Provisions of Tianjin Municipality on Management of Administrative Examination and Approval

Decree of Tianjin Municipal People’s Government

No. 103

The Provisions of Tianjin Municipality on Management of Administrative Examination and Approval was adopted at the 72nd Executive Meeting of the Municipal People’s Government on 19 June 2006 and is hereby promulgated. These Provisions shall go into effect as from 1 August 2006.

Dai Xianglong, Mayor

22 June 2006

Provisions of Tianjin Municipality on Management of Administrative Examination and Approval

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These Provisions are enacted in accordance with the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of China and other pertinent laws and regulations and with the actual situation of this Municipality with the purpose of strengthening the management of examination and approval of administrative licensing, standardizing acts of examining and approving administrative licensing, promoting the government in shifting its function and creating a favourable environment conducive to economic and social development.

Article 2 The term “administrative examination and approval” is an embracing term that includes both the examination and approval of administrative licensing and non-administrative licening. The administrative examination and approval of non-administrative licensing refer to the acts of administrative examination and approval by an administrative organ in allowing, in accordance with laws, regulations and rules or other related State regulations, other administrative organs, citizens, legal persons and organizations to organize and perform certain special activities.

These Provisions apply to the exercise and supervision of administrative examination and approval in this Municipality. Where it is otherwise stipulated in laws, regulations and stipulations with regard to administrative licensing, these shall prevail.

These Provisions do not apply to the administrative examination and approval between administrative organs, and to the matters regarding personnel and finance in the public institutions directly under these administrative organs.

Article 3 The Municipal, district and county people’s governments shall persist in administering according to the law, deepening reform in the system of administrative examination and approval, improving and standardizing management and way of administrative examination and approval, tightening supervision over and management of administrative examination and approval and monitoring over administrative effectiveness, guaranteeing and supervising administrative organs in effectively exercising administrative management, safeguarding public interests and social order, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.

Article 4 The administrative organs shall, in exercising administrative examination and approval, stick to the principle of openness, fairness, justice, convenience and efficiency.

Chapter II Administrative Organs

Article 5 The Municipal office for management of administrative examination and approval (hereinafter abbreviated as the Municipal office) is the institution delegated by the Municipal People’s Government, exercising uniform management of administrative examination and approval citywide and responsible for the running and management of the Municipal Administrative Licensing Service Centre.

Organs for managing administrative examination and approval appointed by the district and county people’s governments are in charge of the administrative examination and approval work in the areas under the jurisdiction of the said district and county governments, and of the running and management of the administrative licensing service centre of the same level (hereinafter abbreviated as the “licensing centre”).

Article 6 The Municipal office shall perform the following duties and responsibilities according to the law:

(1) Taking charge of reforming the system of administrative examination and approval in this Municipality and exercising uniform management of the administrative organs of this Municipality in administrative examination and approval;

(2) Working out concrete administrative methods in the light of the administrative examination and approval of this Municipality and the work of the Municipal licensing centre, and urging the administrative organs stationed at the licensing centre to provide standard, efficient and quality services;

(3) Taking charge of managing and educating the functionaries of the administrative organs stationed at the licensing centre and, in collaboration with the Municipal supervision institutions, supervising and checking administrative efficiency;

(4) Organizing and coordinating the examination and approval that involves more than one administrative organs;

(5) Providing guidance to the district and county people’s governments in their administrative examination and approval; and

(6) Other matters entrusted by the Municipal People’s Government.

Article 7 The Municipal office and the district and county organs for managing administrative examination and approval shall set up a coordinating mechanism and constantly perfect it to facilitate communication between them in administrative examination and approval matters and strengthen dynamic management over administrative examination and approval.

Administrative organs at all levels shall submit a report on the changes in the administrative examination and approval matters to the administrative institution of the same level for the record.

Article 8 The Municipal, district and county supervision departments shall install a supervision office at the licensing centre of the same level to accept complaints of administrative counterparts and announce the ways to complain to the public.

Chapter III Management of Administrative Examination and Approval

Article 9 Administrative organs empowered with the duty and function of exercising administrative examination and approval and organizations empowered by laws and regulations with the function and duty for management of public affairs shall exercise administrative examination and approval in accordance with laws, rules, regulations, and relevant State stipulations.

Administrative organs may, within their functions and duties, entrust other administrative organs with the task of exercising administrative examination and approval in accordance with laws, regulations and stipulations.

Administrative organs of examination and approval shall, in accordance with the regulations of the State and this Municipality, perform the functions and duties of administrative examination and approval according to the law.

Article 10 Administrative organs in examining and approving administrative licensing matters according to pertinent laws, rules, regulations and State stipulations shall solicit opinions of examination from the Municipal office and, subject to the examination and approval of the legislative affairs institution under the Municipal People’s Government, submit them to the Municipal People’s Government for approval before they are implemented.

Where matters subject to be examined and approved have been revoked or readjusted the administrative organ may not continue to examine or approve them or do so in a disguised way.

Where laws and regulations have concrete stipulations on the condition for administrative examination and approval, the administrative organ may not, in violation of the overriding regulations, add new conditions.

Article 11 The administrative organ in exercising administrative examination and approval shall adopt a procedure based on the principle of legitimacy and convenience, perform the statutory obligation of informing the related parties, implement the deadline system and strengthen the post-examination and approval oversight and management.

Where conditions are ripe, the administrative organ may accept and handle applications on the internet.

Article 12 Matters under administrative examination and approval, their basis, condition, number, procedure, term, fee standard, the inventory of all the material that needs to be submitted, and the model application form shall be displayed in public at the venue for administrative examination and approval and made public through the website of the Tianjin Municipal administrative examination and approval and those of administrative organs at all levels.

Article 13 The implementation and results of administrative examination and approval, excluding those that involve State or commercial secrets or personal privacy, shall be made public and open and the counterpart of administrative management shall be allowed to make inquiry.

Article 14 The Municipal office shall formulate a basic statistical procedure by which to unify the way of submitting information and data concerning administrative examination and approval in the whole city.

Administrative organs at all levels shall regularly submit the implementing process of administrative examination and approval and the statistical data to the organ of the same level for managing administrative examination and approval so as to share information between administrative organs and managing organs.

Article 15 The administrative organ shall use the special seal exclusively for examination and approval, which is the sole seal for the said organ in exercising administrative examination and approval.

Where it is impossible to use the special seal under special circumstances the related organ shall obtain the assent from the organ of the same level for managing administrative examination and approval.

The mold for making the special seal exclusively for examination and approval shall be decided on and manufactured by the organ for managing administrative examination and approval and be filed for the record.

Chapter IV Centralized Examination and Approval

Article 16 The Municipal level and the district and county level administrative licensing centres are the venues where the Municipal, district and county people’s governments handle the administrative examination and approval matters of the same level in a centralized, joint, and unified way.

Article 17 Matters under administrative examination and approval by administrative organs shall be handled in the administrative licensing centre.

Where it is absolutely impossible to handle the administrative matter in the administrative licensing centre due to special circumstances, it shall be examined by the organ of the same level for managing administrative examination and approval and submitted to the people’s government of the same level for approval.

Matters that are accepted by the administrative licensing centre for administrative examination and approval must not be handled again by the original administrative organ.

Article 18 Matters to be examined and approved administratively that are accepted by the administrative licensing centre shall be examined and approved by the administrative organ on the spot.

Where matters to be examined and approved administratively are absolutely impossible to be handled in the administrative licensing centre, the functionaries of the same administrative organ stationed in the centre shall, upon confirmation by the organ for managing administrative examination and approval of the same level, be responsible for the ene-to-end working circulation of the matter and complete the procedure within the deadline as openly promised.

The administrative organ with fewer matters for administrative examination and approval may entrust the administrative licensing centre with the task of handling applications for administrative examination and approval on its behalf and send its functionaries to conduct on-the-spot examination and approval at the administrative licensing centre.

Article 19 The administrative organ stationed at the administrative licensing centre shall entrust a leading official rich in working experience of administrative examination and approval or with a professional title with the office of chief representative for examination and approval and produce a letter of authorization for on-the-spot administrative examination and approval. The letter of authorization shall be displayed at the venue for examination and approval.

The chief representative for examination and approval matters shall exclusively attend to his duties and handle administrative examination and approval matters representing the organ he belongs to in light of the letter of authorization and shall manage the functionaries of his organ stationed at the administrative licensing centre.

Article 20 Functionaries selected and dispatched by the administrative organ to the administrative licensing centre shall be well aware about the duties of post and law enforcement.

Functionaries stationed at the licensing centre shall each take special charge of his own duties assigned to him.

The administrative organ shall avoid constant change of the functionaries stationed at the licensing centre. Where an administrative organ decides on or changes such functionaries it shall submit the name list concerned to the organ for managing administrative examination and approval of the same level for the record.

Article 21 A joint examination and approval process shall be effected by the organ for managing administrative examination and approval in collaboration with other related administrative organs in the following situations:

(1) An administrative examination and approval matter involves more than one administrative organ;

(2) An application submitted by the counterpart of administrative management involves many items requiring examination and approval of many administrative organs; and

(3) Handling an administrative examination and approval matter that concerns the reform of the administrative examination and approval system.

Where a joint examination and approval effort is made, the organ that takes major responsibility or handles most of the business shall be chosen, and a reasonable, standard working procedure shall be worked out so as to coordinate efforts in the cooperation and raise the efficiency of administrative examination and approval.

Where the organ for managing administrative examination and approval deems it necessary, it may call a joint meeting for administrative examination and approval to coordinate efforts and solve problems arising from the process of examination and approval and timely report the matter to the people’s government of the same level.

Article 22 An administrative organ shall, in the process of exercising examination and granting approval at the licensing centre, use uniform texts made by the centre unless it is otherwise stipulated in laws, rules, regulations and stipulations.

Article 23 The fees collected at the licensing centre concerning administrative examination and approval matters in the nature of institution or foundation, and the fees collected by service units for their business shall be all surrendered at the banks stationed at the licensing centre. The money thus collected shall be used by the collecting unit in accordance with the relevant State and Municipal regulations.

The measure for administration of uniform fee collection shall be worked out by the finance and the pricing departments in accordance with their respective duties and responsibilities in collaboration with other related departments.

Article 24 The chief representative for examination and approval matters and the functionaries stationed at the licensing centre are placed under the leadership of their respective administrative organs and under the uniform management of the organ for managing administrative examination and approval of the same level.

The afore-mentioned functionaries shall abide by the regulations and rules of the licensing centre, offer civilized service, use standard, polite language, exercise self-discipline and clean government.

Article 25 For the awards or punishments of the functionaries of administrative organs stationed at the licensing centre, the organ for managing administrative examination and approval may put forward opinions and suggestions to the administrative organs.

Where the Municipality, district, county or the administrative organs mete out awards or punishments, the administrative organs stationed at the licensing centre and their functionaries shall be entitled to the same treatment.

Article 26 The organ for managing administrative examination and approval shall, in collaboration with the supervision organ of the same level, work out measures for examination and evaluation of efficiency in the administrative examination and approval work and organize comprehensive examination and evaluation of the administrative examination and approval work at the licensing centre on a regular basis. The results of the examination and evaluation shall be submitted to the administrative organ and to the people’s government of the same level.

Chapter V Supervision over Efficiency

Article 27 Legislative affairs departments under the Municipal, the district and county people’s governments are in charge of supervision and inspection of the administrative examination and approval and law enforcement within their respective administrative areas.

Legislative offices affiliated to the departments under the Municipal, the district and county people’s governments are in charge of supervision and inspection of the administrative examination and approval and law enforcement in their respective departments and systems.

Article 28 Where the supervision department complains against the administrative efficiency regarding the execution of the administrative examination and approval, it shall be handled in accordance with the Interim Measures of Tianjin Municipality on Accountabilities for Irregularities in Granting Administrative Licences and other related regulations.

Article 29 The organ for managing administrative examination and approval shall, in collaboration of the supervision department of the same level, conduct supervision over and inspection of the efficiency of the administrative organs in their work. .

Where acts in violation of these Measures or other irregularities are discovered, the supervision department or the organ in charge of appointment and removal shall deal with it in accordance with the Interim Measures of Tianjin Municipality on Accountabilities for Irregularities in Granting Administrative Licences.

Article 30 The organ for managing administrative examination and approval shall invite on a regular basis the deputies to the people’s congress and members of the political consultative conference to supervise and inspect the efficiency of administrative examination and approval work, and it may engage representatives from enterprises, trade associations and masses of the people for the supervision and inspection of efficiency in administrative examination and approval work and place itself under the supervision of law, mass media and society.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 31 Where it is not specified in these Provisions as to the procedures and measures in non-administrative matters under examination and approval, related provisions on administrative licensing in the Administrative Licensing Law of the People’s Republic of Chinashall be followed mutatis mutandis.

Article 32 These Provisions shall go into effect as from 1 August 2006