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2009-01-21 | All chapters

Zhu Honchao Urges that the "Shanghai Municipal Administrative Procedural Law" be Enacted
People's Daily Online, 16th January, 2009

On January 16th, 2009, Mr.Zhu Honchao, Representative of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress delivered a speech to the Shanghai People's Congress, urging the Shanghai Municipality to put into force the "Shanghai Municipal Administrative Procedural Law".

Zhu noted that, in accordance with the requirements of relevant departments, he would raise three issues addressed by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in its publication, "European Business in China Position Paper 2007/2008". Those were the lack of due process, the inconsistency in implementation and the need to continue to push forward with the opening up of the legal services market in China.

The European Chamber's paper highlighted certain problems in the Chinese legal system, especially in relation to due process. The Chinese government has not yet finalized or promulgated a sound Procedural Law, creating problems in terms of the consistency and perceived fairness of implementation. This has, in turn, had something of a negative effect on confidence following the improvement of the Substantive Law.
 
The Chamber suggested that the Chinese government could solve the problem by revising and promulgating the draft "Administrative Procedure Law". Furthermore, the Chamber noted that supervisory authorities and other appropriate bodies need to be more actively engaged in monitoring issues relating to non-compliance and other irregularities. Zhu concluded that the European Chamber's recommendations were useful and were deserving of consideration, particularly those relating to the issue of due process.

(Unofficial translation produced by European Chamber of Commerce in China, January 20th 2009)

Mr. Zhu Honchao is Vice-Chairman of the All China Bar Association and Chairman of the Shanghai Bar Association.

For full text in Chinese, please click:
http://npc.people.com.cn/GB/8686077.html