27
2023
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05
The newly revised Administrative Penalty Measures for Ecological Environment shall come into effect on July 1st
Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the newly revised "Administrative Penalty Measures for Ecological Environment", which will be implemented from July 1, 2023.
In recent years, significant progress has been made in the comprehensive administrative law enforcement reform of ecological environment protection and the vertical reform of ecological environment system monitoring, supervision and law enforcement. The revision of the "Punishment Measures" responds to the new changes that have occurred in the reform process and the urgent problems that need to be solved locally, ensuring that the ecological environment law enforcement team strictly regulates and carries out law enforcement activities in accordance with the law under the new situation.
The Punishment Measures have been revised in terms of document name, scope of application, framework structure, and specific content.
In terms of document name, it has been changed from the "Environmental Administrative Penalty Measures" to the "Ecological Environment Administrative Penalty Measures".
In terms of scope of application, the field of nuclear and radiation has been added. The "Environmental Administrative Penalty Measures" stipulate that "administrative penalties for nuclear safety supervision and management shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant national regulations on nuclear safety supervision and management." This revision has removed this article, and after the "Penalty Measures" come into effect, the scope of application also includes administrative penalties in the nuclear and radiation fields.
In terms of framework structure, the number of provisions in the revised "Punishment Measures" has increased from 82 to 92, while the overall framework remains unchanged and remains eight chapters. In accordance with the amendment of the Administrative Penalty Law, Chapter 3 "General Procedures" will be changed to "Ordinary Procedures". At the same time, according to the administrative penalty case handling process, provisions will be made in sections according to the order of filing, investigation and evidence collection, case review, notification and hearing, legal review, collective discussion, decision-making, and information disclosure.
In terms of specific content, the first is to modify and improve the types of penalties. According to the provisions of the Administrative Penalty Law on the definition and types of administrative penalties, while also sorting out the current laws and regulations on ecological environment protection, the types of ecological environment administrative penalties have been improved. The second is to modify and improve the relevant regulations on investigation and evidence collection. Refine the application requirements for automatic monitoring data and highlight the important role of labeling rules. Added provisions for the suspension and termination of investigations, distinguishing them from the termination of investigations. The third is to improve the relevant provisions on the discretion of administrative penalties. According to the provisions of the Administrative Penalty Law, the situation of no punishment has been improved, and the situation of lighter or mitigated punishment has been added. The fourth is to standardize and refine the procedures for administrative penalties. Add the conditions and procedural requirements for organizing hearings, clarify the scope, content, and opinions of the legal review of major law enforcement decisions, and refine the scope of collective discussions on major cases. The fifth is to supplement and increase the disclosure of administrative penalty information. Add a separate section on "Information Disclosure" in Chapter 3 "Ordinary Procedures" to provide detailed regulations on the subject of disclosure, the content of disclosure, the circumstances of non disclosure, privacy protection, the duration of disclosure, and withdrawal of disclosure. Sixth, modify the relevant time limit and penalty amount. According to the provisions of the Administrative Penalty Law, taking into account the provisions of current laws and regulations on the amount of fines, as well as the actual work of ecological environment administrative law enforcement, adjustments have been made to the time limit and amount of filing a case, the time limit for making punishment decisions, the amount of penalties applicable to summary procedures, and the amount of fines with larger amounts.
Next, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will comprehensively promote the implementation of the "Punishment Measures", further improve supporting systems, enhance the administrative law enforcement capabilities of the ecological environment, and enhance standardized law enforcement