The phenomenon of "red-headed documents" flying all over the sky and strange regulations has been effectively curbed
The Ministry of Justice has fully implemented the legality review mechanism of normative documents and achieved remarkable results
□ Our reporter Zhang Wei and Zhao Jie
The once-existing phenomenon of "red-headed documents" flying all over the sky with bizarre content is being effectively curbed.
At the press conference held by the Ministry of Justice a few days ago, a reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" learned that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee and the State Council have continuously strengthened the formulation, supervision and management of administrative normative documents.
Especially since the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions on Fully Implementing the Legality Review Mechanism of Administrative Normative Documents" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guiding Opinions") in December 2018, the Ministry of Justice will fully implement the legality review mechanism for normative documents. Organizational promotion work is deployed as a key work.
"In the past few years, through improving the system, improving the mechanism, publicity and training, experience promotion, investigation and inspection, etc., we have actively organized and promoted all localities and departments to do a good job of legality review work. The quality and efficiency of system construction and the people's sense of gain have been further enhanced, providing a strong institutional guarantee for the construction of a rule of law government," said Fang Jun, a first-level inspector of the Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination and Supervision Bureau of the Ministry of Justice.
The production and distribution of administrative normative documents is an important way for administrative organs to perform their functions in accordance with the law, covering all areas of administrative management, which is commonly referred to as "red-headed documents".
Whether the normative documents are legal or not is directly related to whether the government can administer according to the law and the image of the government, and it is directly related to the vital rights and interests of the masses.
According to Fang Jun, in recent years, with the acceleration of the construction of a government ruled by law, various regions and departments have continued to strengthen the formulation, supervision and management of administrative normative documents, and achieved certain results.
But at the same time, the phenomenon of random publication of documents and bizarre documents still exists to varying degrees, which violates the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, damages the credibility of the government, and the masses react strongly.
The Third Plenary Meeting of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China will deploy the full implementation of the legality review mechanism of administrative normative documents as an important reform task.
The "Decision on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Promoting the Rule of Law" made by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the "Implementation Outline for the Construction of a Government Ruled by Law (2015-2020)" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council - 2025)" has put forward clear requirements for the formulation, supervision and management of administrative normative documents, especially the legality review mechanism of administrative normative documents.
In May 2018, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Formulation, Supervision and Management of Administrative Normative Documents", and strengthened management through 11 measures including strictly prohibiting unauthorized issuance of documents, strict production and issuance procedures, strict review and control, and adherence to collective deliberation.
In November 2018, the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed and approved the "Guiding Opinions", which were issued by the General Office of the State Council on December 4, 2018, and deployed to implement the legality review mechanism for normative documents across the country.
In the organization and coordination, overall promotion, supervision and guidance of the Ministry of Justice, all localities earnestly implemented and explored, and a number of advanced experiences emerged.
In Shanghai, legality review is a key link in document formulation, and a consensus has been formed in the city's administrative organs at all levels.
It is understood that all draft normative documents submitted to the executive meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Government for deliberation must be reviewed for legality by the General Office of the Municipal Government.
In the past three years, an average of about 260 documents of various types have been reviewed for legality by the General Office of the Municipal Government each year. The drafting department is required to revise the draft documents found to be problematic during the review.
At the same time, Shanghai insists that there are necessary items, all preparations must be reviewed, and mistakes must be investigated, and the filing and review of normative documents of various district governments and municipal government departments shall be strengthened.
According to statistics, in the past three years, the general office of the municipal government has reviewed about 400 documents each year on average, and required the formulation agency to correct any documents found to be problematic during the review.
It is worth noting that the error correction rate of filing review is gradually decreasing (16.22% in 2018, 12.75% in 2019, and 11.62% in 2020), which also reflects the steady improvement in the quality of normative documents in Shanghai.
Shanghai is also the first country in the country to establish a working mechanism for the review and connection of normative documents jointly participated by administrative organs, courts and procuratorates.
For difficult and complicated normative documents, the drafting department makes full use of the tripartite review and connection mechanism, and actively seeks legal support from the judicial organs.
In Jiangsu, at the end of last year, the "Regulations on the Legality Review of Administrative Normative Documents" were released, which is the first provincial-level local standard in the country to set rules for "red-headed documents".
It clearly stipulates which "red-headed documents" should be reviewed for legality and which "red-headed documents" will be focused on.
It is worth mentioning that the integrated construction of the legality review mechanism for regional normative documents has also achieved breakthroughs in the past year.
On June 10, 2021, under the witness of Zhao Zhenhua, director of the Administrative Law Enforcement Coordination and Supervision Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, the heads of the Shanghai Municipal Government Office, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Justice, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Justice, and the Anhui Provincial Department of Justice jointly signed the "On Cooperation Agreement on the Integrated Construction of the Legality Review Mechanism of Administrative Normative Documents in the Yangtze River Delta Region.
This is the first regional cooperation agreement on policy documents in China.
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