Local governments have been seen quite active in bulldozing private residences to pave the way for urban construction, which result in widespread disputes and protests across the country.
At the same time, they have done little to stop local factories that are draining out waste water and belching out foul smoke.
To curb the growing trend of government abuses of power and nonfeasance on other occasions, China's national legislature on Saturday began reviewing the country's first administrative mandatory law.
It aims to tell the government how to limit personal freedom of certain individuals and freeze their properties for the purpose of protecting the public interests, said Xin Chunying, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, Saturday when explaining the draft law to the parliament.
"Because of the lack of the administrative mandatory law, some government bodies have been found lax in law enforcement in face of severe violation of the law, while on other occasions abusing their power of mandatory sanction," she said.
According to the draft law, no mandatory sanction by the government shall be carried out unless it is provided for by the law, and it shall be enforced by the government body with authorization by the law.
Such sanctions include restriction of personal freedom, sealing up or sequestrating property, freezing bank account, intrusion of private residency by force. Follow-up actions may include fines, auction of sequestrated property and transfer of funds from bank accounts.
To counter the widely-complained government intrusion of private property and illegal check up of business account books, the draft law says the government body must show legal basis in advance, otherwise "the related party has the right to refuse."
"Commodities of small vendors along the street shall not be confiscated by law-enforcement bodies for the purpose of maintaining street order," it says.
One of the important of mandatory sanctions is they should be carried out in a proper manner to minimize the losses that may occur to the receivers, Xin said. Other principles also include:
-- Mandatory sanctions should be adopted as the last resort if other options are available;
-- Reconciliation with the receiver shall be encouraged in resolving disputes under the condition that interests of the public or other related parties are not affected.
NPC statistics show that means of mandatory sanctions are visible in 48 national laws and 72 regulations issued by the State Council.
Referring to the abuse of mandatory sanctions, Li Yuan, legal expert with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, said there are more than 260 specific mandatory measures in total in China.
"Such abuses are expected to be curbed after the new law is approved," He said.
The new law will also mark the completion of China's legal framework concerning the government conducts, which is composed of laws on government punishment and government permit, she said.
The draft law does not apply when the government take emergency measures in case of disasters, public health crisis or social order crisis, or government orders on financial matters, or technical monitor and control measures on export or import goods, because they are or will be covered by separate laws, Xin said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2005)
