Supreme Court issues judicial interpretation

　　Regulate the head of the administrative organ to appear in court to promote the substantive resolution of administrative disputes

　　Beijing, June 23rd (Reporter Sun Hang) Today, the Supreme People’s Court issued the “Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Responsibility of the Responsible Persons of the Administrative Organs to Appear in Court” (hereinafter referred to as the “Provisions”, see the second edition for the full text). It is reported that the "Regulations" further regulates the activities of persons in charge of administrative organs to appear in court, and will play a positive role in strictly regulating fair and civilized law enforcement, promoting the substantive resolution of administrative disputes, and promoting the new development of the administrative trial work of the people's courts. The "Regulations" will come into effect on July 1, 2020.

　　Huang Yongwei, President of the Administrative Trial Division of the Supreme People’s Court, said that in recent years, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to strengthening and improving the lawful response of administrative organs in court, and made important arrangements for building a government ruled by law, advancing administration according to law, and strictly regulating fair and civilized law enforcement. In 2018, the Supreme People's Court issued an "Interpretation on the Application of the "Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China"", which played an important role in the implementation of the system of responding to suits by the heads of administrative organs. However, in judicial practice, the head of the administrative organ responds to the court and there are new problems such as a low overall court appearance rate, and a unified standard is urgently needed. In order to correctly understand and apply the administrative litigation law, and give full play to the function of the system of responding to the action of the person in charge of the administrative organ to substantively resolve administrative disputes, the Supreme People's Court initiated the drafting of the judicial interpretation of the responding of the person in charge of the administrative organ in court.

　　The full text of the "Provisions" contains 15 articles. With regard to the definition and scope of the head of the administrative organ to appear in court, the people's court shall notify the head of the administrative organ to respond to the case, the relevant procedures of the head of the administrative organ to appear in court, and the justification for not appearing in court Provisions for safeguarding the effect of court appearances and measures for failing to fulfill the obligation to respond to court proceedings. The "Provisions" make it clear that the person in charge of the respondent administrative agency as prescribed in Article 3, paragraph 3 of the Administrative Procedure Law shall appear in court to respond to the complaint, which means that the person in charge of the respondent administrative agency shall be involved in the first, second and retrial proceedings in accordance with the law Appear in court to participate in litigation, exercise litigation rights, and perform litigation obligations. The heads of the internal organs, dispatched agencies or other organizations authorized by laws, regulations and rules to authorize the independent exercise of administrative functions and powers shall appear in court to respond to the lawsuit. The same provisions apply. "Regulations" on the basis of previous judicial interpretations, moderately expanded the scope of the person in charge, and increased the number of persons in charge of deputy ranks involved in the implementation of the administrative actions of the accused.

　　In order to ensure that the person in charge of the administrative organ of major cases should appear in court to respond to the lawsuit, the "Regulations" clarify that cases involving major public interests, such as food and drug safety, ecological environment and resource protection, and public health safety, are highly concerned by the society or may lead to mass incidents. The people's court shall notify the person in charge of the administrative organ to appear in court to respond to the lawsuit. "In judicial practice, there are many reasons why the person in charge issued by the administrative organ cannot appear in court. Plaintiffs often question this. The "Regulations" regulate the justifications for not appearing in court and guide the people's courts to make correct judgments." Huang Yongwei said that the "Regulations" It clearly enumerates the legitimate reasons why the person in charge of the administrative organ cannot appear in court, including force majeure, unexpected events, the need to perform official duties that cannot be replaced by others, and other legitimate reasons for failing to appear in court.

　　The "Regulations" pointed out that administrative cases with joint defendants may be determined by the joint defendants through consultations, and the person in charge of the administrative organ may appear in court to respond to the case, or may be determined by the people's court. For the same case that requires multiple hearings at the same trial level, if the person in charge of the administrative organ comes to court to participate in a trial, it can generally be determined that he has fulfilled his obligation to appear in court. "This will reasonably reduce the burden of the head of the administrative organ to appear in court and save limited administrative resources." Huang Yongwei said.

　　The "Regulations" also clarify the relevant obligations of the head of the administrative organ to appear in court, and ensure that the head of the administrative organ "speaks and speaks again". The "Regulations" pointed out that the person in charge of the administrative agency or the corresponding staff entrusted by the administrative agency should make a statement, reply, submit evidence, debate, and issue a final opinion on the situation of the case, and explain the normative documents on which it is based. If a person in charge of an administrative organ appears in court to respond to a lawsuit, he shall express an opinion on the substantive settlement of administrative disputes. In response to the cases in which individual heads of local administrative organs are not active and uncooperative in court, the "Regulations" lists five specific situations in which the person in charge of the court is not fulfilling his duty to respond to court, and stipulates the relevant measures that the people's court should take. The "Regulations" also stipulates that the people's courts may disclose to the society the cases in which persons in charge of administrative organs appear in court in appropriate forms.

　　"In the next step, the people's court will strictly implement the administrative litigation system in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Law, continuously improve the effect of the administrative organ's head in court to respond to litigation, continuously improve the effectiveness of the administrative organ's head in court to respond to litigation, give full play to its substantive resolution of administrative disputes, and promote administration according to law. Function to make a new and greater contribution to building a well-off society in an all-round way and accelerating the construction of a government ruled by law." Huang Yongwei said.