other administrative compulsory enforcement methods in accordance with law; or

4. Applying to a people's court for compulsory enforcement in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Enforcement Law of the People's Republic of China.

Where an administrative organ approves the postponement of payment of a fine or payment of a fine in installments, the time limit for applying to the people's court for compulsory enforcement shall be calculated from the end of the time limit for the postponement of payment of the fine or payment of the fine in installments.

Article 73 Where a party refuses to accept a decision on an administrative penalty and applies for administrative reconsideration or brings an administrative lawsuit, enforcement of the administrative penalty shall not be suspended, except as otherwise prescribed by law.

Where a party refuses to accept a decision on administrative penalty that restricts personal freedom, and applies for administrative reconsideration or brings an administrative lawsuit, he may file an application with the organ that has made the decision for a suspension of enforcement. Where the application meets the conditions prescribed in law, the enforcement shall be suspended.

Where a party applies for administrative reconsideration or brings an administrative lawsuit, an additional fine shall not be calculated during the period of administrative reconsideration or administrative lawsuit.

Article 74 With the exception of the articles that shall be destroyed in accordance with law, the illegal property confiscated in accordance with law must be sold by public auction or disposed of in accordance with relevant State regulations.

Fines, confiscated illegal gains or money obtained from the auction of confiscated illegal property shall be turned over to the state treasury in full, and no administrative organ or individual shall, by any means, withhold such property or money, share it out privately, or do so in a disguised form.

Fines, confiscated illegal gains or money obtained from the auction of confiscated illegal property shall not be linked to the performance appraisal or evaluation of the administrative organ making the decision on the administrative penalty or its staff members either directly or in a disguised form. Except those that shall be returned or paid as compensation in accordance with law, no public finance department shall, by any means, give the fines collected, illegal gains confiscated, or the money obtained from the auction of confiscated illegal property back to the administrative organ that has made the decision on the administrative penalty.

Article 75 Administrative organs shall establish and improve a supervisory system for administrative penalties. People's governments at or above the county level shall organize and carry out appraisal and evaluation of administrative law enforcement on a regular basis, strengthen the supervision over and inspection of administrative penalties, and standardize and guarantee the enforcement of administrative penalties.

Administrative organs shall accept social supervision when enforcing administrative penalties. A citizen, legal person or another organization shall have the right to file an appeal or accusation against an administrative penalty enforced by an administrative organ; and the administrative organ shall carefully examine the appeal or accusation, and take the initiative to make correction upon discovery of any error.

Chapter VII Legal Responsibilities

Article 76 Where an administrative organ imposes an administrative penalty under one of the following circumstances, it shall be ordered by an administrative organ at a higher level or a relevant organ to make correction, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law:

1. There is no statutory basis for the administrative penalty;

2. The type or range of the administrative penalty is changed without authorization;

3. The statutory procedures for the administrative penalty are violated;

4. The provisions of Article 20 of this Law concerning entrusting the enforcement of the penalty are violated; or

5. A law enforcement offer has not obtained the law enforcement ID card.

An administrative organ failing to file a case that meets the standards for case-filing in a timely manner shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Article 77 Where an administrative organ, when imposing a penalty on a party, fails to use receipts for fines or confiscation of property, or uses receipts that are not made by the statutory department, the party concerned shall have the right to refuse to accept the penalty and file an accusation against it, the illegal receipts used by it shall be confiscated and destroyed by an administrative organ at a higher level or a relevant organ, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 78 Where an administrative organ collects fines by itself in violation of the provisions of Article 67 of this Law, or a public finance department gives the fines collected, illegal gains confiscated or auction proceeds obtained by an administrative organ back to the administrative organ in violation of the provisions of Article 74 of this Law, it shall be ordered by an administrative organ at a higher level or a relevant department to make correction, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 79 Where an administrative organ withholds or privately shares out fines or confiscated illegal gains or property or does so in a disguised form, the fines, confiscated illegal gains or property shall be recovered by a public finance department or another relevant organ and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law; where the circumstances are serious and a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with law.

A law enforcement officer who takes advantage of his position to ask for or accept property from another person, or take into his own possession the fines collected shall be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with law if such an act constitutes a crime; or he shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law if the offense is minor and does not constitute a crime.

Article 80 Where an administrative organ uses or destroys sealed up or seized property, thereby causing losses to a party, it shall make compensation in accordance with law, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law.

Article 81 Where an administrative organ violates law in implementing inspection measures or enforcement measures, thereby causing personal or property damages to a citizen or losses to a legal person or another organization, it shall make compensation in accordance with law, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law; and where the circumstances are serious and a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Article 82 Where an administrative organ does not transfer a case to a judicial organ for investigation of criminal liability as it should in accordance with law, but imposes an administrative penalty in place of a criminal penalty, it shall be ordered by an administrative organ at a higher level or another relevant organ to make correction, and the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law; and where the circumstances are serious and a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Article 83 Where an administrative organ fails to stop and punish an illegal act that should be stopped and punished, thus causing damages to the lawful rights and interests of a citizen, a legal person or another organization, public interests, or social order, the directly responsible persons in charge of it and other directly responsible persons shall be given disciplinary sanctions in accordance with law; and where the circumstances are serious and a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with law.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 84 This Law shall apply to foreign nationals, stateless persons, and foreign organizations that commit violations of law in the territory of the People's Republic of China and that should be given administrative penalties, except as otherwise prescribed by law.

Article 85 For the purposes of this Law, the terms "two days," "three days," "five days," and "seven days" refer to working days, excluding legal holidays.

Article 86 This Law shall come into force as of July 15, 2021.