Supreme People's Procuratorate calls for more legal supervision for minor infractions

The Supreme People's Procuratorate called on Monday for prompt legal supervision of "disproportionate penalties for minor infractions" in administrative law enforcement and further deepening the systematic governance of related issues.

Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of SPP, stated that in practice, some administrative penalties imposed on small vendors and micro-enterprises violate the "proportionality of punishment" principle.

"High fines not only contradict the spirit of the law and the requirements of fairness and justice but also harm the legitimate interests of the parties involved. Procuratorates should conduct legal supervision according to law," he said.

In administrative law enforcement, proper discretion should be exercised to ensure "proportionality of punishment", he said.

Zhang noted that prosecutors also found other cases of "disproportionate penalties for minor infractions" and "different penalties for similar cases", and they have continued to strengthen the supervision of administrative litigation involving market entities.

Big data supervision models were leveraged by prosecutors to identify such cases, as some individuals, although subject to unfair treatment, may not be willing to use legal means to protect their rights, he said. If the cases were found within the scope of procuratorial supervision, prosecutors would intervene, correct erroneous administrative penalties, and minimize unnecessary impacts on the involved parties.

This year, the SPP has also launched a special operation focused on addressing law enforcement and judicial issues that tarnish the justice-protective nature of judicial authorities to secure the business environment.

Procuratorates will also highlight the irregularities of law enforcement and administrative violations such as "severe penalties for minor infractions", "repeated penalties", and "different penalties for similar cases", effectively addressing the difficulties and blockages affecting enterprise development, according to the SPP.

Efforts will be intensified in the collaboration and sharing of information with market regulation departments and administrative approval departments so as to address issues like rule deficiencies and flaws in administrative law enforcement and promote the uniformity and standardization of administrative penalty discretion, it said.